Symbol swap brings in a new strength
Winner – Spar Motherwell Road
Symbol Store of the Year (Single) – supported by Barr Soft Drinks
Interview with Daniall Nadeem, store owner at Spar Motherwell Road
MAKING the decision to change your symbol group can be a leap of faith for retailers at times.
It’s a daunting prospect, knowing your store could look completely different from what it was by the end and with no knowledge whether or not it will pay off for you.
And you need to consider if this is the right move for your customer base as well, if they have come to rely on your store for years then a massive change like this could have a ripple effect across the area.
It’s no small feat and taking the plunge to do so must be applauded, especially when the retailer has enough savvy to know that the move will be the right one.
And that was the case for Daniall Nadeem who made the decision to change symbol to Spar in 2023 for his store on Motherwell Road in Bellshill.
Daniall said: “After two years of trading with Spar, we’re trading 30% up year-on-year, profits are also up and Spar has been a massive help in all of this.
“Having access to an own-label range from Spar to rely on, especially when consumers are struggling for cash, has helped a lot with this.
“It’s an exclusive range, its a household name and its good value-for-money for my shoppers, with some strong margins for the store as well.
“Spar supported us across the refit which has helped to drive our sales up even further, so I believe it has been a successful and profitable change.”
Daniall has clearly embraced all the benefits that the Spar Scotland symbol, ran by Dundee wholesaler CJ Lang & Son, has to offer its customers and utilised these to great effect in store to drive up his sales and deliver a profitable business.
For these reasons, and more, Scottish Grocer judges saw fit to name Spar Motherwell Road as the winner of the Symbol Store of the Year (Single) gong at the Scottish Grocer Awards 2024.
Even though he is only just coming up on two years since the change, Daniall has clearly introduced plenty of Spar Scotland benefits beyond the own-label range.
Stepping into Spar Motherwell Road, you are immediately greeted by the symbol’s exclusive coffee-to-go station Barista Bar as well as an end of unit display showcasing unique Spar promotions across a range of branded products.
Whilst the products on the store floor are what shoppers can immediately see that makes his store unique, Daniall also noted that a lot of the behind the scenes operations ensure he can trade in confidence and knows that extra support is only a phone call away.
Daniall said: “Before I joined Spar, I never really understood the ‘Spar Family’ concept for what it was and always thought it was just a saying.
“But when you become a part of that family, you know from the start what it’s all about.
“And it goes right up to the top, I’ve had Colin McLean – chief executive of CJ Lang – in my store from seven in the morning to make sure everything is running smoothly.
“He’ll make the effort to talk to staff as well and see how everyone in the store is getting on, it is a more casual approach and one that is definitely appreciated – that’s the difference for me.”
Daniall is also part of the Spar Scotland Scottish Guild, and is the youngest current member, which he says offers another avenue for independent retailers across the estate to reach out to one another for support.
And there is a feeling that everything is shared in the Spar Family, reckons Daniall, which can be particularly useful for when it comes to improving on areas across his store.
Daniall said: “CJ Lang has a system where we submit our weekly sales to the company every Monday morning and it gets compiled into this online database.
“Spar members can then view this database to compare sales with each other or with company owned stores and look to see what lines are selling well across the estate.
“We can then take this information and apply it to our store and improve our own business so, for example, if there is a particular product that is selling well across other Spar stores that we don’t have in stock, I can then introduce this line to my store and give it a try.”
This open approach within the business and constant stream of support has encouraged Daniall to invest further in his store and look at introducing his own range of hot food-to-go.
While he won’t be able to make use of the CJ’s branding for this as an independent store, Daniall has said that CJ Lang couldn’t be more supportive in helping him to introduce the new range.
He said: “All the food will be supplied by Spar, so I have no concerns about late deliveries or stock levels.
“And, even though it will be independently run through our store, Spar has reached out time and time again to offer support.
“They’ve offered to print out flyers for us and sent us suggestions for what they can do for us across social media sites as well.
“At the end of the day, Spar is all about supporting their own retailers and that has been clear to me since day one.”
Of course, challenges continue to crop up across the retail sector, ones that both store owners and wholesalers need to overcome to ensure continued success.
And the latest issue of the day for plenty of retailers has been the introduction of the disposable vape ban. The new legislation has thrown up masses of challenges for store owners to overcome and made trading for some stores more of a challenge over the course of May.
Daniall still remained confident throughout the period however, marking the constant support that came from CJ Lang during this.
He said: “From the get go, CJ Lang was on hand to help. They offered to supply us with vape bins, we received daily updates with up-to-date information about what stock will be compliant and the best deals across vapes at the moment.”
Looking to the future, Daniall remains committed to the Spar Family and believes he made the right choice in changing symbol nearly two years ago.
He said: “We know what we have now works, so our next step with Spar has to be about consistency. We have a great relationship with our BDM, who pushes us everyday on taking the next step.
“But, we’re happy with everything for the store. It looks great and we find ourselves getting busier with every new week.
“We want to keep building on this growth for the store and then we can start looking at the different places we can expand and take the business further.”
