Poundland plans to offer frozen and chilled food from nearly all its UK stores within a year, in a move aimed squarely at supermarkets.
Already in over 350 Poundland stores, the frozen and chilled range is now set to reach another 275-300 by autumn 2023.
Poundland said its “ambition is to bring more value to more places as an alternative to supermarkets” as it unveiled the latest plans today.
The rollout, dubbed ‘Project Diamond’ by Poundland, also sees stores gain Pep&Co clothing and home departments.
The acceleration would see the project reach “almost all of Poundland’s UK locations” by the end of September next year, Poundland said. It would mean “customers can do more of their shopping in one place – making the discount store a stronger alternative to the supermarkets”.
The project, which has been enabled by Poundland’s 2020 acquisition of frozen retailer Fultons Foods, sees stores gain an aisle of freezer and chiller cabinets, stocked with hundreds of products from ready meals to everyday basics such as cheese. Big-name brands are among the offering.
Poundland also said today that all Project Diamond stores would get what it claimed was “Britain’s best-value meal deal”, at £2.50 for a sandwich, snack and drink.
In a swipe Tesco, a Poundland spokesman pointed out that “last week, a major supermarket increased the price of its meal deal to as much as £3.90”. Tesco’s meal went from £3.50 to £3.90, or from £3 to £3.40 for Clubcard loyalty scheme members.
He said the frozen and chilled ranges were “winning new customers” for Poundland.
Read more: How Poundland is looking to steal shoppers in cost of living crisis
Poundland recently told The Grocer its data suggested it was taking shoppers from the mults in the cost of living crisis. However, when it comes to Aldi, bargain stores including B&M, Home Bargains and Poundland saw a combined total of £19.7m in spend switch to the supermarket in the 12 weeks to 2 October, according to Kantar data.
Poundland also today announced plans to open two “supersize” stores of around 18,000 sq ft each in December. One would be an extension of an existing store, in Denton Crown Point Shopping Park in Manchester, and the other a new location in Peterborough’s Brotherhood Retail Park.
The retailer said it would unveil further “ambitious store opening plans for 2023 early in the new year”.
Poundland commercial director Tim Bettley said: “Our ambition is to offer more value in more places through opening, relocating and extending new stores and accelerating the rollout of Project Diamond so that customers can find more of what they need close to home.
“We’re working hard to extend our ranges in new categories such as chilled and frozen food and clothing and to constantly select the items that give customers value for money at a time when they need it the most.”
No comments yet