Winner: Sainsbury’s Longwater, Norwich
Deputy store manager: Hannah Wright
Opened: 1997
Size: 84,000 sq ft
Market share: 23%
Nearest rivals: Aldi - 1 mile
Lidl - 3.9 miles
Asda - 4.6 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI. Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
This is the second win in the Grocer 33 for the store. How do you feel? We’re absolutely delighted and really proud. We believe we’re the best in town. As a team we visit the competition weekly to see how we compare in terms of availability, cleanliness and service. There’s nothing more prestigious than winning the Grocer 33 - to win twice gives an indication of the great job our staff are doing.
What changes have you introduced since joining Longwater? We held our first customer focus group in March, inviting 20 to 30 people to a special evening in our café. We gave them the opportunity to sample ranges and talk to us about what really matters to them. They were very forthcoming with feedback. It’s something we’ve committed to doing once a month.
What other improvements have you made? When working in a shop this large it’s sometimes difficult to engage with colleagues. I decided to put up a weekly message where people clock in and clock out, which is essentially an update on sales and where we’ve excelled. We also name colleagues that have received customer compliments. Every colleague sees it. We also run listening sessions with our colleagues.
Have you introduced any new ranges recently? On Easter Sunday we launched new homeware and seasonal items including charcoal, compost and gardening products. They’re really well-priced and with the recent nice weather customers are revitalising their gardens. Today we launched our new Gok clothing range.
The Nectar rewards scheme has come under fire recently. What are your thoughts? Nectar’s been really successful. It gives customers a reason to do their grocery and fuel shop with us, and recent changes will enable even greater awards. Until 10 May customers can earn 10 points on each litre of fuel, which awards bonus points on the things that matter to them.
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