Optimising format and shopper experience

The local convenience store market is under real pressure right now; a mix of economic, operational, regulatory, and competitive challenges that are all hitting at once.

The convenience store sector is still resilient, but it’s being squeezed from all sides: costs are rising, consumers are spending less, competition is intensifying and on top of this, crime and regulation are further increasing pressure. To survive and thrive, stores will need to adapt the right product mix, while also focusing on local convenience and community, as well as staying agile with both pricing and day-to-day operations.

best-one is responding to these challenges by focusing on store format innovation and an improved shopper experience, all while re-iterating their position as a fascia that offers great brands at great value. Work is ongoing to improve and develop both its food-to-go and chilled ranges, as well as expanding on the award-winning Best-in own label range – a low-cost, entry-level alternative. There have been several new best-one sites opened over the past 12 months, as well as refits and brand refreshes for multiple existing sites. These latest concepts, for both new and existing sites, aim to provide a sales uplift while also removing ‘pain-points’ from day-to-day operations.

Meeting the challenges

Identifying the right model and format for retailers to maximise their profits based on store proposition can be challenging. As part of the Bestway group of fascia stores, best-one has a team of business development managers (BDMs), who can support business plans for every type of convenience retailer. In the field, a dedicated best-one BDM team supports retailers and develops their stores to drive business performance. In addition, a team of category managers and range planners work with market insights to determine the best product ranges by subcategory, and by store size, to help retailers maximise their sales, profit and footfall.

Working collaboratively with suppliers helps retailers to stock the right range, improve profit margins and offer shoppers great value. A regular refresh of the offer is important to attract new customers and inspire greater interest from existing loyal shoppers. Bestway brings impactful and engaging group-wide NPDs that are launched across both the retail fascias and wholesale depots, helping their retailers drive further incremental sales from consumer market trends.

Incentivising retailers is also important to achieving optimum performance in the market. best-one recently refreshed and simplified its ‘My Rewards’ rebates, offering retailers up to 5% back on spend, which can be used to invest in store development projects. Furthermore, its Retail Tobacco Club offers retailers the opportunity to drive footfall through their tobacco sales. Retailers are also provided with ways of growing their sales with both direct-to-store suppliers, and last mile delivery partners.

Additional incentives for best-one retailers include:

● £0 membership costs.
● A marketing launch package for both new and refitted stores. In addition to ‘on the day’ assistance, retailers are provided with online support to make their stores more visible when consumers are searching for convenience retailers online.
● Thirteen, four-weekly promotional periods. All stores are provided with a comprehensive point-of-sale kit, including window posters, shelf talkers, stack cards, and shelf edge labels, as well as an implementation guide to support every promotional period.
● Access to best-one Vault, a portal that provides additional point of sale, uniform, hardware and other miscellaneous sales aides.
● An industry-leading B2B website for ordering, plus a focused B2C website for shopper promotions and marketing.
● Access to both a collect and delivered service through one Bestway National depot network, optimising delivery loads and routes to pass on better value to retailers.