Grow footfall by offering parcel delivery services

Neil Weir, Ollie’s Day-Today, Ballyclare, County Antrim

“We offer parcel collection from Amazon, Yodel and UPS to get people through the doors. We’ve had them for about a year now and our footfall has increased by 100 people a day, easily. Parcels are huge business and it’s a smooth transition. We use our PayPoint tills which have an app on them for it, so it’s just become a part of that rather than a whole extra section. The parcels are located at the checkouts and then transferred to the back office.

“It’s been seamless and it drives people to us. People will come in and post a parcel, and most of them will stop and buy something in the store or at least have a look around. Parcels really do drag people into the shop.

“It helps for Google searches as well. People will search online for the nearest place that offers Yodel rather than our specific shop, and it will bring us up.”

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Offer as many services as possible to drive people to your store

Nick Thornton, Sam’s Local Shopper, Pulham Market, Norfolk

“The first thing we do as a shop is make sure people know that our post office hours are the same as our shop hours – seven days a week including bank holidays – which means that people know we’ll be open and will come to us.

“On top of that, I’ve been trying to get lots of extra in-store services. I’ve already got Amazon, Evri and DPD, and I’m looking to get DHL, UPS and more. The aim is to become a postal hub for the area. I would say that 30% of the people who come into the shop to post or collect a parcel buy something.

“Retail is tough at the moment and people don’t have a lot of extra money, so you’ve got to give them a reason to come to your shop. The more services I provide, the more likely they are to come to me. We also offer dry cleaning pick-up and drop-off, and have coffee, fresh bread and cakes every morning for people, which definitely helps.”

Grow footfall with a strong range and competitive prices

Raj Suchak, Coldean Convenience, Brighton, East Sussex

“At the end of the day, customers want convenience, everything they need under one roof and all at a price that’s competitive with multiples. So, that’s how we run our shop.

“We stock as much as we possibly can source – we’ve got over 12,000 lines, and they’re all priced competitively, especially on those core lines like bread, milk and even tobacco. One of our keys is price-marked packs. It’s a trust-building exercise between you and your customer.

“We’re with Premier, so we try to get hold of its promotions and pass those savings onto our customers rather than chasing higher margins. If we’re withing 20p of the supermarket price, then we’re doing well, and often when we’re on promotion, we’re far more competitive than that. It gives people confidence and keeps them coming back. We’re also known for always being open from 6am to 10pm, except Christmas Day.”

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