Sustainable growth: expanding the store network at Screwfix

Jack Wallace, Marketing Director at Screwfix, explains why the retailer continues to invest in bricks and mortar and the steps it has taken to make the network more sustainable.

Now with 800 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland, Screwfix is well on its way to realising its ambition of 1,000 stores in total. But with the rise of online shopping and investment in digital, why are physical stores still important to this UK retailer? And how will these stores be fit for a net zero future?

Investing in stores

As a brand, Screwfix’s mission has always been to provide the UK’s tradespeople with the affordably priced products they need to get their jobs done quickly and right first time. The company’s store network plays an integral part in achieving this.

Screwfix opened its first store in Yeovil, Somerset in 2005, but prior to this had already established itself as a friend of the trade with a successful mail-order business. With 25 years of experience as a direct operator, the company set a clear goal for the roll-out of physical stores. It was another way to bring Screwfix closer to more busy electricians and other tradespeople, providing them with the convenience they need to get on with the job.

By 2008, the company had opened 100 Screwfix stores, and this year it reached another significant milestone with the opening of its 800th store in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. Screwfix plans to open 80 stores in this financial year (2022/2023), with an overall aim of eventually opening 1,000 stores across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

Over 98% of the UK population are within a drive of a Screwfix store

For Screwfix’s customers, time is money and it’s important that the company provides electricians with the convenience to shop how and when they like. The company says that it is now at a point where over 98% of the UK population are within a 30-minute drive of a Screwfix store, with customers able to shop for over 11,000 products in real time.

Investing in digital

Growing e-commerce sales and building a mobile-first and service-orientated customer proposition are key parts of Screwfix’s strategy to provide its customers with the convenience and certainty they need.

Most other retailers started with physical stores before they moved online, whereas Screwfix launched its first website in 1999 – six years before it opened its first store. Its experience as a mail order business gave the company a significant advantage in the online space, knowing that easy ordering, fast delivery, and convenient pick-up options were essential to its active community of customers.

Since then, the website has been revamped several times and the digital offering expanded to include a mobile-friendly site and an app. Attracting 6.7 million users per week, customers can shop for over 34,000 products online.

In addition, with Click and Collect, an order can be placed and picked-up from a Screwfix store in as little as 60 seconds. In the last 12 months, around seven million customers have used Click and Collect for their orders.

This is another reason why continued investment in physical stores is so important – it helps drive the convenience proposition for online customers, providing them with more ways to order and collect the items they need.

Investing in sustainability

Helping to create a better future for customers, colleagues, communities, and the planet is a hugely important part of Screwfix’s growth strategy. Minimising the environmental impact of its stores is key to becoming a more responsible retailer and supports its trade customers who want to play their part in working more sustainably.

Screwfix’s entire store network is already supplied with 95% renewable electricity to support its move away from gas heating where possible. What’s more, all new stores are now equipped with air source heat pumps to provide heating, powered by electricity instead of gas. Screwfix is also retrofitting heat pumps in its existing stores in a move to make the entire network more sustainable. Most recently, the Great Yarmouth store became the 300th to be fitted with an air-source heat pump.

The company has fitted solar panels in the Screwfix Distribution Centre, Head Office, Contact Centre, and some stores. These stores are ‘energy-neutral’ meaning the solar panels generate as much energy as the store consumes, so any extra electricity is fed back into the grid.

Reducing the carbon footprint of its stores through green energy sources is just one step on Screwfix’s journey to limit its environmental impact. Reducing waste, for example, is a big area of focus, with 99.91% of its waste diverted from landfill in 2020/21.

Screwfix is also now able to sell high-quality, refurbished power tools on its website – following a successful trial in 2021 which demonstrated that tradespeople are already acting more sustainably. Based on circular economy principles, the refurbishment of power tools ensures there is less waste created as fewer power tools are discarded. This also means there is reduced demand for the raw materials required to manufacture new power tools. As a result, there are fewer associated emissions.

Screwfix says it knows that convenience is paramount to tradespeople, so is continually looking at new and innovative ways to save them time and money. Now it says it must also help them to save carbon emissions and prepare customers for a net zero future.