Tesco Andover: Grocer 33 store of the week

How does the store reflect who’s shopping here? We serve probably every demographic there is. From the very price-sensitive on one side of town, out into rural Hampshire, Wiltshire, where there is real affluence. We have to cater for all of them, and we do it really well through the emphasis on Aldi Price Match, Clubcard Prices and our Finest range. It’s not a big town, but we are an extremely busy shop. Sainsbury’s and Asda are a stone’s throw away, but we pride ourselves on being ‘the best in town’. We have a high-density clothing department and overtrade on clothing. Otherwise, it’s fairly traditional.

Was Christmas busy at Andover? It felt like shoppers tried to spread their spend. We saw lots of big grocery shops during the early weekends of December. Having said that, the last five days were as insane as always. People were also definitely switching to more upmarket products.

What were some of the standout Christmas lines? The Finest party food range was exceptional, as were the Finest pigs in blankets and our dessert range. Our Chef’s Collection range of centrepieces really emphasised the quality I spoke about earlier. We saw more shoppers buying alcohol-free drinks, but also a big increase in sales of upmarket wines at the other end. Our free-from and gluten-free range was a standout for us. Some of it reflects people making different lifestyle choices, and being more aware about what they eat, but as a business the range has never been as good.

Tesco had a great Christmas generally. Why do you think it was so strong? There’s a number of factors. Firstly, the way everything came together, be it distribution, supply chain, support office, those of us in shops – the plan was excellent, and every component played their part. There’s also no doubt that we had the stock this year. Availability figures were some of the best we’ve ever seen, especially dotcom. Over the last three to four months, the business has really focused on improving quality. We’re seeing the benefit of that in both gains from competitors and our own internal figures. There’s been a massive increase in our ‘quality perception’ here in Andover.

You’ve started January strongly. Availability was perfect… We were busy right up to New Year’s Eve, but exited Christmas really well. There are still some pockets of availability we’re working through, but we’ve recovered quicker than ever this year.

What’s your focus now January is here? We’ve launched our active wear, which is on Clubcard promotion on our power aisle, along with other core health lines. But if you put out a mini egg people will buy it, and customers are already shopping into Easter. We’re gearing up for Valentine’s Day but also the Lunar New Year. We’ve got a whole chilled end of Chinese ready meals, and accompaniments like aromatic duck on Clubcard Prices, which is set to go live next week.

How will you ensure standards remain high? We’re going through a complete reset of our standards at the moment. It’s something we do every year, looking at how we can improve the shopping trip to make sure we’re still the best in town. I’m very lucky to have a team of 450 colleagues who all want the store to be the best it can be.