SHOPWATCH

50 ASIAN TRADER 13 OCTOBER 2017 http://www.asiantrader.biz

Follow us on: http://www.twitter.com/AsianTrader Like us on: http://www.facebook.com/AsianTrader

Oldbury’s Akeel Ahmed invites Asian Trader into

his ethnic food led independent grocery store.

Tell us a bit about your back-

ground?

I’ve been a retailer for over 20

years now – I’m a real veteran of

this trade! I started when I was

18 and now am close to my 40th

birthday. I’ve been through two

recessions and have seen

everything. My business is still

surviving and thriving because I

move with the times and trends.

How would you describe your

store?

It is a modern store with a

bespoke counter area that is

wood panelled with marble

surrounding. The store’s fl oor

size is about 1200 sq ft. We are

on a main road with a lot of

houses situated to the rear of

the store. We have a lot of

passing car trade and residential

top up shopping. The biggest

changes in my store have been

on stock.

The product range has

shifted from your standard

newsagents fare of sweets and

drinks, to a full convenience

o ering, and now, the latest

addition, is an ethnic range to

cater for the Somalian and

Kurdish communities that have

settled in the area over the past

few years.

Where do you get your stock

from?

On the business side of things, I

still prefer to buy directly from

private wholesalers like Dhame-

cha, DPR or EIG. I will be the

fi rst to try a new product and to

see if it will sell if he stocks it,

but I prefer to pick up my own

stock from cash and carries

rather than get it delivered,

because it lets me see what I am

getting before I buy it.

How do you e ectively manage

stock control?

I have a sales area of 1,000 sq ft

and plenty of storage space in

places like the basement of the

store, so I’m not concerned

about storage space, but about

the reception the goods I sell

will have with my customers.

Talking about stock, I need to

stress the importance of

constantly updating a store’s

o erings.

Do you think manufacturers are

giving you good deals?

I have some complaints about

the kind of deals manufacturers

are o ering in today’s tough

economic environment. The

thing is I’ve noticed that

sometimes they go too far and

cut the sizes of their products.

Shrinking pack sizes are

catching up and people are

starting to notice. There is no

value for money from a 65p bar

of chocolate when you realise it

has shrunk. Then suddenly they

put it down to 50p and

when it goes back up to 65p

people think we are

robbing them.

We get the blame

instead of the manufactur-

ers when they take it out of

the promotion and the

price goes back to 65p. The

customers’ point is there is

a fi fteen pence di erence

that they think we are

robbing from them. Price

marked products sell very

well, but I don’t like it when

they go back to the same

amount of product at a

di erent price range.

So how is your relationship

with sales reps?

I still class my relationships

with local company sales reps as

excellent. My store receives

visits from Cadbury, Mars and

Nestle reps, and I have a

particularly good relationship

with the local Bookers whole-

saler. With them I know what all

the promotions are going to be,

and we make sure we pass on

those promotions to our

customers. When the Cadbury’s

rep comes in he also tells us

about all the new things. If not

then we have the trade maga-

zines like Asian Trader that we

keep up with.

What area of the store needs

improving?

My biggest problem today is the

decline in wholesalers o ering

good card ranges for the shop’s

greeting card section. My store

has survived recent big regula-

tory issues like plain packs

without reducing the shelf

space it o ers to tobacco, with

its main earners remaining

alcohol, household goods, and

tobacco. But I fi nd it hard to fi nd

a quality household card range

on my regular stops to pick up

new products.

What seems to be the problem

specifi cally?

The problem is that there are

not a lot of wholesalers who do

cards now, and their card ranges

are going down and down. There

are fewer suppliers for card

ranges now, except if you are

going to the big companies like

Hallmark. But you have to be an

agent to buy from them.

&

Me My

STORE

in association with

Akeel Ahmed