Winner: Sainsbury’s Cannock
Store manager: Mike Webb
Opened: 1991
Size: 64,000 sq ft
Market share: 11.5%
Nearest rivals: Morrisons – 2 miles, Tesco – 2.1 miles, Waitrose – 2.1 miles
Store data source: Analysis by CACI.
Call the market planning group on 020 7602 6000
You must be proud of how safe our shopper felt in your store? Absolutely, keeping our customers and colleagues safe remains our number one priority. I have to say I think Sainsbury’s as a company has gone above and beyond in its efforts to keep everyone safe. We have really strong measures in place and in fact we have been complimented by the local environmental health in Cannock as the standout business in the area when it comes to our Covid measures.
How has the last year been for you and your team? I genuinely can’t praise my colleagues highly enough. This has been a year like no other and I have just been so impressed by the incredible job the whole team has done. I’ve worked in a number of different types of stores over the years, and sometimes it can be that the larger the store, the less of a family feel there is amongst colleagues – but not here. The team spirit and bond at this store has just been fantastic. We’ve worked very hard to support each other and the local community. We have donated food and recently Easter eggs to local food banks and charities such as the Chase Lighthouse, which supports the homeless.
How did Easter compare to previous years? We were incredibly busy. We certainly sold an enormous amount of Easter eggs and hot cross buns. We saw a real uplift in our online grocery sales but, ultimately, we got a lot right in terms of our preparations and that definitely came through in the takings. We also did well in terms of our promotions, and the products in the Aldi Price Match are also selling very well.
Did the easing of lockdown restrictions help as well? They did. We sold well on BWS and we also have a strong general merchandise offer here. Plus, we saw strong performance for our garden shop. Of course the weather can be a factor – it was nice last week and then really cold this week – but I think overall the easing of restrictions has lifted the mood more generally as people get to meet up with friends and family again.
Our shopper picked up a full basket, how is availability generally? I’m really delighted your shopper was able to pick up a full basket early on a Saturday morning at the end of a really busy week. This has been a tough year for availability in general but it has been getting better every day recently, even in areas everyone has had issues with such as petfood. Our fresh produce availability is always strong. We’ve done a very good job on availability at a corporate level and in-store.
What are you doing on availability at the store level? We get so many metrics now from our online grocery service, which lets us see in real time what is happening. We are looking to be offering great availability to all our shoppers, whether that is someone logging onto the website at 4am or someone coming into the store first thing in the morning, or 7pm on a Saturday evening. We are constantly chasing gaps and dressing the store throughout the day so shoppers are able to see all the products they need.
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