RETAILER PROFILE
STEVE ARCHER PREMIER HIGHTOWN CONVENIENCE STORE, CONGLETON
HOW’S YOUR WEEK BEEN...
STEVE ARCHER?
THIS WEEK, WE CATCH UP WITH CHESHIRE RETAILER STEVE ARCHER, THE FIRST RETAILER TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW JISP APP, TO FIND OUT HOW IT’S WORKING IN-STORE.
HOW’S YOUR WEEK BEEN, STEVE? It’s been quite positive, mainly because we’re finally starting to see the local area come back to life. We have a big mill and a manufacturing plant near us, as well as a school, a railway station and offices and so on but they’ve all been empty since lockdown. It’s only now that we’re starting to see them start to fill up again, so that should help footfall.
HAS LOCKDOWN BEEN DIFFICULT FOR YOU THEN? Well, it’s definitely been challenging but at a sales level we can’t complain. From March to May our sales were up 53% on the same period last year, so the store’s been doing well. We’re quite significantly down on footfall but our sales are way up, as is basket spend. It’s great to see the local area coming back to life though. Pre-coronavirus, for example, we would see 30 or 40 commuters in the store in the morning. We have a little coffee and snack bar in the shop, and it was really popular. At lunch we would get countless workies, office staff and school kids. Coronavirus put a prompt end to that, but I hope that things are starting to improve now.
HOW DID YOU COME TO BE THE FIRST RETAILER TO LAUNCH THE JISP APP? I’m on the Business Development Committee of the NFRN so I became aware of Jisp quite early on and I really liked the look of it, so when they were looking for stores to trial it I was more than happy to do so.
14 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 17 / WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 2020
