Shop in Spain

[telephoneman]

I own a Supermarket in Spain serving the British community. There are quite a few big Cash and Carry type sheds around that we can't really compete with on price so we are focussed on service and having a wide choice of UK products. For example we have over 3 dozen types of tea, a really big selection of British greeting cards and we will order from the UK pretty much anything someone wants us to get (within reason).

It does OK but I'd like to get more customers through the door. We are in an area that has quite a lot of British residents but not too many UK tourists. I have a basic web site that doesn't say much other than what and where we are (englishshop dot es) but as our target clientele tend to be older I don't know if this is something worth pushing.

My background isn't in Retail so I'd welcome any thoughts on how to reach the local ex-pat market, ideas on marketing and anything that you think that British shops should stock in Spain that you haven't come across!

Muchas Gracias!

 

[fiona mac]

hola. cómo son usted hoy?

ok so you have competition with the big supermarkets.

but what you do have that is unique, is the knowledge of what the Brits want. they only reason people will look on the internet is for specialist products and how to get them, so maybe pushing that side of things on there..
A few ideas
1.You have got to get INTO the community, by that i would be doing press releases showing that you can stock "local produce" from say a farm in Yorkshire? Get pics of the farm, onto a leaflet to publise it....make them feel they are getting something extra special..
2.taster days, for say cheeses, specialist ice creams etc....publicise like crazy.
3.Delivery service ? for free for an intial period to build up the customer base.
4.leafleting in such a small area would be good showing the differences that you have to the supermarkets.
Also with all of this publicity, press releases and leaflets i would have a pic on the front with your photo on, maybe with the shop dressed up in Union jack bunting..remind them of their heritage.. If people get to know YOU, that is the biggest influence imo to get people loyal to your shop..
5.get your name out there, write articles about british food, submit british recipes to local british mags and press. become a well known figure in your community..
6.With every customer get them to enter a free competition to win a hamper of free food, you then have their address's and emails to further market to them any upcoming events/offers..check the legalities of this..
7.Set up a loyalty scheme, with plastic membership type cards (PVC Printing does this very cheaply) where by the more they spend the more they save type of thing.


i shall keep thinking..............

 

[born2becool]

Try t get in touch with your local Expat forums & websites - I 've worked with a number of these and they are usually very co-operative (no pun intended).
If you Google 'expat spain' you're bound to get the major sites. I'd personally start with justlanded dot com
Cheers!

 

[mikelaluz]

Hi
Not sure where you are - we are on the Atlantic coast. The biggest chalenge is always cost. We are in a town with a very small ex pat community but about 20 miles up the road there is a larger town with a relitively large ex pat group. The 'English' shop there basically sells the big brands Typhoo Heinz Colemans etc etc but at a price that discourages most people from shopping there. The rest of the products are brands unheard of with equally ridiculous mark ups.
What I am trying to say albeit long winded is not to be seen profiteering at the cost of your British mates.
We still get our fix by visiting Morisons in Gib (1.5 hrs) every couple of months and stocking up on the essentials.
Good luck with it and sorry I asn't more constructive.
Kind Regards
Mike

 

[telephoneman]

Thanks for the input everyone. To clarify, the shop is not far from Alicante but I live in the UK and handle the UK end (ordering etc). This makes it difficult to make it "all about me". I have a very good team but it's unrealistic to expect them to get networking, or work all the hours that God sends to build someone else's business.

Some interesting ideas though. Leafleting is difficult when you are trying to get to maybe one in twenty that are British (It's not a little England type of area). You can advertise in the British press but it covers a large area so you are paying for an audience that's quite large and well outside of your geographic area. I'm also not a fan of "me too" type advertising and feel that you should have something special in your message.

Keep 'em coming!

 

[sdearing]

Hi I live in Spain and one thing which we find very irritating is the lack of Christmas cards in Spain. I'm talking about packs of sort of 12 or so, like you would find everywhere in the UK over Christmas. We live near Malaga and finding packs of Christmas cards was a nightmare and when we did eventually find some, they were so awful we couldn't bear to send them out to people! Just a suggestion!

Other than that, just all the normal English products which you wouldn't normally find in Spanish supermarkets such as frozen battered fish, frozen yorkshire puddings, jars of ready made sauces e.g. Sharwoods curry sauce, mango chutney etc etc...

Hope that gives you some ideas!

 

[serrano]

Have a word with Mark at the Olive Press, he may be able to help with some leaflet circulation through the paper.

 

[serendipitybusiness]

Placed in your your situation this is what I would consider

I would defiantly get some leaflets out to the ex pat communities
cross promote with the english bars, book clubs etc.
If you have an english paper then I would place some advertising in that.
The local english radio station is always good for adverts.

I would put up a good website, if doing delivery some kind of ecommerce ordering system. Your under estimating the power of the silver surfers. You would be surprised at how much of the ex pat community have computers as this is a good way of keeping in touch with their families back home.

It would also be a good idea to run a facebook campaign for expats in your target area as well as introducing yourself in the ex pat forums.

With it being an ex pat community it may also be worth looking into the demand for a delivery service.

Hope this helps and good luck!!

 

[Hogrill]

Are there any other nationalities who are not catered for locally. If so and you have the room maybe a selection of items for them.