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[ 8 minute read ]

A luxury discount store

When there is no marketing knowledge

Of late, I have been remiss in keeping abreast of how things are going in the high street and online trends. I used to know who owned whom; which investment group was asset-stripping which ailing business. I used to know how to write web sites and how to market my services. How come I feel that I am again adrift in a maelstrom sea of uncertainty and ignorance?

I was always one step behind the times. As fast as I caught up with how to do things some clever-clogs re-invented it and I had to learn a new software language or change a marketing avenue to suit a new trend born out of a new technology and innovation. I used to cry, 'Just wait a bit. There is no need for change', and 'Stoppit!', quite a lot. In those moments that was me being childish and for some alien reason thinking that 'It is my ball, and I am going home!' might convince the world to stop running rings around me. It was me in my twenties and thirties. 

I should have realised that there were strange things afoot when a long time ago, I bought my niece a web domain for her fledgling photography business for her birthday. She rudely ridiculed it. 'Why would I want that? I have Facebook!' At the time I had a passive website that generated a lot of business for me. If you want something enough you look at all the prospects of acquiring it. When you need to trust a service you go to somewhere that shows its integrity by them actually spending some valuable and billable time on an online presence, like a website. What I failed to understand was that my niece had no experience of how to find trustworthy partners or stakeholders in her route to achieving success.

My brother-in-law said something that has stayed with me. He has said a lot of other things that one day a trigger will bring forth to my attention, but here is one thing he said, paraphrased, of course.

       'If you met your partner in a pub, or when alcohol was involved, you can expect problems because where there is alcohol there is trouble.'

Of course, he gave no room for change, and what he really meant was, if the partying continues in the same way there will be disagreements, and things will be said that can't be unsaid and things will be done that can't be undone. He is a gentle sort and thoughtful but not a seer or philosopher. It just makes sense....in hindsight. We might say, start as you mean to carry on, but that requres knowing how the world will be before you start anything. In the 1990s and early 2000s, 'Agile' strateges started to become more interesting to manufacturers. Essentially, that means adapting quickly to changing markets. My brother-in-law inadvertently told me that unless both parties curtail their drinking habits there will be strife, and at the same time if they do moderate their partying, and they inevitably will when new responsibilites arise, they will be markedly different people and possibly not compatible with one another. 

Placing a bar to improvement isn't where I was heading but it is useful in at least nodding to its acquaintance with diversion and what happens when we do the same thing and expect different results.

My local shopkeeper had puzzled me until a couple of weeks ago. We get along quite well. I have failed to convince him that he could utilise my marketing knowledge. I have gently pointed out some obvious mistakes. He sells 2 litres of milk for £1.69. In Tesco and Sainsbury's it costs £2.10. Amazingly, £1.85 in Marks and Spencer's and £1.75 in the Co-op (7th January 2025 online prices) My shopkeeper does not tell anyone about his milk. Every morning I am there people lean across me at the counter to drop a token or coupon and leave with a newspaper. I don't think all these people drink black tea or coffee or are lactose intolerant, so I expect they buy milk somewhere. They DO NOT buy milk from my friend. They have no idea what the price of milk is in his shop.

My shopkeeper rebuffs all my attempts to help him. I gently point out how footfall and traffic reveals itself in his shop; how customers face one way and turn around only to their right or left. His response is to do nothing until he gets Premier to supply him; he has done nothing for over eighteen months now.

       'Once Premier are here we will work together on marketing, Martin.'

Too late! Marketing involves market research and targeting a specific group of people. Premier is owned by Tesco as is Booker, the cash and carry place, and their website says they handle all the marketing. However, despite their statement that shops under their umbrella can stock their stores as they like, another local shop-keeper has told me that you cannot stock what you like. I think my shopkeeper wants to sell cheap products when he should be selling luxuries, or optional discretionary goods.

Co-op are pretty well-established in my village. It is what is known as a 'top-up' store; no frills shopping but with store discounts for members. In fact, in the couple of years it has been here I was surprised to see a shopping trolley (the shallow kind) yesterday. It was being used by a disabled person and had three items in it. 

Not everyone wants to be a member though. There is an obvious refusal to be known to big conglomerates; to be targeted in some way.

Taking on a business on their home ground, I was taught, is futile. Co-op is an interesting example. Recent history gives some clues as to what kind of competitor they are in the 'top-up' store market. But even without knowing their recent history, it is enough to know that both Tesco and Co-op make sure that the public know they directly compete with ALDI, who, if you are not yet aware, replaced Morrison's as the fourth most successful food retailer in the UK, a couple of years back. Morrison's operated a vertical integration approach to retail but was sold to investors, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, in October 2021, who loaded Morrison's with billions of pounds of debt. The interest almost exceeds the revenue but the investors are richer so who cares. it will always happen; shareholders get older and want to cash in sooner or later before they die.

Financial Times:

https://www.ft.com/content/52dcd047-6f3b-4180-953f-751f3708e227

There are so many factors that make not visiting my local shop in favour of just going to the Co-op that I am certain a case study for marketing students could be made. Premier are demanding he convert some of the shop-floor into a storage area so thereby reducing his product range; there are car-parking restrictions; low observance of the shop and distraction by a no-signal crossroads, so no marketing is clearly seen. There is also a local shop in the next village that almost all the cars from the city must pass before getting to my village. Co-op have a member discount scheme which is accessible online (Without online presence they would lack credence). Even pet food is sold at the Pet Shop within the local petrol service station a mile and a half away. The list goes on. Overall, in my head is my experience of what a Premier store sells. My village is not a run-down council estate in the 1990s. I think my shopkeeper thinks it is. Kids do not drink cider in the park here, though some do get stoned. There are no teenage pregnancies and no-one is gathering in clumps smoking cigarettes.

While I may be considered to be harbouring negative opinions, my experience of Premier shops is exactly that; they live in run-down areas in the 1990s because they sold cheap products that contained a lot of additives. People now recognise that discount food is not always as good for them as they once conscientiously ignored.

In the same group of activity as Premier were McColls or Martins, who were recently picked up by Morrison's through administration;

Price  Waterhouse Coopers: https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/business-restructuring/administrations/mccolls.html)

and Somerfield (once Gateway) who acquired Kwik Save in 1998. Somerfield, in turn, was bought by Co-op in 2009. Co-op closed many of those sites.

Facts for Kids: https://kids.kiddle.co/Somerfield

I don't get my information from kids sites. I have contacts in the industry.

I am certain my shopkeeper has missed out on a golden opportunity to make something of his shop, he has a unique background. Yet, if he lacks understanding he will inevitably be rolled over by even the smallest amount of technology and shopping trends.

If I use my brother-in-laws advice as an analogy: My shopkeeper met and married his view of 1990s retailing, and now that the party is over one of them has given up drinking; retailing is different now - you can't just open a shop and hope for the best. In order for him to be happy, he has to go cold-turkey from his timed-out views and sober up a bit.

In trying to research the price of milk I discovered large retailers spend a lot on money on marketing their home delivery services. I live in a cul-de-sac of fifty homes and I see only two home delivery trucks deliver to only four homes between them each day. For my neighbours, the luxury desire for convenient home delivery is overwhelmed by the inconvenience of having to be at home to receive the goods. 

I think I might be able to express myself better by giving an example. Many years ago I pondered starting my own business. I had many ideas. When I finally understood spreadsheets I realised none of them would have worked. In order to get a business loan for a new business a Business Plan is necessary. Typically, they seek answers to what revenue and profit can be expected over five years and where are the costs? Even with a spreadsheet; and I am quite good at them, I have seen the difficulties of actually making a viable Business Plan. It can be quite disappointing to see oneself fail on paper. It is devastating to experience it in real time. It is a mental illness you cannot escape from, because your whole life depends on everything working as you hoped it would. 

Perspicacious people might recognise that there is an underlying stream of thinking in my words. I am convinced the local shop will fail. It is leased from the failed shopkeepers of two years ago and it will be expensive to turn it into a restaurant. Only someone who understands marketing would try to make money from a restaurant because the profit margins are so slim. We are not so wealthy here to enjoy a good restaurant and decadence and luxury is becoming obsolete, that is except for the black SUV drivers who park in the disabled spots and across the lines in the local Co-op car park.

Of course, I have simply overlaid templates over templates and held them up to the light to see where any light shines through. Here is one compilation dated 1990 when discount stores were strong, and one dated 2025 where luxuries have any price. Ooh! Pretty!

If you are interested in supermarkets you might like to research Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).