A report last month stated that basket spend in convenience stores was up by 15%, SLR wonders if that’s an accurate reflection across Scotland’s c-stores.
Wilson Rea
Nisa retailer
I’ve not been open for a year so obviously don’t have year on year comparisons to make but basket spend isn’t as high as I’d like.
I find through force of habit people are still going to Tesco for things like a newspaper, so I have to change that. We’re using money off vouchers to entice customer in, but it’s not been easy. I’m hopeful Christmas will kickstart a change.
Javid Ghafur
Londis retailer
We’re not actually doing as well as we were last year and basket spend is down. People are just being a lot more careful about what they’re spending their money on. They come in with lists and aren’t as open to impulse purchases on promotional items. That said, we’ve been told that previous we were over-indexing on what Londis thought we’d do, so now we’re at a reasonable level. I’d like to push it back up.
Billy Kay
Spar retailer
Our sales are holding up, I know that much. I don’t monitor basket spend that closely. To be honest, I’m grateful for every customer. I’d say it’s gone up a little in the last year, but nowhere near 15%, I don’t know where that figure is coming from as it’s a big jump. For this year our revenue has remained steady, sales are perhaps down slightly, but margins have been better so profits are up.
Walter Bryson
Londis retailer
I’d say it’s about the same as it was this time last year. I check it every month and there’s not been much movement.
However it’s up considerably on the year before, because we did a major refit in early 2011. I’m content but not overly happy with it at the moment, which is why we’re investing in improving our food-to-go. That will help boost sales throughout the whole shop.
