Store: Tesco Old Swan, Liverpool
Store manager: Chris Fielding
Opened: September 2002
Size: 37,876 sq ft
Market share: 7%
Population: 688,312
Grocery spend: £16,904,577
Spend by household: £55
Competitors: 125
Nearest rivals: Aldi 0.2 miles, Asda 0.3 miles, Co-op 1.1 miles, Iceland 0.3 miles, Lidl 1.2 miles, M&S 0.4 miles, Morrisons 2.1 miles, Sainsbury’s 0.8 miles, Tesco 0.7 miles, Waitrose 11.4 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.
How long have you been with Tesco? I’ll have been with Tesco 17 years next month, in this branch for four years. I joined the company within the convenience side of the business and I worked my way up to store manager of large stores.
What’s been the trickiest part about managing a store so large in the past few years? Half my time here has been spent under some form of Covid restriction. That’s the bit that’s been both challenging and rewarding. We’ve seen a company step up and look after its colleagues, and then we’ve had to stay really light on our feet in terms of managing change.
How has your branch kept availability consistent throughout these challenges? When there’s been general disruption across the whole industry, I think Tesco is in a great place to either suffer the least or come out of it more quickly. If your supply chain and your buying team is really strong to begin with, they’re going to come out with the best results when challenged. The breadth of range also helped, which meant demand could be spread over a number of products.
Are you struggling with cooking oils? [Tesco] often will leave it to the store manager based on local issues to make that decision. Right now there’s not an issue here, but it’s something we’re keeping an eye on.
Our shopper noticed a great atmosphere among colleagues. How do you keep staff morale up? It’s lovely to hear the shopper’s comments. We’ve done really well at engaging with the colleagues so they understand that we’ve had their back through this whole pandemic. And we made sure we recognised them in terms of how we praised the team.
How was the Tesco pay raise news received among the team? Everyone is going to face the cost of living crisis, so it was lovely to be able to deliver that message. It’s been so well received and I think it’s taken a little bit of the worry away from the colleagues.
What else makes this store special? The shop is in the centre of Old Swan and our community, both figuratively and geographically. It’s a big local employer so we are ingrained within that community. Old Swan has been the best shop I’ve had so far and I would say it’s the people that make that.
How do you cater to the different customer demographics considering the competition? It’s probably more of a price-sensitive store, so we focus on value and we’ve had a lot of good feedback around Clubcard Prices.
How did Easter trading go for you? We had a really strong Easter week right up to and including the weekend. Easter eggs and proteins like lamb legs have pretty much sold through. Then with the weather we decided to feature barbecue and associated products, so we got a nice little uplift with that as well.
How has the local community responded to campaigns such FareShare and the Ukraine appeal? Despite me saying it is a price-sensitive area, every campaign we support that means giving to somebody else who has less always does well here. Last year we were highlighted for the amount of food we collected for our local food banks. We were inundated with donations to the Ukraine appeal. The customers are so generous.
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