There is a lot of talk about growth and the
convenience channel and it was no different at the Local Shop Summit in Torquay
earlier this month.
With more than 200 retailers in the audience,
John Kinney, retail director of Today’s, asked a simple question: Who was in
growth? The answer on the electronic pads was 42%.
As industry figures show that more people are
shopping more frequently in local shops - and experts say more than £10 billion
in extra sales will be in the convenience channel by 2018 - where is the
growth?
Principally in supermarket stores and in symbol
groups, says Kinney. Why? Because the biggest area of convenience is top up
shopping and this plays to the supermarket operators’ strengths.
What he did not say is that much of that £10
billion is not new money but simply the transfer of sales from a Tesco out of
town to a Tesco in a high street. What is encouraging for independents,
particularly those in symbol groups, is that they are winning sales from these
new shoppers (or new shopping missions) at the expense of the multiples.
But you only win the business if you organise
your business for success. And anecdotal evidence from the Summit is many
retailers simply are not ready to change their retail model or the way they
operate.
The first vote of the day asked the audience to
recall the last piece of customer service they delivered and to rate it on a
scale from brilliant to poor. Nearly 70% described it as brilliant.
International retail expert John Stanley
challenged this repeatedly. Are you being honest with yourself? The answer to
this is probably yes and no. Honest in that this is the attitude of most of the
people in the audience. But not honest in that they simply do not measure how
they perform.
Brilliant customer service is a result of great
staff delivering at the end of a process that starts with excellent
merchandising and retail execution. Which is a discipline that starts before
the shop opens for business every day and continues through a series of
interactions with suppliers and shoppers.
Too many people open their shop in the morning,
sit behind the counter and expect the customer to come to them. This simply
won’t work.
There are exceptions. One retailer told me that
his issue was his secondary location simply was not attracting shoppers. While
he and his retail peers are taking action to improve the physical environment
they are not yet active with social media such as Facebook.
Stanley challenged independents to make digital
marketing a key part of their tool kit. Market your area, not your shop, he
advised. (Check out www.betterretailing.com to see some brilliant videos of
independents doing this).
Attendees were challenged to take back three
action points to their shops, One retailer told me he had five. Many more, I
suspect, took none. If you are in the latter camp and reading this: be honest
with yourself. How badly do you want success? To Get Local Right you need to
have an action plan and embrace change.
Read more on www.betterretailing.com.
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