Duty manager: Chris Mort
Store: Sainsbury’s Wilmslow Rd
Opened: 1999
Size: 31,770
Market share: 6.91%
Population: 922,483
Grocery spend: £21,713,624.59
Spend by household: £56.75
Competitors: 191
Nearest rivals: Aldi 1 mile, Asda 1.2 miles, Co-op 0.5 miles, Iceland 0.6 miles, Lidl 1.3 miles, M&S 0.9 miles, Morrisons 1.6 miles, Sainsbury’s 0.7 miles, Tesco 1.1 miles, Waitrose 4.5 miles
Source: CACI. For more info visit www.caci.co.uk/contact. Notes: Shopper profiling is measured using Grocery Acorn shopper segmentation. Store catchment data (market share, population, expenditure, spend by household, competition) is within a five-mile radius. For CACI’s shopper segmentation of the other stores we visited this week see the online report at www.thegrocer.co.uk/stores/the-grocer-33
I understand you’ve had a few spells at this store. I had the pleasure of being on the management team who opened the store, then came back as deputy manager in 2014 and now I’m back as store manager. I’ve come full circle. We have 97 colleagues, it’s a great store.
Fallowfield is known as a student area. How does that impact trading? We’re slightly different to the norm. Our peak is September, when we see a massive intake of up to 100,000 students coming to Manchester. It means we tend to get quieter around Christmas and Easter. Lots of students have never shopped with the business before and are maybe doing their first ever grocery shop on their own, so it’s a great opportunity to build loyalty.
What are some of the popular lines? Come September it’s duvets, coat hangers, pesto and vodka – whatever people will need to equip themselves for the first time. We’re predominantly a food store and don’t have a big non-food footprint, but we’re increasingly working with suppliers to get bespoke PoS in.
Is value extra important because of the students? Absolutely, but it’s both ends of the scale. When students first come back to uni they buy a lot of the branded expensive stuff because their parents tend to be paying for it. Then as the year goes on, the value message definitely kicks in, so lots of own label rice, noodles, chips and dips. We also sell lots of chicken portions, mince, fruit and spinach.
How was Christmas in Fallowfield? It was good. We have a real peak before Christmas from students buying Christmas trees and roast dinners, then a second boost from our core customers. We tend to be a bit quieter at Christmas, so locals like to come here to do their big Christmas shop. Across the board, we had our best availability as a business, certainly that I can remember.
Sainsbury’s has done a lot of work on availability. What has been the most impactful? There’s no silver bullet. In store, it starts with really good processes and having colleagues who are obsessed with getting products on to shelves. As a business our processes and supply chain are getting stronger – we’ve brought in a new ordering system and simplified how we operate in every shop
How will you be marking other seasonal events now that Christmas is out of the way? We’ve seen massive growth in Ramadan – the business had its best ever two weeks in terms of growth, Nectar is driving that. Then we have Valentine’s Day as well. We’re doing something different this year as a business, Galentine’s Day, where we’re offering gifts for friends as well. It’s a real opportunity.
The store is in line for a refit, what’s planned? It’s about rebalancing the offer and adjusting the flow of the shop. Taking a little bit of non-food out and putting some more food ranges in, and then rationalising the ones we have. We’re making sure we keep the core essentials that everyone needs, while giving more space to booze, more food and a bit more health. We do well in terms of Asian, Afro Caribbean and Polish food, so we’re boosting our offer there. It will take two-and-a-half weeks. Our job is to make sure we minimise disruption as much as possible, and it will set us up for next year.
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