McColl’s is to instigate a category-by-category range review this year as it looks to get the business fully back on track following the upheaval caused by the collapse of Palmer & Harvey.
This week the convenience retailer reported a 57% fall in pre-tax profits to £7.9m for the year to 25 November. While overall sales jumped 8.1% to £1.24bn, like-for-likes fell 1.2% in the year.
However, it said the trend was now heading back in the right direction, with flat like-for-likes in the final quarter and a 1.4% increase in the first quarter of the current financial year.
CEO Jonathan Miller told The Grocer the range review would be led by head of buying Greg Goodwin. It would look at both removing duplication and identifying opportunities for new ranges.
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Palmer & Harvey, which supplied 700 of McColl’s 1,600 stores as well as tobacco to the entire estate, went into administration two days into McColl’s latest financial year.
McColl’s had been planning a phased switch of its supply from both P&H and Nisa over to its new distributor, Morrisons. This was to happen over the course of 2018, but circumstances dictated that 1,300 had to be switched to Morrisons supply by the summer.
Miller said this seriously curtailed its ability to implement any other improvements to the business.
“Prioritising the transition has set back some of our wider plans including range development, and improving some of our cost prices. We are working together to develop an optimal range and promotional programme for our customers,” he explained.
McColl’s is working towards selling more grocery and alcohol than tobacco. Grocery and alcohol has grown from 32% to 34% of its overall sales in the past year. Tobacco still accounts for 38% of all sales.
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