Discounter of the Year - Poundland on course to hit 1,000-store target

It takes something special to thrive on the average UK high street these days, but Poundland is doing just that. Europe’s biggest fixed price discounter opened 60 stores in 2012, pulling over 4.5 million customers to its 450-strong store estate every week.

It wasn’t just about the store numbers. The grocery category boomed at Poundland in 2012, with the discounter boosting the number of ambient lines by a third to over 350 and introducing premium brands like Loyd Grossman, Ritz, Hovis and Nescafé. It also launched a new in-store campaign, which urged shoppers to start doing their grocery shopping at Poundland to see how much they could save.

Fresh food also started to increase, with bacon, sausages, ham, cheese and even minced beef becoming a fixture in chillers. Poundland also pushed food-to-go hard, with heavy use of PoS promoting new ranges of sandwiches, pasta pots, salads and microwaveable snacks.

Poundland made significant additions to senior management to drive food and drink, hiring former Morrisons corporate marketing and operations director Richard Lancaster as trading director.

Lancaster replaced David Coxon, who was promoted to business development manager to focus on developing Poundland’s next move into Europe as well as its long-awaited launch into online.

All are major moves which indicate Poundland has no plans to slow down - and at its current rate of growth, Poundland is around a decade away from doubling in size to hit its long-term target of 1,000 UK stores.