One Stop hopes move to six-day-a-week fresh deliveries will boost franchisees as shopping habits change

 

One Stop hopes move to six-day-a-week fresh deliveries will boost franchisees as shopping habits change

 PrintBy David Shrimpton in Industry News 7th October 2020

One Stop, the Tesco-owned convenience group, expects its recent switch to six-day-a-week deliveries on fresh food to help store owners better meet the changing needs of shoppers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The group, which serves some 200 franchise stores as well as its company-owned estate, switched to six-day-a-week fresh deliveries into stores at the end of March under a new deal with convenience food supplier Greencore, best known for its sandwiches and food-to-go.

 

The partnership included the opening of a new distribution centre at Tamworth in Staffordshire to service the orders.

 

Head of franchise John Miller said the new arrangement also improved automatic suggested ordering for store owners. “It can work out the volumes quite accurately. That gives better on-shelf availability, and it takes less time for teams to complete an order.”

 

He added: “We also have a lot of lines on single-pick, so it gives independent retailers the opportunity to go into areas they are not used to. They have less wastage and can grow into those categories with less risk.”

 

Miller said the improved arrangements for fresh foods fitted in well with changing shopper habits since lockdown, which have seen consumers looking to convenience stores to fulfil more of their grocery needs.

 

“Shoppers want more fresh items in their basket, which links in quite nicely with us and how retailers lock into that fresh category, which is becoming more and more important to the consumer.”

 

One Stop has also added a number of items from Tesco’s fledgling discount range, Jack’s, including about 14 fresh lines.

 

Said Miller: “That’s a really important factor as we come to the end of the furlough scheme, with the potential for mass redundancies and people not having the disposable income they had before.

 

“Value is becoming incredibly important. Jack’s is an entry-level range and it gives us real strength as we move into November and the early part of 2021, where value is going to be more important to local stores.

 

“It gives us a real value edge to the One Stop offer, which perhaps was a missing link before.”

 

He said the vast majority of franchise stores had already taken on the Jack’s products, adding: “The early signs are really encouraging.”

 

Despite seeing “an uptick in certain lines”, there had been no return to panic-buying since the UK began to see its second wave of coronavirus infections, Miller said.

 

In common with most convenience retailers, One Stop saw a big increase in sales during the initial lockdown. While this has now subsided, franchisees have managed to retain many of those new customers.

 

But with local lockdowns and varying restrictions in different parts of the UK, Miller said it was vital to keep abreast of developments in order to plan ahead. “We are following that really closely and we make sure we keep all our franchisees updated on a daily basis.”

 

Despite the disruption caused by Covid-19, One Stop has added 14 new franchise stores since the beginning of its financial year on 1 March.

 

It has also succeeded in introducing a new EPOS systemfor hospitality, although the roll-out into stores was interrupted by the pandemic and the finishing touches are still to be completed.

 

Said Miller: “It’s been a challenging year so far, but from a franchise perspective, we’re doing really well.

 

“We’ve got some really strong foundations to build on and accelerate.”