Me V Tesco

[The Greengrocer]

Hi, I have been thinking for some time about having some sort of gimmick to emphasise how competitive we are against the local Tesco. On the vast majority of items (fresh produce) we are cheaper and our quality is nearly always better. I dont want to appear desperate because we arent but we could certainly do with a little more. It shouldnt be too difficult to do with the price comparision web sites etc. Has anybody done anything similar ? I thought of maybe putting a shopping basket together and showing the saving on a weekly basis. My wife says it will provoke them and we may regret it. All the supermarkets do it to each other so why shouldnt I join in.
Any thought or comments would be most welcome.

 

[David Griffiths]

I'm not sure that price is the main reason that people shop at Tesco instead of shops like yours. I suspect that it's convenience - all in one place, car parking etc etc, and possibly range of produce, although obviously I don't know how yours compares.

And this is from somebody who shops for meat and greengroceries in the provisions market, not supermarkets

I wouldn't worry about provoking them, however.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Thanks David, you are right that price isnt everything. There is no doubt however that finances are tight for most people. There will be people I suppose that have never used us and presume we cant compete. My theory was to create a bit of theatre and once a few new faces had a look they might consider sticking with us. Who knows whats right,but doing nothing isnt an option. Cheers

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Currently I must admit we buy most of our veg and meat from supermarkets as they are more convenient due to parking restrictions in London. Price really doesn't come into it.

We are moving to the county soon and then will be using the local shops rather than the supermarkets.

If you want to compete with supermarkets who have large car parks, then all the shop keepers in a high street should offer to pay for a customers parking, provided they spend say over £30 in local shops.

 

[Philip Hoyle]

I think you need to look at more than just price. People shop at Tesco for lots of reasons beyond price.

The main reasons that keep popping up are:-

Opening hours - Tesco opens all weekend and evenings - how can you compete with that?

Parking - How easy/cheap is it for your customers to park close enough to your shop?

Other shopping - People can buy lots of different types of product in Tesco - can they buy other things if they stop at your shop - are there other shops nearby they could use at the same time?

You shouldn't concentrate on price/quality alone and ignore these other factors as you may get drawn into concentrating on the wrong things.

If it's not convenient to shop with you (i.e. there's no parking or you aren't open when they do their shopping) then however cheap you are and however good the quality, you won't get those customers you're aiming for.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Thanks for these replies its really interesting to get other peoples slant on it. Just a bit of background,we have been here for 15 years now and are lucky to have some good independents round us also,such as butchers,bakers,hardware stores,newsagents etc. Thankfully we also (at the moment ) still have free parking. There are 12000 people living in the town and we have approx 4750 sales per week. We have 30 staff and are perceived by many to be a busy shop. But sales are fairly stagnant with costs going up. I could really do with tempting in some new faces while looking after our loyal regular customers.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

I'm guessing most of the people who go shopping on the high street are already your customers.

The people you need to target are those who don't use the high street anymore so no point putting advertising in your window as they will never see it.

Maybe get together with some other local stores and as you say do a price comparison against Tescos showing the savings if they bought their meat, bread, veg etc. locally put this in a local paper and see if it helps.

 

[Christine Hough]

Could you do a teaser leaflet locally.

Show pictures £20 worth of vegetables of yours and Tescos and have a question?

Then show the same two pictures after the veg has been kept and rotten ones removed.

Show a map of where they come from

Where to spend £20.00 on veg?

Then on the back/inside tell them which picture is from your shop and which from Tesco.

Price does matter, and if the saving is enough many people will make the effort at least once. Then is your chance see what else you can provide to make shopping easier and cosolidate with re-enforcing quality and locality. I expect a delivery service might help.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Like the delivery service idea, however on your own this may prove expensive.

The trick I think is to team up with other local shops and show people they can get the same range of products delivered from their local stores as they can from the likes of tesco.

Also some people like to think they are helping their local area, so maybe do a bit showing that most of the cash you give to tescos goes either overseas or a long way away, using your local store all the cash is kept within a 20 mile radius.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Thanks there are some good points there,I appreciate it very much.

 

[Christine Hough]

Slogan 'No horse DNA included - only British insects!'

 

[Paul_Rosser]

You may want to watch this - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-118/episode-7

 

[Alan]

lucky to have some good independents round us also,such as butchers,bakers,hardware stores,newsagents etc.

Do you have a local business association? If not why not? If you combine forces you may be able to work more effectively in attractive more customers. Toghether you can do things like Framers Markets once a month, or Christmas (bit late but start planning) parade. Special late shopping nights etc etc

 

[The Greengrocer]

About 6 months ago I had the idea have having an online shop which not only would service our town but also within about 15 miles there are lots of little villages without shops. I intended to cover different areas on different days and deliver the goods ourselves. We stock about 1200 items. I spoke to a couple of web designers and when I said I wanted orders placed on line etc etc they were quoting £3k plus. I thought this was a bit on the high side. I dont think a couple of pages and a phone number would work I want the orders placing and paying for online. I wanted to include products from other shops and I proposed to take a commision from them. After all we would be doing the delivery of their goods and collating the orders. It didnt get much of a reception from my fellow traders to say the least. I still think it could work somehow.

 

[Hunnie]

Hi Greengrocer,
Your website delivery idea sounds good to me. I haven't come across any other independants offering this and it might be a way to compete with the supermarkets.

We are a dance studio and dance wear shop. As yet we don't really sell on line.
The biggest online dance wear site advertises loudly that they are up to 50% cheaper than retail stores.
I have checked their pricing and although a few items are undoubtably cheaper, most are about the same. I even found items that were dearer with them so I put on our website
" some items 10% cheaper than on line ----"

No repercussions as yet

regards
Hunnie

 

[Paul_Rosser]

About 6 months ago I had the idea have having an online shop which not only would service our town but also within about 15 miles there are lots of little villages without shops. I intended to cover different areas on different days and deliver the goods ourselves. We stock about 1200 items. I spoke to a couple of web designers and when I said I wanted orders placed on line etc etc they were quoting £3k plus. I thought this was a bit on the high side. I dont think a couple of pages and a phone number would work I want the orders placing and paying for online. I wanted to include products from other shops and I proposed to take a commision from them. After all we would be doing the delivery of their goods and collating the orders. It didnt get much of a reception from my fellow traders to say the least. I still think it could work somehow.

The issue would be keeping the site updated to show stock levels, recent pricing etc.

Especially if we are talking about multiple shops.

Last thing you want is someone placing an order just to find you have undercharged, or worse the stores don't actually have the goods needed.

However that doesn't bother Tescos/Sainsburys etc. as the few times I've ordered from them I never get everything I asked for.

On one ocassion I ordered £175 of stuff from Sainsburys and they actually delivered one bottle of mouthwash and some dog biscuits, total cost £2.50, the rest of my order was "out of stock" apparently.

 

[garyk]

Start selling cameras (a la Jessops)
Start renting DVDs (a la blockbuster)
Start selling chart CDs (a la HMV)
Start selling microwaves and washing machines (a la comet)

There you go the grocers that does everything, get it in the local rag and get some PR!



Gary

 

[Young Recruit]

Hi, I have been thinking for some time about having some sort of gimmick to emphasise how competitive we are against the local Tesco. On the vast majority of items (fresh produce) we are cheaper and our quality is nearly always better. I dont want to appear desperate because we arent but we could certainly do with a little more. It shouldnt be too difficult to do with the price comparision web sites etc. Has anybody done anything similar ? I thought of maybe putting a shopping basket together and showing the saving on a weekly basis. My wife says it will provoke them and we may regret it. All the supermarkets do it to each other so why shouldnt I join in.
Any thought or comments would be most welcome.

It's like others have said, price is not really the issue here. It's hard to believe but it's true.

If people shopped at supermarkets purely for price then we would be checking every item we bought and comparing it with other shops! Ok, that's a bit extreme so here is another example, as you probably know supermarkets offer loose vegetables and prepackaged vegetables, the packaged vegetables are always much more expensive but most people still buy packaged because it's easier!

Also, if you advertise your produce as 'cheap' you risk making people think your selling poor quality fruit and veg. Most people will assume you don't have the buying power of a supermarket and wonder how you can source cheaper produce without compromising quality.

Would local delivery be an option? Yes there are bigger brands doing it but that does not mean to say you can't. People will pay for produce if they perceive it to be of a higher quality than a supermarket.

Do not try to compete on price! Go for good value. Competitive yes but not cheap.

JA

 

[Alan]

I spoke to a couple of web designers and when I said I wanted orders placed on line etc etc they were quoting £3k plus.

You can get online e-commerce solutions for a lot less, but as mentioned above, maintaining (and the initial load of products) can be very time consuming.

But additionally, marketing your online shop will take time and effort, it is not a case of build it and they will come. Marketing a website can be time consuming & expensive, depending on approach.

It may be an idea to pilot the idea as a test with a limited range and market to specific area. There are many e-commerce 'shops' that you can 'rent' on a monthly basis without long term commitment ranging from free (you pay % commission) with the median around £25 up to £50/month.

 

[simon field]

.....On one ocassion I ordered £175 of stuff from Sainsburys and they actually delivered one bottle of mouthwash and some dog biscuits, total cost £2.50, the rest of my order was "out of stock" apparently.

Ran out of Moet did they Paul?

 

[The Greengrocer]

I know you are right about the perception of "cheap" but you must agree there has never been as much emphasis as there is now on cost. Why else do the stores place so much emphasis on Price Matching. The fact is as it been mentioned already its the convenience issue we are trying to get round. Most of our customers park in Tesco do their grocery shopping and then come into town for the better quality fresh food. We have 2 marvellous butchers yards away from us. We have lots of people who travel miles just to shop with us because they want to shop at a proper greengrocers. But as things stand its getting harder costs are going through the roof and we need more trade.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

They generally do price match on branded goods, so tins of beans etc. where people want cheap as it doesn't damage the brand.

Saying fruit and veg are "cheap" does give the impression of lower quality, what you should do is say everything is "Organic" and double your prices. Works for a lot of shops in Maida Vale ;-)

Maybe some sort of loyalty card scheme where holders get 10% off in a number of local stores at certain times. People love a bargain.

 

[The Greengrocer]

I have thought about the loyalty card for the high street I like that idea,thanks. As far as Organic goes I think the vast marjority of people like the idea but thats about it. Especially up North !.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Sadly not the same round here, I saw a small'ish bunch of carrots for £2.99 the other day.

Obviously your regulars will get a card and a discount so be careful not to give too much away, or put your prices up 10% ;-)

 

[mrchips]

An online store isn't going to work for you with 1200 products. They'll be in and out of stock daily, you'll never keep it up to date. Picking and packing will be a nightmare.

How about offering a fruit & veg box service? Include the basics and vary it with seasonal produce. Description on the website never needs to change and you can vary each box according to your current stock.

You'll be selling £15-20-25 of produce in one shot. Teach people that it's good value and tell them they can have a standing order for a weekly box. Collected or delivered.

Have examples on display in the shop. "Family of 4", "Couple", "Economy", "Sad loner"
etc.

Develop it at Christmas to include higher value products?

Mr Chips

 

[The Greengrocer]

We trialed a box scheme it was a nightmare ! People would ring up and cancel items for others (usually more expensive) not everyone likes the same things. Some people demanded variety every week some liked the same. Some went on Holiday and never bothered to let you know. Some didnt pay. ..............

 

[Christine Hough]

I have thought about the loyalty card for the high street I like that idea,thanks. As far as Organic goes I think the vast marjority of people like the idea but thats about it. Especially up North !.

Where are you? perhaps I'll get my veg from you. PM me if you want to keep it quiet.

 

[The Greengrocer]

That been said we may try the box scheme again

 

[Paul_Rosser]

May be a crazy idea but do you still have local milk delivery ? If so and it's an independent speak to them and see if they would fancy also offering their customers fruit/veg delivery.

You may have to pay them a bit of comission but you get an excellent delivery network with no up front costs.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Whats a Milkman ? Seriously though we used to supply one guy,he did a bit but not much but hes packed in now. We sell milk from a local Dairy the customers love it ! 2litres £1

 

[Paul_Rosser]

£1 is pretty reasonable.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Tesco are £1.53. We are paying the dairy 5p a litre more than they were getting so everybody wins ! its a small margin for us but big volumes and brings people in daily

 

[Paul_Rosser]

It's a pound in poundland ;-) http://www.poundland.co.uk/product-range/a-z/2-litres-milk/

To be honest though I have no idea how much milk costs, if we need it then it goes into the basket.

 

[The Greengrocer]

Check next time and let me know I would be very interested

 

[Paul_Rosser]

I bought some from sainsburys today and still have the receipt.

Was £1.09 for 1 litre!....the robbing bas***ds!

However this is central london.

 

[The Greengrocer]

The interesting bit for me is that you didnt know,to be fair not many do though. You will think next time though wont you! lol

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Nope I will put the milk in my basket, I may mutter something but wouldn't stop be buying it.

I possibly could get it 40p cheaper if I shopped around, but the time that would take isn't worth the return.

Luckily I'm moving to the countryside soon and then won't be using supermarkets, local shops all the way.

 

[Matt1959]

never mind the produce, what is the shop like - atmosphere, staff, ambience, space/ room to move, nice displays etc as any of these could be good or bad and affect shoppers?

But the answer would have to be unbiased and through other peoples eyes as it is subjective.

What about handing out feedback forms and getting an idea of what people think of the shop and its products? you might get some interesting pointers.

PS locally we have a shop that sells products and it smells. Its always smelt so how many people have not gone in it because of that.....

 

[The Greengrocer]

I know it wont stop you buying it but you will think about it. Hope you enjoy the countryside.

 

[threenine]

I'm not sure if this is a valid proposition here, and I'm pretty sure you're thought about it. But what about a delivery service?

The only other suggestion I would make, is try talk to the customers at the local tesco to try and find out why they shop there? A pop market survey, you may be surprised by the answer, and like other have said price will probably not be the factor.

We get our milk delivered by our local milkman, he is more expensive for his milk than the local sainsbury's and I drive past 3-4 leading brand supermarkets on the way home everyday and could easily by the 4 pints we use daily, but I still use the milkman. Why? because I just go to the front door in the morning and my milk is there!