Supermarket Built Right Next To My Store

[Chanel West]

What are you selling?

I would embrace it, just think of the extra footfall.

Newspaper, confectionery, cigarettes etc. Yes no choice but to embrace lol. But they sell same products we do.

 

[Chanel West]

The other way to look at this is to see what the supermarket is selling and target their customers with something they can't buy there.

Do you have any ideas of what is selling well at the moment? We are also conducting our own research.

 

[Chanel West]

It wont necessarily mean you will go kaput. Many small shops trade near superstores. You may need to look at what you sell but no need to think it all negative.

Thank you, do you have any friends or brick and mortar businesses near you which survived covid and still performing now? We are also looking into this.

 

[Chanel West]

Many years ago I supplied a small chain of butchers shops in Kent with all their refrigeration needs. They asked me to meet them at a local shopping centre to look at a new site. It was 2 doors away from a large (for those times) Sainsbury superstore. I asked why there? The answer was although they have a meat and deli counter, we can beat them on price and quality, and in this mall, they get 40,000 people a week coming in. Most of whom will pass our open shop front. Within 8 weeks of opening their shop was the busiest in their chain of 9 shops. So do not be worried about the supermarket, concentrate on how you can best offer the hordes of new potential customers items that they need. Seize the opportunity don't shy away from it!

Thank you for your advice. Still having sleepless nights but this community has made me see there maybe 2 sides.

 

[Chanel West]

You are in an extremely good position.

Adapt and change your products, as your current inventory and cashflow allows.

Look at your shop as a brand new empty shop next to a supermarket that will generate much more footfall than what you had.

That's your starting point.

Now make a list of all the product categories that you can sell, which are either better than what the supermarket is selling, or products they do not sell. it doesn't have to be in your current product range. Diversify if need be.

It's a challenge, but you should welcome it.

Are other retailers near you trembling in their boots, or are they adapting?

Iam not sure to be honest, will have to go and check.

 

[Chanel West]

It would be worth doing some local customer and market research too, as well as trying to learn from other local businesses in a similar position. Although supermarkets are great on range and often price, they lack flexibility. Usually because most of the decision making and processes are run centrally, albeit with local management ranging inputs.

As an example, your size potentially gives you flexibility they don't have; e.g. ranging unusual products for local demand. Potentially you could carry out local home deliveries, very popular in some areas since COVID-19, or talk to other local businesses about what they need, or offering joint services in conjunction with them.

Thank you!

 

[simon field]

Bin all your products now.

Slow cooked hot meat (turkey/beef/pork) stuffed into freshly baked petit pains.

The smell will attract them in and they’ll be queuing out the door.

 

[Mitch3473]

I've not read all the postings but it looks like you're onto a winner. Think of the footfall, think of the advertising the new outfit will be doing to get customers into your area, use it to your advantage. Will there be plenty of parking etc etc. I've always said I'd open a hardware shop next to B&Q. Wendys, the burger chain in the States nearly always open up close to a McDonalds and do very little advertising........

 

[Mr D]

There is a chippy in the middle of my village. A McDonald's opened opposite him - part of the normal sales each has is from kids attending local high school.
The chippie has a best selling item - a burger. He does not outsell McDonald's of course but he does sell a higher priced burger.
Until they started building across the road he did not do burgers at all.

 

[LanceUk]

I may have missed it, but where are you in relation to the superstore? Are you in the same building that has been built out? Are you within the same complex of buildings within a shared or connected car park (so, sort of a retail park)? Are you next door, on a busy road but outside the complex? Are you across the road? Is it a busy road? Are there a lot of residential houses/flats around you or are you part of an industrial/retail estate? I am assuming you are a corner shop/convenience store type operation.

These are the sorts of questions that have to be answered to make a decision. For the fish and chip shop opposite McDonalds example, it made sense to add burgers... McD's don't sell fish 'n chips; so if half the family want F&Cs and the other half want a burger, offering the burger is a good choice for two reasons.. Firstly, it will mean that for those that aren't wedded to a McD's burger, they can get their take away in one go.. convenient. Also, they probably know that if the family tied on F&C and burgers and they didn't offer burgers, McDs would probably win and the whole family would go McDs (as they can get a fillet of fish and something that approximates skinny fries). In a word, convenience.

If you are a corner shop/convenience store and outside the retail complex (however that looks), and you offer the same as what the superstore offers - it won't bring any footfall unless it is more convenient to visit because people can't be bothered to visit two stores when they don't have to unless there is a good reason for them visit... it will at best leave it unchanged (convenient for the immediate residential population around you who can't be bothered with the longer walk/car drive to the superstore) or will take away your footfall.

What is the demographics - young school age families - Stock products to bring in the kids; think of ensuring a good stock of the basics that families use and are always running out of, etc. Is it a middle or higher income area? Think of introducing artisan products. I went to a Londis in Barnes (admittedly higher income area) and you couldn't get a bottle of wine under £12 and they had £100 bottles.. people were buying them... So, artisan breads, cheeses, deli products, etc. Also, less usual foods across the cultural spectrum may be the go. Is it a lower income area? What is it's ethnic/cultural makeup - can you stock more items aligned to the cultural makeup (assuming no immediate competition), or maybe as someone earlier said, offer warm takeaway; pies/pasties/sausage rolls, samosas and the like - just a warmer - no cooking. Coffee/tea, etc. Also, think about things like fresh-ish cakes/donuts, hams, etc. Do they still do video games - get an operator to install one to bring kids in, etc (assuming this is still the go for kids and you have space).

Unless you are going to add a good range of groceries, such that people would do a sizeable shop and not just pick up the stuff they have ran out of, I would be wary of home deliveries. Is the margin on a tub of margarine, jam, bread and milk going to be enough to justify the cost of the home delivery? So thnk about a minimum order - but also thing to offer free delivery on any orders to the vulnerable and sing it at the top of your voice on various forms of local meda - social and traditional. A pub is offering free cottage pie to all elderly and vulnerable residents within a 10 mile radius(we are in a rural location); their take away business is booming during the lockdown amongst rivals because of it and it's the reason we use them over our local pub, who couldn't run to the loo, let alone a pub. I am not saying do the same, but you can capitalise on some good will - you don't have to give it to everyone.

A superstore doesn't just pop up overnight - I guess you would have had notice of them building it, etc through the planning process, and from your first post where they were opening to your next, where they had opened was a very short period of time. I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is something that sounds like you should have been thinking about and warming up your customer base for, for a while.

Be that as it may - what has the impact meen so far - sales droped, remained, improved? If the latter two, you have a bit of time, otherwise, you will need to move quickly... and no harm in taking samples of whatever you have decided on (assuming some sort of food/drink) with info for the public at the superstore to try...

 

[Chris Ashdown]

LanceUK has the best well though out answers so far, its easy to throw in suggestions but most are useless without the knowledge of what the OP is actually facing

We through away names like supermarket but what does it actually mean in Great Yarmouth we have two Tesco's one a massive two story monster that sells everything and has a newsagent display far larger than WH Smith for magazines, the other Tesco in Caister 3 miles away is small and just carries a very limited selection of goods and the magazine area is just a few girly magazines

Some supermarkets have the car park in such a position that there is no incentive to visit any other shops just drive in fill up and go home, others might be park of a mall and visiting other shops is easy

The best survival approach in many circumstances is to become a niche business so customers what to come to you as a destination

 

[Alan]

I'm not sure of your demographics, but if you are looking at vaping perhaps you are primarily in a predominately
C2 / DE area?

If you were in an AB / C1 I would seriously consider converting at least half your space to a coffee shop / tea room with a unique feel ( assuming you have more than a kiosk ). Something that supermarket shoppers would love to hang out in to get over having had to endure the supermarket - by unique that is up to you but I have seen successful set up that are shabby luxury or that are ultra kid friendly - play areas etc. You still can sell premium groceries cookies, spices and even newspapers.

 

[UKSBD]

the local Co-Ops are doing small basket order home deliveries via Starship robots within 30-60 minutes (admittedly that's a bit niche, but there may be options like this by collaborating with other local businesses)

Our local Co-Op has done home delivery for years

You go in, do your shop, put it through the tills, they pack for you and you pick your delivery time when paying.

If I'm going to another shop in town they will sometimes get to my house before me.

Brilliant service and the main reason I use the Co-Op - Used to use I should say, not been in there for 10 weeks :-(

 

[Mr D]

Our local Co-Op has done home delivery for years

You go in, do your shop, put it through the tills, they pack for you and you pick your delivery time when paying.

If I'm going to another shop in town they will sometimes get to my house before me.

Brilliant service and the main reason I use the Co-Op - Used to use I should say, not been in there for 10 weeks :-(

Iceland do it as standard. Don't think I've come across any others willing to do it unless you are ordering online.

 

[UKSBD]

Iceland do it as standard. Don't think I've come across any others willing to do it unless you are ordering online.

Supposed to be £25 minimum charge at out local Co-Op but a lot of the time the drivers try to get their numbers up and you can spend under £20 and they will still deliver.

 

[LanceUk]

Co-Ops are hit and miss... We live equidistant between two small Co-Ops; the one that is much less convenient has fantastic service, always well stocked and the staff are friendly and helful. The other one is much more convenient for parkign but the complete opposite.

 

[Carl Nixon]

Have a word with the local planning office - often, if they have given in to pressure to allow a supermarket into town, they will have placed some restrictions on the supermarket. This is not always the case, it depends on the local council/planning department.

A few miles away from here is the town of Merthyr Tydfil, and they allowed a massive Tesco's to move into the centre of town. But they are a very forward thinking council. To level the playing field the planning council made Tesco's provide parking for the town and to upgrade the railway station. Now more people visit the centre of town and the shops around it. They limited the supermarkets operations in certain retail areas, and this allowed independent shops in those sectors to thrive.

I would also suggest standing outside the supermarket and ask people "Was there anything you were unable to buy in the supermarket, or were there any lower quality products you had to buy because the supermarket didnt have high quality items". It should help you identify anything missing from their radar.

 

[billybob99]

plus half-liter bottles of Maggi

This alone is a winner.

 

[ExoPaul]

The advantage is that they are going to bring a lot of footfall. That could help you a lot.

The downside is you can survive and thrive, but need to adapt.

- Are you selling hot food, a bit like Greggs? Hot pies and sausage rolls?

- Have you talked to local farmers and cottage industries and see about buying their local produce that is unique and local rather than mass-produced and selling that too?

- Do you have a lot of square footage? The reason being that when a massive Asda went up 4 houses away from a village shop, they managed to get Subway to move into a quarter of their shop, and a local butcher to take over another quarter with local meats, and they actually saw their own takings go up on the usual goods, while drawing in a rent from the butcher and Subway who were letting their sections.

- Look at the prices too. A place like a Tesco Express or small "convenience store" are usually priced a lot higher than the main stores and you might be able to offer things a penny or so cheaper on most brands.

- Bakery? You don't have to make them yourself but find a local company or even a small but established business and offer to sell their fresh breads, cakes and pastry.

- Window display, if you have one then make it inviting to capture people passing by. And when I say make it a good display I mean if its a window and you can have fresh cakes, hot goods and other things to tempt taste buds then do that.

- Vaping. I am not completely up to date on the regulations but if you can offer a wide variety of vaping gear, they are very popular and will bring in regulars who will want the flavours.

- Online sales. Can you expand into selling online? You already have an established business, and if you can find the right suppliers and can advertise you can sell online. The advantage you have is you have a bricks and mortars building for storing the stock, have the business structure in place, and can also sell that stock to passing customers as well, doubling the chance of sales.

- Finally, as a last chance option, apply for a change of use now there is a direct competitor next door, and convert it into a coffee shop or cafe. People prefer a trendy cafe with decent food than a supermarket one with bland, lower quality food. Or what about a Pet Supplies shop?
You can pretty much offer anything that there is a lack off in the area, and just get the word out that you have it.

Just because you sell baked beans, and then someone else sells baked beans cheaper next door, doesn't mean you will go out of business. But you will have to adapt and move forwards to offer something that is not available that people will want. IF you can offer something like that, then a large supermarket next door bringing in 10 times the traffic past your front door may end up being your biggest opportunity, rather than a death knell.

 

[BusterBloodvessel]

Lot's of good suggestions here. You could potentially be a little wary of the "stand outside the supermarket and ask what people couldn't buy today". I couldn't buy a ramekin in ASDA the other day (don't ask)...doesn't mean you should sell them.

The one for me, depending on your demographic, is coffee to go, and locally sourced food. We are starting to supply our hand made pies now to other stores locally and doing well. One store in particular is stocking our pies, pasties from another local bakery, bread from another, cakes from another, plus beer from 2 different breweries round here, pork sausages from a farm literally 1/4 of a mile up the road from them, milk & butter from a local farm....and so on. Their business is absolutely flying - they have turned it round from a traditional old off-licence/corner shop that had struggled for years against Morrisons down the road.

 

[jcm2020]

Hello all,

A superstore is being opened right next door to my small shop.

Is there any help/advice I can access my business is going to go kaput.

Thanks for your help in advance xx

I wouldn't worry but change what you sell. A chap i know added a slush machine, made his shop into a parcel drop off point, sold packaging supplies, sold eastern European snacks and lots more.

There is always a positive from a negative!