Page 48 - RetailWorld-May2021-Tobacco-Updated

SALES & MARKETING FROM PAGE 45 throughout the past year, with ‘on- shelf availability’ an area of immediate heightened focus. “When Covid hit, consumer shopping patterns changed almost overnight, affecting everything from panic buying to just-in-time purchases,” he said. “There were many times when doing a ‘normal’ weekly shop was a real challenge for people. “Even though grocery remained open, restaurants and cafes frequently suffered because of product shortages, which led to a shift towards more dining at home. “Our role was to work with our retailers and their suppliers to find ways to support in-store and ensure their products were available and displayed prominently. “Another change from last year was the \\\\\\\[necessary\\\\\\\] pause on consumer sampling. This impacted our brand ambassador teams significantly and, as a people business, our teams are very important to us. “We worked hard on how we could redeploy our brand ambassadors across different activities, such as merchandising and replenishment. Our teams were retrained using our online LMS \\\\\\\[learning management system\\\\\\\] and we’re proud that we were able to retain and redeploy as many of our team as possible until all channels and service models we deliver could resume.” Local heroes Mr Feehan continued: “Operationally, we began to focus on keeping our teams close to their local areas. Covid meant we weren’t able to send our people to multiple locations, so we were limiting movements to smaller zones. “Resource scheduling usually factors in a territory zone of 10-15km. With restrictions on both travel and the number of people being allowed into a store, we were able to condense this while also responding to the increased need for support at a local level.” One of the many impacts of Covid on retailers has been the increase in customers shopping locally due to lockdowns and travel restrictions. Smaller independents such as IGA have reported sales growth of up to 30 per cent, much of it from customers who would typically shop further afield in the larger supermarkets. With grocery shopping one of the few activities allowed during lockdown, many shoppers also moved from a single weekly shop to making daily visits to their local supermarkets, as these gave them a valid reason to leave the home. As each of those trips was for fewer items, supermarkets noted an increase in customer frequency but a smaller average basket size. In smaller supermarkets, with their narrower aisles and limited floor space, this increased customer frequency meant merchandisers working in the stores needed to be aware of social distancing, both from a proximity point of view and regarding the number of people allowed in-store at one time. To support this increased activity in local stores, merchandisers needed to make important adjustments in their approach. “We looked at both time and day of execution, supporting stores earlier in the morning and later at night, including 46 RETAIL WORLD MAY, 2021 “With an inhouse team, you have fixed overhead costs. Using a third-party marketing partner, this allows you to move to a shared overhead model.”