Craig Commander is a self-described Asda “lifer”, having spent 26 years with the business after joining straight out of college. In his view, the key to getting Asda back to its best is simple: “price, value, and as a great place to shop with that Asda personality”.
His Hereford store is an example of what “Asdaness” looks like at its best, with its spotless hygiene and helpful staff giving it the edge in what was an extremely competitive mystery shop. But it also marks a major turnaround for the store following issues with rats earlier in the year.
Commander talks to The Grocer about how that turnaround has been achieved, winning shoppers in “biosphere” Hereford and why the store’s cider range is an unexpected competitive advantage.
What’s it like to be a retailer in Hereford? Hereford is almost its own biosphere as a town. We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere, almost on the Welsh border, and you don’t really pass through here to get to anywhere. It’s not a huge place, but it means we have a bit of everything and we have pretty much every type of competition you could have. Asda is renowned for being that great value, family shop, and that’s historically who our customers have always been.
We also see a lot of cross-border trade from Wales, particularly for alcohol given the price difference between minimum unit price in Wales. Hereford is known for its huge cider festival, which brings also lot of trade to the shop. Our cider range reflects that: we stock lines from multiple local suppliers, and are probably the biggest provider of those products in the company.
What’s your biggest challenge as a store team? For me, it’s how do we ensure that our customers keep coming back to us. From a retail perspective, customers have the choice in Hereford of being able to go to pretty much any retailer they’d like. Many will have to drive past others to shop with us. We’re aware of how hard we have to fight to win their custom. Consistency is what brings them back.
The challenge is how we keep that consistency going and ensuring that even when we come up against any internal challenges, we don’t allow the customer to see those. Winning store of the week, against all of the competition we have locally, is a really great thing for us.
It also quite a turnaround following an issue with rats earlier in the year. What’s behind that? Absolutely, yes, there have been some issues in the past. Unfortunately, we are located right on a river and that does bring some challenges.
The difference now is that we’ve worked very closely with professionals to negate that issue and with support from the business have worked to get the shop the cleanest it’s ever been. We have a dedicated team of seven in-store cleaners, who have absolutely moved heaven and earth to get us where we need to be in terms of cleanliness. It shows all the hard work they’re putting in is paying off.
This is Asda’s first win since the launch of its ‘Take a Fresh Look’ campaign. What has the impact been in Hereford? It’s pivotal to what we’re trying to do in terms of keeping our customers. A major part of Take a Fresh Look has been the launch of our greengrocer programme. We’ve looked at how we upskill our greengrocers, at what quality actually looks like on the shelves in terms of presentation and how it needs to be maintained.
Produce is the largest shopped category within Asda, almost every customer through the doors will shop produce. If we get that right adds to that point I made around consistency. We’ve also recently begun a reset of our customer service training and schedules. It’s focused on making sure all 220-odd colleagues here are multiskilled, and work across four key areas: service, picking, replenishment and process.
What impact will the partnership with Ocado have on the store when it launches? Quite simply, it should help us improve our online customer shopping experience. Ocado is an online delivery expert, it’s a great opportunity for us to massively upgrade the technology we use within our own systems. Ultimately our Asda colleagues will still be at the heart of the online business.
Asda has had a turbulent couple of years. What’s the experience been like? I’m an Asda lifer: I’ve been here 26 years and grew up within the business. If I’m honest, for me change is the norm. Allan [Leighton] has been very clear that it is a five-year plan to get back to where we want to be. Change is exciting, I enjoy a challenge and I thrive on intensity – and think most store managers do too.
We’re the underdog, but the underdog is who you place a bet on. It’s going to be an exciting few years and I am in no doubt that we will get Asda back to where it belongs.
What still needs to be done to get there? Getting back to focusing on what Asda has always been renowned for: price, value and as a great place to shop with that Asda personality. That is as simple as it needs to be.
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