New look for neighbourhood store - Supermarket.co.za
New look for neighbourhood store - Supermarket.co.za
New look for neighbourhood store - Supermarket.co.za
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Fore<strong>co</strong>urt <strong>store</strong>watch<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>look</strong> <strong>for</strong><br />
<strong>neighbourhood</strong> <strong>store</strong><br />
Recently revamped Engen Go Go Convenience Centre is now<br />
even better able to cater <strong>for</strong> its regulars in Reservoir Hills, Durban<br />
By Laura Durham<br />
Engen Go Go Convenience Centre<br />
now provides a new take on the old<br />
school <strong>co</strong>ncept of a <strong>co</strong>rner <strong>store</strong><br />
thanks to state-of-the-art fixtures<br />
and the Quick Shop’s new <strong>look</strong>.<br />
This, <strong>co</strong>upled with management’s<br />
determination to offer customers<br />
the best prices on essentials is<br />
sure to guarantee more loyalty<br />
in the affluent <strong>neighbourhood</strong> of<br />
Reservoir Hills.<br />
Always evolving<br />
Engen Go Go Convenience Centre was<br />
originally built as a Mobil service station<br />
with a motor spares shop adjacent to the<br />
<strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt and motor vehicle workshop in<br />
the basement. About 15 years ago, the<br />
24-hour service station <strong>co</strong>nvenience <strong>store</strong><br />
evolution in South Africa trans<strong>for</strong>med the<br />
spares shop to an Engen Quick Shop<br />
24-hour <strong>co</strong>nvenience <strong>store</strong> (C-<strong>store</strong>).<br />
Competitive pricing and<br />
award-winning customer<br />
service make Go Go<br />
Convenience Centre an<br />
essential stop on the way<br />
out of affluent Durban<br />
suburb, Reservoir Hills.<br />
Store: Engen Go Go Convenience<br />
Centre<br />
Location: Reservoir Hills, Durban<br />
Total C-<strong>store</strong> trading area: 68m 2<br />
Staff <strong>co</strong>mplement:: 22<br />
Opening hours: 24<br />
Transactions: 3 100 per month<br />
The site is located on Mountbatten Drive<br />
and is the only service station on the way<br />
out of the affluent suburb of Reservoir Hills,<br />
Durban, if you’re heading towards the CBD,<br />
North or South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal.<br />
Family business<br />
The Randeree family used to be the<br />
proprietors of Brilliant House tobac<strong>co</strong>nists<br />
& news agents in Grey Street in the Durban<br />
CBD since the 1930’s. In 1992, <strong>store</strong> had to<br />
close due to lack of manpower when one of<br />
the partners passed away.<br />
In 2002, Junaid Randeree was appointed<br />
the franchisee at Engen Go Go Convenience<br />
Centre. “I now apply the same values and<br />
customer service levels I learned during<br />
the weekends and school holidays while<br />
working in the family business to my daily<br />
life at Engen Go Go,” he <strong>co</strong>mments.<br />
Space challenge<br />
Over the years, Randeree en<strong>co</strong>untered many<br />
challenges in terms of the offering at Engen<br />
Go Go. The site is relatively small so he has<br />
to ensure that what space there is, is put to<br />
the most profitable use.<br />
Customers <strong>co</strong>mplained that the old<br />
Quick Shop layout had the daily essentials<br />
spread at different <strong>co</strong>rners of the <strong>store</strong>,<br />
making a quick visit not nearly as quick and<br />
wholesalebusiness Issue 5, 2012 27
Fore<strong>co</strong>urt <strong>store</strong>watch<br />
Engen’s Reinvigorate<br />
Programme normally<br />
includes the installation of<br />
a new Corner Bakery, but<br />
it was impossible in the<br />
68m 2 Quick Shop. Junaid<br />
Randeree there<strong>for</strong>e decided<br />
to focus on his <strong>co</strong>re<br />
business – daily essentials<br />
<strong>co</strong>nvenient as they might like. Lighting<br />
in-<strong>store</strong> was poor with natural daylight<br />
blocked by the awning and low canopy. The<br />
fixtures and fittings were also aged and the<br />
entire C-<strong>store</strong> <strong>look</strong>ed tired. It was time <strong>for</strong><br />
a change.<br />
Revamped and ready<br />
<strong>for</strong> business<br />
Engen briefed the project managers to<br />
get the site up to the specifications and<br />
over<strong>co</strong>me all the issues to make the site<br />
as customer friendly as possible. Engen’s<br />
Reinvigorate Programme normally includes<br />
the installation of a new Corner Bakery but<br />
it was impossible to install one in the 68m 2<br />
Quick Shop.<br />
Randeree has there<strong>for</strong>e decided to focus<br />
on his <strong>co</strong>re business – daily essentials – in a<br />
modern space that has been retrofitted to<br />
provide <strong>co</strong>nvenience and a quick shopping<br />
experience. Bread, milk, newspapers and<br />
cigarettes are now within one area near the<br />
cashier with easy access to chips and <strong>co</strong>ld<br />
drinks through the extra<br />
wide cho<strong>co</strong>late and sweet aisles. The impulse<br />
ice cream freezers are at the entrance with<br />
the non-<strong>co</strong>re grocery and personal care<br />
range kept to a bare minimum.<br />
“Rolling stock takes assist in pinpointing<br />
areas where shrinkage is an issue and<br />
remedial steps are taken to reduce this,”<br />
says Randeree. CCTV cameras re<strong>co</strong>rd all<br />
movement on the site and transactions at<br />
the till. There is also a 24-hour guard on<br />
duty in the C-<strong>store</strong>.<br />
Specialised reflective fluorescent lighting<br />
fittings and halogen spotlights on the<br />
special focal areas of the <strong>store</strong> have given<br />
the <strong>store</strong> a totally new <strong>look</strong>. Jarrah wood<br />
panels, grey <strong>store</strong> shelving and stainless<br />
steel pay points with touch screen point-ofsale<br />
systems <strong>co</strong>mplete the new image.<br />
Jarrah wood panels, grey <strong>store</strong> shelving and stainless steel pay points with touch screen<br />
point-of-sale systems <strong>co</strong>mplete the new image of Engen Quick Shops at the site.<br />
Pictured above at the 31 August relaunch of Go Go Convenience Centre, from left to right:<br />
Moulana Patel, Lenny Chetty (KZN retail sales manager), Junaid and Ayesha Randeree (dealers)<br />
and Tshidi Modisenyane, network manager.<br />
An in-<strong>store</strong> ATM adds more <strong>co</strong>nvenience to the Quick Shop’s offering, enabling customers to top<br />
up their wallets as they top up their baskets.<br />
28 wholesalebusiness Issue 5, 2012
MOVING GOODS<br />
EFFICIENTLY<br />
from Warehouse<br />
to Till Point<br />
Cape Gate manufactures a wide range of quality<br />
materials handling and shopping trolleys designed<br />
to move stock with maximum efficiency from the<br />
distribution centre to the <strong>store</strong>, from the <strong>store</strong> to the<br />
shop floor, and finally from the shelf to the till point.<br />
A <strong>co</strong>mplete range that meets the needs of today’s<br />
retailer from bulk handling units to 15 different<br />
shopping trolleys that are specifically designed to<br />
meet particular <strong>store</strong> profiles.<br />
Materials<br />
Handling<br />
Promotions work very well to en<strong>co</strong>urage extra spend and dealer, Junaid Randeree<br />
plans on using social media to draw back old customers to the new <strong>look</strong> <strong>store</strong>.<br />
In 2010/2011, the site won the Engen award <strong>for</strong> best service. Team building through cycling<br />
and personal growth and development are important to staff and dealer at Go Go Convenience<br />
Centre.<br />
The <strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt was also fitted with stateof-the-art<br />
tanks, pumps and equipment.<br />
Serving trucks used to always be a challenge<br />
but the new raised <strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt canopy ensures<br />
that trucks can drive in without any issues.<br />
Convenience is still key<br />
Randeree says the C-<strong>store</strong> is very popular<br />
with motorists stopping on their way to and<br />
from home to pick up their daily essentials.<br />
He says the peak periods are between 6.30<br />
– 9.30am and 5 – 8.30pm.<br />
Residents from the nearby duplexes and<br />
flats also often visit the site. Top selling<br />
items are bread, cigarettes, buddy <strong>co</strong>ld<br />
drinks and Red Bull. Airtime and prepaid<br />
electricity are sold to provide maximum<br />
<strong>co</strong>nvenience to customers. “Airtime sells<br />
well but it <strong>co</strong>ntributes very little towards<br />
the profitability of the business due to<br />
extremely low margins,” he says. Lotto is<br />
not offered as it causes <strong>co</strong>ngestion in the<br />
parking lot and C-<strong>store</strong> when the Lotto<br />
queue builds up in peak periods.<br />
Catapult CGSR002<br />
HEAD OFFICE - CAPE TOWN:<br />
Tel: +27 (21) 937 7123<br />
e-mail: ctsales@capegate.<strong>co</strong>.<strong>za</strong><br />
DURBAN: Tel: +27 (31) 709 2670<br />
PORT ELIZABETH: Tel: +27 (41) 486 2538<br />
BLOEMFONTEIN: Tel: +27 (51) 435 2081<br />
JOHANNESBURG: Tel: +27 (11) 483 8541/2<br />
GEORGE: Tel: +27 (44) 874 3736/7<br />
Shopping<br />
Trolleys<br />
from<br />
90l to 235l<br />
designs<br />
Flexi-Shopper<br />
<strong>co</strong>mpact<br />
shopper with<br />
three baskets<br />
wholesalebusiness Issue 5, 2012 29
Fore<strong>co</strong>urt <strong>store</strong>watch<br />
“The shortage of parking space and tight<br />
<strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt <strong>co</strong>nfiguration <strong>co</strong>uld result in<br />
customers driving off if they are in a hurry<br />
and no parking space is available,” he says.<br />
Premium price challenge<br />
“Customers are prepared to pay between<br />
10-20% extra <strong>for</strong> the 24-hour <strong>co</strong>nvenience<br />
of shopping but I always try to keep prices<br />
reasonable in my C-<strong>store</strong>,” <strong>co</strong>mments<br />
Randeree.<br />
To ensure that suppliers don’t deliver<br />
short-dated goods, expiry dates of all goods<br />
are re<strong>co</strong>rded on delivery notes.<br />
Margins are generally lean and bank<br />
charges and other expenses have to be<br />
negotiated and scrutinised <strong>for</strong> overcharges<br />
“to ensure that we get the best deal to<br />
sustain and add to the profitability of the<br />
enterprise”.<br />
Randeree says he often negotiates and<br />
shops around <strong>for</strong> the best deal on all the<br />
known value items (KVIs) in the C-<strong>store</strong><br />
so that he is able to offer customers the<br />
best possible deal. “My customers are also<br />
extremely price sensitive and this helps keep<br />
me on my toes in negotiating the best deal<br />
with my suppliers <strong>for</strong> all my Quick Shop<br />
purchases.”<br />
Promotions also work well to en<strong>co</strong>urage<br />
extra spend. Randeree says he uses print<br />
media and boards on the <strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt to<br />
advertise the in-<strong>store</strong> specials. ‘Buy two get<br />
one free’ promotions are extremely popular<br />
with customers.<br />
“We have a marketing plan to recapture<br />
market share lost to opposition while<br />
we were closed <strong>for</strong> the three months of<br />
renovations. We are also planning to use<br />
social media <strong>for</strong> our in-<strong>store</strong> promotions.”<br />
This is in addition to the quarterly<br />
promotions that apply to all Engen Quick<br />
Shops.<br />
Staff investment<br />
Randeree says the site is very involved with<br />
Engen and the My School Programme. “We<br />
also <strong>co</strong>ntribute from our CSI budget towards<br />
various projects in the <strong>co</strong>mmunity and<br />
Engen promises to match our <strong>co</strong>ntribution<br />
towards certain projects.”<br />
He says staff turnover is minimal and<br />
most of the training is done on-site. “Only<br />
specialised fire fighting and first aid training<br />
Go Go Convenience Centre’s <strong>co</strong>re business is daily essentials,<br />
which are now <strong>co</strong>nveniently located right near the till.<br />
Specialised reflective fluorescent lighting fittings and halogen spotlights<br />
on the special focal areas of the <strong>store</strong> have given the <strong>store</strong> a totally new <strong>look</strong>.<br />
is carried out by external service providers,”<br />
he adds.<br />
“Team members are en<strong>co</strong>uraged to<br />
study and progress their lives and it makes<br />
me extremely proud that some previous<br />
employees gone on to realise their dreams,”<br />
says Randeree.<br />
In 2010/2011, the site won the Engen<br />
award <strong>for</strong> best service and staff members<br />
were rewarded with tickets to watch a FIFA<br />
World Cup soccer match. They also received<br />
bicycles and full cycling kit from Engen and<br />
participated in the Engen Dynamic Cycle<br />
Challenge in 2010 and 2011. Randeree adds<br />
that management and staff participating in<br />
such races is very good <strong>for</strong> team building.<br />
“Management is hands-on and all staff<br />
have access to me on an almost daily basis.<br />
Team leaders assist in delegating daily<br />
duties and ensuring that service levels to<br />
customers are of the highest level.”<br />
Competitive <strong>co</strong>mmunity<br />
Randeree says <strong>co</strong>mpetition is tough in the<br />
area with two 24-hour service stations with<br />
C-<strong>store</strong>s within a 1km radius and a shopping<br />
mall with major <strong>store</strong>s trading until 8pm.<br />
“However, our <strong>co</strong>mpetitive pricing,<br />
award-winning customer service levels both<br />
in-<strong>store</strong> and on the <strong>for</strong>e<strong>co</strong>urt, as well as the<br />
new reinvigorated Engen <strong>look</strong> sets this site<br />
apart from the opposition,” he <strong>co</strong>ncludes.<br />
30 wholesalebusiness Issue 5, 2012