Spar Scotland held its annual trade show for retailers, suppliers and more in Aviemore in Scotland.
The show began early with a talk from CEO, Colin McLean (below left), who welcomed the assembled figures from the Scottish convenience industry to the event. Over 200 suppliers exhibited at the event.
Speaking to the audience, McLean acknowledged the many headwinds facing retailers, but added that Spar Scotland was ahead of the pack when it came to technology and that recently it had targeted increasing stock availability in response to member feedback.
He said: ”We’ve got suppliers, retail customers, store managers, central support teams, Spar RDCs, Central Office, Spar International, trade press, and some colleagues even flying in from Australia to be with us today.”
Speaking of the pressure on retailers, he said: ”With the relentless growth of the discounters driving like for like volume growth, things are really challenging for the rest of us in the market. Consumer confidence is low. Customer footfall is at best flat or down, but inflation is rising, and continues to squeeze already tight margins.
“So retail market growth is at best stagnant with retail volume flat. We’ve got further legislation coming north of the border next year with HFSS, and the UK deposit return scheme is coming to Scotland too.”
“We need to help our customers with a much stronger Spar Scotland value package and help them to shop with confidence.”
However, McLean added that Spar Scotland will evolve to meet the challenges. ”Our convenience model now needs to change, to change again, and at pace,” he said. ”We need to help our customers with a much stronger Spar Scotland value package and help them to shop with confidence. Once a customer is through their front doors - physical or digital - we need to take every visit count, selling more to our existing customers about increasing basket spend.
“More than ever, it has to be about getting the basics right to drive operational efficiency. The right products, the right time, the right place, at the right price - it’s now about fully extracting the very best from all our business investments in recent years.”
Joining McLean onstage was Sonya Harper (right), Spar Scotland’s chief operating officer. She also focused on recent feedback from customers and stores, and said: ”We’ve used that feedback to focus on the key priorities for our business, and two great examples are on demand planning and forecasting and sustainability.
”We’re working across the business in stores and the support centre to improve our sustainability credentials by removing paper, reducing energy usage, investing in refrigeration, investing in the fleet, and going on a digital journey.”
Speaking of the role Spar Scotland stores can have in getting products to market, Harper said the group can help the bigger suppliers or new brands in a unique way. “New products create excitement in convenience retail, and we want to be better at this. We’re small enough to work at pace, but big enough to make an impact.
“Simply, we want to be first. We can get your stock to 300 stores for a day one launch without breaking an embargo. Not many wholesalers can commit to that.”
No comments yet