Winner: Tesco Bathgate
Store Manager: Gerard McDonagh
Size: 40,000 sq ft
Opened: 2000
Market share: 21%
Nearest stores: Morrisons – 1.2 miles, Asda – 4.7 miles, Sainsbury’s – 16.4 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI
Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
You won store of the week in 2016. How have things changed since then? It seems like a lifetime ago after the year we have had. Since then we’ve had an extra 80 colleagues brought in, and our dotcom operation has doubled in size, which brings both challenges and joys. The challenge of social distancing in the past year has certainly been the biggest one, though.
How have you coped with the need for new staff? Within about four to six weeks of the lockdown our online business had doubled and it’s stayed at that level. We had to bring in many more drivers and the picking team has almost doubled in size. Our usual recruitment policy went out of the window in the pandemic and we were employing people by word of mouth, a number of whom are now permanent. That sort of ramping up has been really intense but it’s been fun. If someone said to me a year ago you would double the size of your online operation and have an extra 70 or 80 staff I’d have thought they were mad.
What are the key challenges of social distancing and are you looking forward to it going? We are obviously fully complying with the rules and there has not been a government update yet so we don’t quite know what will happen. But it has been challenging especially in exceptionally busy times and last year we had an awful lot of those. Replenishment with social distancing is probably one of the most difficult things, and it’s been about making sure you are as proactive as possible to spot where problems could arise and always ensuring the shop floor is clean and tidy.
Scotland is making its biggest step out of lockdown next week. How have shopping habits been changing? The share of trade is moving back to be a more balanced pattern. The peak times have started to return to normal.
Has food to go started to pick up? Yes, it’s coming back. Our sandwich meal deal has got much busier in the past two or three weeks and there’s definitely a sense of more normal shopping behaviour again.
How are the bulk buy areas performing? We have devoted what used to be our delicatessen areas to bulk buys and they are going well. A lot of people during lockdown have been attracted by the larger packs and the ranges are developing. We have just had a planning meeting and there are a number of new lines coming in, including coffee and new household lines.
What else are you enthused about in store at the moment? We’ve just done a beer and cider range review. We have a number of new ales, especially IPA and craft beers. The range is certainly a lot deeper than it used to be and the demand for those products shows no sign of slowing.
How competitive on price do you feel you are with the discounters now? The company has done a lot of work in the past year, especially with the Aldi Price Match and Clubcard Prices. It’s been very well communicated and has landed well with our customers.
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