Asif Ashraf has turned an empty unit in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, into a bustling c-store by using data analysis to tailor his offer and power sales.
“Traditionally, we open near another store and go cut price to get custom, but this time we’ve grown from scratch, concentrating on social media and on being the best shop and not the cheapest,” the MHouse epos founder told Scottish Local Retailer.
He got the lease and licence for his fourth Spar store in March and delegated the task of hiring staff to a manager. “I’ve been really hands off with this one – I handed it over to store manager Claire from my Motherwell store,” he explained. “She was in charge of hiring the team and training them up. She takes ultimate responsibility for the shop. It’s been the most stress-free experience for me!”
Meanwhile, Asif focused on using intel to improve his offer. He wanted to ensure that he offered the right pricing range for the mid-affluent area, so he took data from a couple of his other stores in similar areas and replicated it.
Assistant manager Lorna was busy creating engaging social media posts, while Asif analysed which had the strongest cut through. “It’s been more strategic than I’ve ever been – we’re using social media figures to see how people are responding to different posts,” he said. “It helps that I own a marketing media company as well. We do targeted advertising for different profiles of customer, test it and double down on stronger responses.”
So far the store, which measures around 2,000sq ft, has exceeded targets, turning over just under £20,000. “Our original target was to reach £20,000 before the end of year,” he said. “Now, I’m aiming for high 20s to £30,000.”
A recent opening event helped push up the figure and brought a lot of new customers through the doors. The shop’s food to go offer, which includes Rollover hotdogs and Stuart’s Bakery, has also helped drive turnover. “It’s a main road location, so we thought food to go would be decent, but it’s been really busy, it’s exceeded expectations.”
Asif’s next plan is to communicate clearly to customers why the range is different to other shops in the area and build up a reputation for wine, eventually specialising in food and wine pairings.
