Asda Dewsbury: Grocer 33 store of the week

Our mystery shopper said your staff were the star of the show. We have been working hard on service. Recently we brought back our own mystery shopping exercise. We used to have Happy to Help as the slogan but now it’s Fast and Friendly. Our performance has got better and better since we did that.

What feedback have you had from head office about improving service? Actually, our COO Roger Burnley lives nearby. He has been in very frequently and all the staff know him. I am sure he has been impressed with the improvements in service.

Your store has a very diverse customer base. What opportunities does that give you? It definitely gives us lots of opportunities to drive sales. For example we have 5kg bags of brown onions for £1.70 and we’ve sold pallets of them. Our ethnic customers also love our bakery products.

What other changes have you made in store of late? Recently Asda reintroduced production managers into the store, which has given us a good focus on things like counters, bakery and pizzas. Our sales are up 30% since our production manager started.

Have you made any changes to improve availability? We have rolled out a new system just in the last couple of weeks. It’s called the customer availability programme. It’s a computer-based system that specifically targets replenishment so it’s based a lot more on real-time availability in store. Its enabled us to get much better availability on our core fresh products but also freed up time for staff to make sure the store is tidier and has better availability.

How are you placed on general merchandise in the run-up to Christmas? Just two weeks ago we completed a project to free up more space for home products. We’ve also changed the way the aisles are laid out to make them easier for customers. It looks much better.