Duty manager: Daryl Lewis
Store: Tesco Extra, Newport
Opened: 1996
Size: 80,000 sq ft
Market share: 13.75%
Population: 181,700
Grocery spend: £4,378,580.01
Spend by household: £56.43
Competitors: 33
Nearest rivals: Aldi 1.6 miles, Asda 1.1 miles, Co-op 1.7 miles, Iceland 0.3 miles, Lidl 0.2 miles, M&S 1.2 miles, Morrisons 1.9 miles, Sainsbury’s 1.1 miles, Tesco 1 mile, Waitrose 5.7 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
Is this your first Grocer 33 win? Yes, it’s exciting. I joined Tesco in November 2008, working as a weekend customer assistant in our convenience format. I had various different roles, before becoming a deputy manager in convenience. I became store manager in 2012, then moved into larger format stores at the start of the pandemic. It’s given me great insight into the business as a whole.
There’s another Tesco Extra store close by, how are you different? We’re situated between two big Tesco stores. The uniqueness of us is that customers can walk here rather than having to drive. We’re on the Harlech retail park, which is right on the doorstep of our customers. It also means we don’t have a dotcom operation, as it’s split between the other two stores. That simplifies the operation in store, so it’s easier to keep neat. There’s less congestion for customers first thing in the morning.
What are shoppers coming into store for? Another uniqueness about our store is that a lot of Tesco distribution staff shop with us, as we’re in close proximity to two of the depots. We’re quite mixed when it comes to shopper missions – we have a heavy ‘on the move’ offer due to the fact we are in walking distance of town. Then we have a lot of ‘dine in’ and top-up shoppers. Whenever we cycle through the promotions, they tend to be popular here.
Our shopper noted the Diwali display near the store entrance. Is that a big sales event for the store? It’s a big event for Tesco, but locally it’s not massive. We’re not classed as a ‘Diwali store’ by the business. That said, around 10% of our customers come in specifically to buy those lines.
You had full availability, what’s behind those high standards? It’s about constantly thinking and encouraging our team to put themselves in the customer’s shoes. We have team meetings twice a day, where we talk about any feedback and look at the customer metrics. We walk the shop in the morning and afternoon. The biggest impact on availability from the business is around the investment into colleagues. We’ve had payroll invested back into stores to have more colleagues on the shop floor, which has helped availability and ensures friendly service.
We’re nearing the golden quarter, how are preparations going? We are laser-focused on Christmas already. This will be my third Christmas here. Due to our square footage, we tend to double sales over Christmas, so it gets quite fun and there’s a good vibe from the shop. We have a team meeting to discuss what we’re going to do for the customers, how we’re going to make it fun, and help both customers and colleagues celebrate. Then it’s about planning how we’re going to launch it on the shop floor – where stuff is going to go, what volumes we’ve got coming in, and making sure we’ve got enough bodies around to serve customers.
How have the team reacted to this win? The news has leaked into the team already – I think it’s because I’ve got a suit jacket on for once! We plan to celebrate with a buffet. They deserve the credit for everything they do, day in, day out. All we do as store managers is guide them. They bring all the elements of the friendliness and the great shopping trip.
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