6 minute read
STORE REVIEW: PUMA COOLALINGA
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER
Patrick Pethick, the owner and operator of Puma Coolalinga in the Northern Territory, says the key to running a successful site all comes down to a high level of customer service.
Puma Coolalinga is about half an hour outside of Darwin in the Northern Territory, positioned straight down the Stuart Highway towards Katherine, and servicing quite a large rural area.
For the last three years it has been owned and operated by Patrick Pethick, who has been in and around the convenience industry since leaving school at the age of 17 and taking on a traineeship through Darwin University.
“I completed a certificate three in retail operations and then continued working for a local company and worked my way up to a position as Site Manager at the age of just 21,” says Pethick.
“From there, I decided that I wanted to get into sales, so I worked for some big companies like Parmalat and Coca-Cola as a sales rep and ultimately up to an account management role. Through that account management position, I was managing a large group of service stations.
“An opportunity ultimately arose for me to buy in, and I thought it would be great to have my own business, so I settled on three sites and ran those as a franchise for Puma Energy. About a year later, they offered me a further four stores, so I ended up running seven stores for about six years.
– Patrick Pethick
“After that time, Puma Energy decided to take some of the stores back, which presented me with an opportunity to look at getting into a leasehold, so we bought in at Puma Coolalinga, and this is where I’ve been for the last three years.
“I’ve been able to build a wealth of knowledge in terms of running a successful retail platform as well as knowledge from the sales side of the business. It’s been a huge benefit having that sales background when it comes to talking terms with the reps, I can definitely see it from both sides, and I understand what it is they’re looking for.”
During the height of the pandemic, supply issues were a concern for Pethick and the team, with lead times for supplies coming out of the south, including some general merchandise and car parts, blowing out to up to three weeks, rather than one week, which is the norm.
“We were lucky to be able to call on some local suppliers and do what we could to plug those gaps and keep the shop nice and full, so it wasn’t too bad really,” he says.
Nearby to Puma Coolalinga are four other service stations within about a 500m radius, so Pethick says that there is a fair bit of local competition and that they are all nationals.
– Patrick Pethick
When the pandemic hit, Pethick took a step back to think about how his site could remain competitive against these big company-run national stores surrounding him. He decided to take to social media and have a big community push, encouraging people to support and buy local.
“We are all local, we’re a local business, so we really pushed that. Then, we also have a huge emphasis on the way we serve our customers. For example, if they’re buying a gas bottle, we go out to the forecourt and we lift it and get it to the car for them. We always try to go over and above the level of service that they would be expecting,” he says.
“It’s just been a real emphasis on creating relationships with our customers and just trying to get them back in the door.”
Pethick says that they have also been pushing hard to open up their product range and to improve their in-store offers.
L-R: Owen Colbran (site manager) and Patrick Pethick
“We’ve got a reasonable footprint compared to some of the others, which are mainly just fuel, so we saw an opportunity to grow our range across most of our categories as a point of difference.
“We’ve improved our fresh food as well as our hot food offer, as well as sandwiches and other things. We have really pushed hard to have a good quality offer and that has been the big thing, the difference between the others,” he says.
Within the store, Pethick has added a few new categories that he says have performed surprisingly well for them, including firewood.
“Being in Darwin and particularly in a rural area, there are trees everywhere and so much firewood around on peoples’ properties, but that’s been a successful add-on for us. Also, things like bulk dog food have been doing well – so it’s been a real mix of categories that have done it for us lately.”
Pethick says that when he took over Puma Coolalinga, it had a limited retail offering and the store layout needed improving.
“They did some fried food and sandwiches, but the sandwiches were hiding over in the corner. When the pandemic hit, the government threw out some grants, so we took full advantage of that and invested in some new equipment in both hot and cold. We’ve rebranded and been able to significantly improve and grow our whole offer.
“We’ve gone from selling maybe 50-60 sandwiches per week to now selling up to around 250-300. So, we’ve improved it significantly and it’s all made fresh in-store daily.”
Around the country fuel prices are rising, which has put a strain on businesses. But once again, Pethick says the key to remaining competitive is all around good customer service and being able to put a smile on a customer’s face and go above and beyond their expectations.
“It just goes back to those core basics; customer service is key, how does the shop look? Is it clean? Is it five-star? Have you got a good offer? Focusing on those core basics is really all we can do.
“I always tell my team; we just want our customers to always want to come back. That should be our main point of difference among our competitors, that the customer walks away saying, ‘God, that operator was friendly’, or ‘they didn’t have to do that, but they did it for me anyway’. You know that they will come back as a result of that and they will tell their friends and family about their experience as a result of that good customer service.”
