Congratulations – is customer service something the store particularly focuses on? Yes, we take a lot of pride in our customer service, both as part of our job and our wider role in the community. A lot of us live locally so I know a lot of the customers from my village. My neighbours shop here! So while we give good customer service to everyone, knowing them gives even more impetus to delivering that. 

Are the customers that know you quick to give you feedback? My personal feeling is that if you treat shoppers well and give them the service they want, then they become very loyal. And yes, our customers are keen to bring things to our attention if there is something they like, or something they are not as keen on. But that feedback is so useful in helping us keep getting it right. 

Have you had any reaction to the ongoing E.coli scare? No. We were supplied with official questions and answer fact sheets if customers asked about E.coli, but I haven’t had a single customer ask me anything. I think it’s a combination of the resilience of the British public and Sainsbury’s reputation for quality and safety. And I know it’s not clear exactly what caused the outbreak, but I haven’t noticed any drop-off in sales of anything. 

What has been selling well in the store? Clothing has gone really well. It is a very important growing brand for Sainsbury’s. We had a 25% sale recently across all clothing, our colleagues wore a special uniform advertising the sale and we had lots of PoS – we were really trying to grab sales. It gave us a huge boost – and we showed what we offer compared with the other stores around us. We ran it for two weeks, and we saw a sales increase of over 38%. We moved clothing to the back of the store a couple of years ago, and it has really taken off since. 

There has been a lot of activity across own-label ranges recently. How are Sainsbury’s selling? People are still tightening their belts. Times are hard and even if people aren’t directly affected by the economy, there is a sense that it could happen to them in the future. But our premium products are still very popular and the Basics range is also selling very well – and it is very good quality. I shop at Sainsbury’s and some of the Basics range are absolute winners. It’s a quality product at a very good price and people recognise that. People mix the two, they shop for both of them and the money you save on one you can then spend on the other. 

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