Consumers have been urged to shop locally for a long time now.
But as the current pandemic has caused a great shift in general shopping habits amongst the retail and grocery industry, there has been a significant rise in shoppers opting to shop at their local convenience stores rather than large supermarkets.
Our research found that when compared to early 2020, 2021 saw shoppers spending 68% more on food and drink at local convenience stores, resulting in a whopping two thirds of British shoppers now choosing to shop more locally since the pandemic began.
This significant increase in local shopping has allowed independent retailers to seize the opportunities and advantages brought about by the rise in footfall and increased spending and are keen to maintain consumer spend as the UK returns to normality.
However, this positive flux in shopping habits for smaller businesses hasn’t been without some challenges. Here at Tactical, we want to delve into some of the hurdles faced by local convenience stores and offer added-value solutions that help.
The Challenges
With the sudden rise in local shopping, it’s no surprise that previously quieter shops are facing new struggles in order to keep up with an upsurge in shoppers.
Tactical comes with the insights to help small local shops carefully balance managing the additional demand for products and ensuring stock and inventory remains at satisfactory levels. With such a rise in local shopping, independent retailers need to ensure that shelves are constantly replenished and stock levels remain high, especially if they’re wanting to maintain distribution levels, a high number of sales and customer satisfaction.
As well as this, smaller shops might find that they need to keep up with new product development as with increased footfall, it’s important to stay on top of increasing choice and giving customers access to a wide range of products and brands in order to sustain returning sales. This may be unknown territory for some smaller retailers who haven’t had to widen their existing product choice and extend their usual stock to sustain a bigger audience.
How can Tactical help?
Convenience stores and local shops shouldn’t have to face these challenges alone, especially when doing so well during these turbulent times. This is why Tactical Solutions are here to help smaller stores adapt to the substantial rise in customers as well as sustain increasing sales as consumers rely on them for their essential shopping needs.
Utilising a blend of our industry knowledge, our expertise and bespoke technology, we can help drive availability, in-store theatre, replenish stock and provide independent stores with the knowledge they need to maintain sales, high levels of customer satisfaction and keep up with consumer trends.
Our data led insight platform Reapp and our image recognition tool Recognise enables our teams to act fast and support retailers to maximise sales by identifying and solving issues before they’ve even had a chance to develop, whilst helping retailers make the right choices when it comes to range and displays. Our highly trained teams can provide a regular presence in store and offer vital support for small retailers who otherwise might not have had the resources to manage.
To ensure we’re tackling the challenge of product variety and development, Tactical are able to sell local convenience stores popular and high demand products like Starbucks Coffee, straight from our Tactical Solutions vans. This way, shop owners can rest assured that their stock levels are being managed and maintained in the most efficient way possible and that they can always benefit from their newly increased levels of customer spending.
Are you struggling to meet the demand brought about by the pandemic? Contact Darshna Patel at Tactical Solutions and our expert teams can help your brand adapt to a busier period and ensure that you’re reaping every single benefit that comes along with it.
