big interview Barry Williams
36 | The Grocer | 13 January 2018 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
Numbers don’t lie, and Poundland’s don’t show
a retailer in reverse. The build-up might have been
Williams’ very own nightmare before Christmas, but
he delivered record final week sales of £59m, up 20%
on 2016. And he’s confident there is more to come.
Pep & Co clothing, also owned by Steinhoff, is now in
125 stores and Williams is “very pleased with how it’s
working. We are learning more and more as we do it, so
we can adapt it to the location and shape of unit. Some
we have on the ground floor where we have punched
into the warehouse. In others it’s on the mezzanine. We
are transforming some of these stores, which is exciting
to do. It brings something significantly different to our
existing proposition and our seven million customers
every week. There is a tried and tested formula of fmcg,
GM and clothing working together and customers are
responding well.”
As for grocery, in total it makes up about 40% of the
shop and it’s growing (though Williams points out GM
is growing faster, which he says creates a nice level of
internal competition). Alongside the biscuits, crisps
and confectionery, chilled food is continuing to expand
with at least two chillers in the “vast majority of stores”
containing over 30 SKUs including gammon joints,
tiramisu and WeightWatchers ready meals next to the
long-established Rustlers burgers, cheese, bacon and
milk. “It’s doing OK,” he says. “It’s significant, it’s in the
tens of millions of pounds, which is quite phenomenal
when you consider we have no real chilled infrastruc-
ture, it’s all van sales. So that’s quite impressive and
demonstrates further opportunity in that category.”
Williams’ upbeat attitude even extends to Brexit
when I ask how much additional
pressure it’s put on Poundland’s
margin. And what is Poundland’s
margin anyway?
“We have a healthy margin, I’d
like it to be healthier. We are a dis-
count retailer, we make pennies in
the pound, and currency has been
under the most pressure it’s been
under for some time. Brexit has
devalued our currency, so it’s made
life harder for imports. But you can
choose to be a victim and complain,
or take control of the things you can.
That is what we have done. All the
colleagues have got a bonus for the
first time in five years and we are
growing like-for-likes. I’m not say-
ing it’s easy, but we are working
harder to get it right.”
Meanwhile the spectre of a
sale will continue to loom. Before
Steinhoff went into a tailspin,
Williams was targeting growth
via “organic like-for-like growth or
acquisition”. He may find himself
up for sale instead. But for now all
he can do is continue to trade. And
whatever is going on in the back-
ground, Williams and Poundland
are trading well. Even if everything
is no longer a pound.snapshot
Age: 47
Status: “Married to Jude,
five kids. Like a swarm of
locusts they are”
Last good album:
“Street Rituals by
Stone Foundation. A
collaboration with Paul
Weller”
Last good movie:
“Collateral Beauty. Will
Smith is in it. It’s not
normally my thing but
it makes you appreciate
all the beautiful things
in life”
Last good book:
“Fatherland by Robert
Harris. I’m about to read
the sequel, Munich”
Advice for aspiring MDs:
“Keep it simple. It’s the
hardest thing to do,
but the people who can
take something really
complicated and make
it simple will succeed in
life”
Biggest pitfall? “Getting
carried away with
yourself. Last week I was
on a truck delivering
to stores and it
wasn’t a token
gesture, sitting
in the cab
having a
fag, I was
unloading
pallets and
wheeling
them in.
Walk a mile
in their shoes
and you learn a
hell of a lot”simple thing. Moving into £2 and £5 opens up new
markets, like home furnishings, duvets and cushions...
it has worked brilliantly. The more we take multi-price
and put amazing value on new categories the more
customers like it. There are only two other price points,
£2 and £5, and they are merchandised away from the
pound products.”
It wasn’t hard to find a mixed bay of £1 and £2 prod-
ucts in the first store I checked, but Williams is relaxed
this was just a “bit of local execution” gone awry. “Our
intention is to make sure it’s merchandised separately.
I don’t ever want customers to get to the checkout with
a product they think is £1 and it’s £2. And that won’t
happen if we do our job right. The business was born
out of everything being £1 but it’s evolving.”
Legacy stock
As for the other price points currently on sale, Williams
says that’s legacy stock. “Prior to us setting this new
agenda, the business had bought a load of random
products at random prices. We bought a load of deep
fat fryers for £12 but customers didn’t get it. What we
have been doing in the last 12 months is cleaning the
business up and some legacy stock remains.”
Even once that has been shifted, doesn’t moving
away from £1 for everything complicate the famously
simple shopping experience? “I disagree. It’s not made
it more complex, it’s made it a better shop. I don’t think
we have lost that £1 price point USP at all. Three price
points is still thousands less than every other retailer.
And look at our performance. If it wasn’t working we’d
have stopped it and put it in reverse.”