Focus on food for stronger shopper satisfaction

A growing demand for fresh food from shoppers has prompted a retailer to invest in his store and change the focus of his offer to satisfy customers.

The 1,600 sq.ft store in Corby, Northants, has operated as a Nisa partner for seven years with alcohol sales being the key driver during that time.

However, in recent years, shoppers have been asking for more food and owner Suki Somel, said the time has come to broaden the range in response to customers.

“We have never really sold much food and certainly not fresh produce, but people are coming in and asking for it now and so we think the time is right to develop the store.

“Since Nisa and the Co-op deal there are some great products that we can have that our shoppers will really like,” said Suki.

The store has now been re-fitted and converted to Nisa’s latest Evolution format with a new grey and yellow fascia to welcome shoppers outside, whilst internally, the store has been re-layed with the counter and chillers moved to allow more space for additional food lines.

Extra lighting has been installed along with new vinyls, interior signage and window graphics to enhance the shopper experience and improve the look and feel of the store.

The range has been expanded to include more world food, bread and bakes and impulse goods including share bags of crisps and confectionery.

But importantly, the chilled and food to go range has been increased with the focus on Co-op products and Suki is hopeful shoppers will be as excited by the new additions to the store as he and his staff are.

“We are giving something back to our customers and investing in the store for them. They have been asking for the greater product range and so I hope they will like what we have done, and it will encourage them to keep shopping with us,” said Suki.

“We will be pushing the groceries much more with these changes and so we should sell much more. We are all really excited about it.”