Page 25 - Demo

Tell us about your background and your roles in retail. Retail has been a big part of my life for many years. My journey started in a Foodland store at the age 18, moving to the supplier side, working for several FMCG manufacturers locally and later moving to Sydney to work for Goodman Fielder in a number of senior leadership roles. My return to South Australia and the independents was facilitated through Metcash across several roles, then the full circle was completed by owning both Foodland and IGA stores with my brother Chris for the past nine years. Throughout this time I was very fortunate to serve as a non-executive director for the IGA national retail network and Foodland as deputy chair, followed by chair for Foodland across the past 12 months. During the COVID-19 crisis, what changes are you seeing in the retail, supply and consumer space? How has your community interaction changed over the past few months? The stores reacted immediately to the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation. The priority was to provide a safe environment for shoppers and staff. Our normal behaviours that were entrenched in our business became the new expectations across the market, so we were well prepared for this – for example, exceeding customer service expectations. Our stores are now seen as a community hub and place of social gathering. Our retailers are the centre of so many South Australian local communities, suburbs and towns, and as families who have been living and working in those communities for decades, they’re passionate about providing the platform for grass- roots community support across our state. What are some of the key challenges that continue to impact retail, and what’s Foodland’s role in addressing these? Over the years, I’ve seen the market transform in South Australia with the entry and departure of national and international retailers. In recent times, new entrants into the market have created a new level of competition we’ve not seen in the past. As the largest independent retail network in South Australia, the Foodland brand and its retailers have continually demonstrated the ability to compete head to head in the changing environment and have maintained the highest market share for any independent group across the country. When we think back to supermarkets in the past, even as recently as 10 years ago, the Foodland retailers have continued to evolve our stores through innovation into world class supermarket shopping experiences that go far beyond day-to-day grocery shopping. Testament to this success is evident in the recognition of Foodland as one of South Australia’s most trusted brands, and also by our customers in being awarded Canstar and Roy Morgan supermarket awards multiple times as a regional player on a national stage. What’s next for Foodland Supermarkets and the outlook for the rest of the year? Are any new expansion plans on hold that can now progress? COVID didn’t stop any planning: we have new stores coming online, focused on delivering new experiences. Also, we’ll have a new Metcash DC that allows us to add even more to the experience and has provide an expanded, state-of-the-art, fit- for-purpose warehouse that will provide growth for the future of the Foodland brand. How has Foodland evolved during your time there? Are its core values still the same or have they evolved too? Given the short time of my current role as the CEO, I’ll comment on experience in other roles within the network. I’ve been involved with the brand for over eight years as a retailer, non-executive director, (chair). I’ve seen the brand evolve and grow and become more in tune with the shopper and suppliers. It’s become more sophisticated in the past five years. It doesn’t matter what the market Foodland values throws at this brand – high competition, new competitors, pandemic – this brand has gone from strength to strength, it continues to show how in tune it is with the market and our customers. Where do you see the most innovation happening within the business? Where would you like to see more innovation and growth? There are so many opportunities. Foodland is becoming significantly more data driven, investing into data cubing and evidence-based decision- making to allow us to understand our customers better and become even more customer centric. By capturing and analysing data to better understand the category and the shopper, we’re able to make powerful decisions based on data backed by science. These include: A level of investment in the shopping experience in-store... becoming more than just a supermarket, becoming a community hub specialty like restaurants and bars – taking the grocery shop away from being a chore and into an experience. ‘Community pantry’ – due to the recent rise in popularity of cooking shows, people now want to eat, drink and entertain, and food has become less functional. It’s now an event and a celebration and our stores are now fulfilling the centre of the plate. We’ve seen a normalisation of what was exotic, with innovation of stores bringing this to life: salami bars and sushi offers brought into the supermarket; gourmet food and cheese; normalising gourmet and making it accessible to everyone, where in the past it wasn’t – we’ve introduced the availability of gourmet, and artisan/boutique produce and food have become normalised in our stores. At Foodland you can buy fresh bread at any time of day. There’s a high level in stock when you want and need it. TO PAGE 24 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Trusted, Reliable & Honest Fun & Healthy Lifestyle Cares Great & Fiercely About the Healthy Food Competitive Independent Community AUG, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 23