The unbelievable transformation of Spar Scotland over the last half dozen years has left the business in great shape to face the challenges that undoubtedly lie ahead, says CEO Colin McLean.
By Antony Begley
As just about anyone who comes into close contact with Spar Scotland will tell you, the transformation of the business over the last five or six years is simply remarkable. The Spar Scotland of today is essentially unrecognisable from the one that was on its knees when CEO Colin McLean took over in 2018.
It was, at the time, a seemingly strange decision by the former Scotmid COO to join an ailing business that was on a downward spiral as far as commercial performance was concerned and, perhaps more worryingly, seemed to be devoid of vision and strategy.
McLean, however, clearly had a strong belief in himself and saw enough potential in the business to feel that he could turn it around. Time has undoubtedly proven him correct and he has undeniably “re-awakened the sleeping giant”.
That’s not to say the job is complete. McLean told SLR this time last year that at that time he felt that he and his team “had completed the first phase of our project to take Spar Scotland back to where it belongs”.
With all the adulation and relief of turning CJ Lang back into a solid, highly profitable business now behind him, the next phase of the brand’s evolution is arguably even more important.
“The journey continues,” he says calmly. “We have done a great job so far but we can’t rest on our laurels. We are in a good place but we will just keep our heads down, stick to our plan and keeping doing what we do. Today, it’s about tweaking, not overhauling. It’s about continuing to regroup, to refocus and to refresh our offer to keep us ahead of the competition as a Scottish company exclusively focused on serving the Scottish market.”
One of the problems McLean faces, of course, is the same one that every successful CEO faces: consecutive years of growth and record profits have a tendency to set expectation levels high for the wider business and Board.
“Yes, we have delivered strong growth over the last five or six years”, he says, “and indeed we have delivered another year of record sales and record profits but this year is likely to be tough. There are a lot of challenges at the moment, and we find ourselves in the midst of a difficult economic climate, as the entire trade does. The awful summer weather hasn’t helped, obviously, but the fact remains that we are the best-performing Spar RDC in the UK and the strength of the business we have built in the last six years puts us in a very good position to weather any storms coming our way, as well as allowing us to exploit the opportunities that are sure to arise in future.”
Chain gang
It’s clear, however, that McLean has made a typically robust job of exploiting the opportunities that arose over the last 12 months. The acquisition of three Eddy’s Food Station stores in April in the aftermath of the collapse of Stephen Thompson’s venture back into local retailing, as well as the acquisition of nine Scotfresh stores last October, have further strengthened CJ Lang’s flourishing company-owned stores division.
The Eddy’s integration, says McLean, is going “really, really well” while the Scotfresh integration, he admits, “had some initial teething problems but is now at full pace”.
For all the excitement and column inches surrounding the new stores joining the group, McLean insists that his primary focus at the moment is consolidation: “Our primary task is to focus on improving the stores we have, and we have an ambitious programme in place that includes adding digital SELs to all stores, a constant schedule of major refits and rolling out our Barista Coffee offer. It’s already in 25 stores and we should have it in all company-owned stores by the end of November.
“We are also in the process of rolling out the latest, updated version of our food-to-go offer into more stores, including the Leuchars store which is one of the former Eddy’s outlets.”
This is the much-improved 2.0 version of food to go trialled initially to huge success in the Spar Garthamlock store under the indefatigable Store Manager Gerry Haughey. So successful is the new version that it’s already being replicated by the Blakemore RDC down south, the biggest Spar RDC in the UK. “It’s very flattering,” comments MacLean.
All of this is being backed by Spar Scotland’s biggest-ever investment package.
“Essentially, what we’re trying to present to our customers is Spar at its best,” says McLean.
Behind the scenes
The transformation of Spar Scotland over the last half dozen years hasn’t been restricted to only the highly visible elements like new stores, new concepts and so on. Behind the scenes the business has also been transformed with heavy investment in systems, processes and equipment that have helped the business meet challenges and exploit opportunities – and will continue to do so in future.
In early 2023 CJ Lang engaged Relex Solutions to deliver integrated store and distribution centre forecasting and replenishment as well as providing improved allocations and promotional forecasting.
Relex also helps drive improved order accuracy, sharing of forecasts with suppliers and fresh assortment optimisation.
“Our use of Relex gives us access to market-leading forecast and replenishment solutions to optimise our processes, increase visibility throughout our operations, and maintain quality in our customer offer,” says McLean.
Spar Scotland has also committed significant investment to its fleet of vehicles and continues to do so as sales and demand grow, enhancing efficiencies and also pushing its sustainability agenda.
Along the way, McLean has also transformed the senior management team at the business to bring strategic vision and experience. Chris Boyle joined as Finance Director in May, the same month that Della Myers joined the team as Trading Director. In October last year, Frank McCarron joined as Company Owned Store Director.
The success of this evolution can be witnessed in the striking spike in the last few years in the number and variety of industry awards that the business has claimed. As well as being named Symbol Group of the Year on two separate occasions at the SLR Awards, CJ Lang’s company-owned stores have picked up countless awards in the last few years. Most recently, CJ Lang won the Technology Initiative of the Year prize at the Grocer Gold Awards 2024.
“Who would have thought a little company like ours would be winning Grocer Gold Awards?” says McLean with a smile.
And, of course, Spar Scotland continues to grow its presence among consumers with an ongoing programme of marketing, advertising and awareness campaigns, including big budget TV advertising on STV and a high-profile partnership with the SFA.
And how could we forget the Spar Scotland Trade Show, undoubtedly one of the highlights of the local retailing calendar in Scotland.
“The first year we did it, it was absolutely phenomenal,” says McLean. “I didn’t think it could get much better, but then last year we outdid ourselves. The big challenge is keeping raising the bar when it has been set so high, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves for this year,” he laughs.
“I would encourage every Spar retailer to join us in Aviemore. It will be worth your while, I promise you.”
