What's in-store at Sainsbury's?

Sainsbury's produce colleagues have been hitting the shop floor in recent weeks, to gain first-hand experience of the operational issues experienced by their in-store counterparts.

The Journal went with the fruit team from Holborn to Sainsbury's Luton Bury Park store, which has recently been converted to a Savacentre format to broaden its appeal and optimise ranging for the local consumer demographic.

Claire Rowbury, fresh produce trading and retail specialist, took the fruit team around the produce section of the store, which had been reinvigorated four weeks before and has shown potential with a significant sales uplift in its initial period.

'The objective was to extend our Power of Produce planning through buyers really feeling the store experience first-hand,' said Tony Sullivan, head of fresh produce at Sainsbury's. 'Of course, buyers visit stores on a regular basis, but rarely would they have the opportunity to sell their own product areas and see the operation challenges for themselves.

'We had a fantastic response from all the buyers and importantly from our store colleagues – and as a result we have an action-packed plan to push the business on further still. This is just the beginning – we have plans for key suppliers and supply chain colleagues to visit stores on a similar programme in the new year.' The shop floor area at Bury Park has not been increased, but equipment has been through the concept stage and designed specifically for each category to optimise efficiency.

Stuart Forder, head of the fruit team, said the formatting perspective at Sainsbury's is 'very much focused now on ranging by the demographic of each store'.

In the case of the Bury Park store this means no banana hammocks, a piece of equipment that has proved extremely successful in many reinvigorated stores over the last year. To save on labour, sloping shelves have been introduced in their place. Potato shippers allow the product to be brought directly into the store and placed in the produce department without any in-store handling of the product. The shippers are part of a broader outlook and are expected to roll out to 320 stores by next year. Ski slope ends increase the attraction of the melons on display, but there is a trade-off against maximum capacity.

Rowbury said: 'While maximisation of shelf space usage is important, the visual appeal of the produce cannot be ignored.' There is a minimalistic feel to the point-of-sale material in the store. Prices will be lower on average in stores such as Bury Park, but that is because of the different breakdown of the range. There will be less Taste the Difference premium lines and more extra value and economy lines, in line with the needs of each store.

In addition to fully embracing the objective, each colleague from Sainsbury's Holborn centre was charged with bringing back performance enhancing ideas for their category and others.

During the afternoon, the team visited the London Colney store and actively participated in the replenishment of shelves and other shop-floor activities.