If any convenience chain demonstrates the folly of writing off the sector it is Jacksons, which has won The Grocer’s Gold Award for Independent Retail Chain of the Year. Siân Harrington reports

Convenience chain Jacksons Stores is delighted at winning the coveted Best Independent Chain of the Year award, especially as it was pipped at the post at last year’s inaugural awards by Booths.
And so it should be, for the accolade not only reflects the strength and dynamism of the Hull-based outfit but, in a year of intense competition in the convenience market, proves that all the talk of the demise of the independent sector couldn’t be further from the truth. The message from this category was clear: any major supermarket group that thinks it will get easy pickings in the local neighbourhood had better think again.
This was evident not only from Jacksons’ strong performance over the past year but also from the showing by all those on our shortlist, which comprised Spar retailer Alfred Jones, Northern Ireland’s Curley’s Supermarkets and Metro Discount Stores.
Entries to this award were limited to the privately-owned companies that appear in The Grocer Top 50 annual listing of Britain’s biggest and best independent retail chains.
An impressive judging panel, including former Somerfield executive chairman David Simons, The Pier’s Alison Richards and founder of the UK’s biggest independent fitness chain Duncan Bannatyne, shortlisted those companies with impressive growth records achieved through strong corporate values and a clear strategy.
Jacksons stood out for its professionalism
and hard work in building a strong brand in the c-sector in the north-east. According to Jacksons brand development manager Mike Igoe much emphasis has been put on developing a brand in the face of the multiples’ entry into the sector. In 2003 the company undertook market research, talking to customers, staff and rivals’ customers.
“A brand is not just about what is above the door, it goes right down to the packs sold inside a store. The results are used to inform a new look, feel and content, right down to a macro space review,” says Igoe.
“Jacksons is a well-known brand within Hull but we want to develop a brand that has resonance outside this area.”
This is not surprising considering the geographical area the chain now covers. Today Jacksons is the largest independent multiple in the UK, with a store portfolio of 112 covering an area from Scarborough in the north, Leicester in the south and Halifax in the west to its homeland Hull.
And there are big plans ahead. By astute investments in technology, category management initiatives, staff, store refurbishment and marketing over the past five years, Jacksons’ average weekly sales have grown from just over £2m to just under £3m and the retailer expects to push through this £3m barrier next year.
Category sales uplifts have ranged from 36% in grocery to 70% in beers, wines and spirits and a very impressive 170% in services. The company’s five-year business plan is to increase annual sales to £200m from 140 stores.
The judges noted that the company’s clear forward strategy and, importantly, successful implementation of this strategy have enabled its sales growth to continue to outperform the c-store sector.
Jacksons’ history shows it is not afraid to change direction to capitalise on market trends. The company’s parent, William Jackson & Sons, opened its first store, a tea dealer, back in September 1851 in Hull. It remains a family business and the current MD, Angus Oughtred, is a great, great grandson of founder William Jackson.
The company expanded and from the 1970s to 1990 took the operation into large scale supermarkets, under the Grandways fascia, as consumers took to the one-stop shop idea. But in 1990 it successfully tested a convenience format and, in the face of the continental discounters entering the UK and the acknowledgement that it would be increasingly difficult to remain independent and trade against the major multiples, Jacksons sold the majority of its stores. Its new ambition was to become the leader within convenience.
The vision today is to become ‘the best for local shopping’ as Jacksons seeks to play on the strengths identified by its research, in particular its central role in communities. Through offering a strong grocery base but embracing emerging categories, such as fresh, snacking and customer services, the stores are effectively one-stop shops for the communities they serve.
With all eyes on the sector it is no surprise that Jacksons has been eyed by predators but Igoe is adamant it will stay independent. “For 150 years Jacksons has been a family business,” he says, “and we have no intention of moving out of food retailing.”