Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
Criteria for becoming a member: Retailers need to sign up for a three-year fascia and supply agreement, support promotions and allocations, and maintain Londis store and brand standards.
Costs of becoming a member: Londis operate a zero-cost model, meaning retailers do not pay any membership, joining or delivery fees and also receive their fascia and imagery free of charge.
What financial packages or credit terms do you offer? We offer between seven and 14 days’ credit and retailers can earn a Spend & Save discount of up to 5% paid each period to improve cash flow if they meet the conditions.
Minimum length of contract: Three years
Do you offer a trading area agreement? If so, within what radius is a member assured exclusivity? Trading agreements are based on the catchment area of individual stores.
Minimum drop requirement:
One hundred cases.
What options do retailers have for ordering goods? They can order through their EPoS or via the Londis website.
How many own-label lines do you have listed and what are the own-label ranges? We have six own-label ranges: Jacks, with more than 130 lines across meat, fish, vegetables, bakery, dairy, frozen and grocery; Discover the Choice, with more than 180 mid-tier products; Discover the Taste, with 12 premium fresh and chilled products; Farm Fresh, with more than 135 fresh products. Euro Shopper, with more than 80 everyday value essentials; Happy Shopper, with more tha 140 products across key categories.
What arrangements do you have for fresh produce and chilled and frozen foods? We offer tri-temperature delivery.
How many of your retailers have EPoS and how do you encourage them to take on new technology packages? It is a requirement for all retailers to have EPoS; Londis offer a free-of-charge EPoS package.
Do you invest in consumer advertising? We provide a free POS kit for every promotion, including personalised leaflets to all stores. As well as supporting the traditional key events such as Christmas we run additional seasonal events such as “12 Deals of Christmas”, our wine festival and a beer and cider festival to drive footfall. These are also supported with free POS kits.
Londis is the number one symbol brand on Twitter and Instagram, with more than 53,000 Twitter followers and 14,000 Instagram followers. Londis supports this by producing content for social media posts for stores to use across all major platforms, including Facebook. The content is advertised with geo-targeting to store locations to increase footfall and interest around the brand.
What promotions do you offer? More than 100 promotional offers every four weeks, including our footfall driving Wow and Mega Deals. There is also a continued focus on promoting everyday lower price promotions on key categories such as bread, milk, fruit and vegetables.
What category management help can you provide? We have a dedicated store, merchandising and range development team and provide full planograms for each category.
What other support measures for retailers have you introduced recently and what do you plan to introduce in the near future?
One of the key benefits of being part of a much larger group has been the ability to deliver a number of tangible benefits and opportunities for our retailers, such as: improved pricing, channel exclusives, unique packs and an improved specification to help retailers drive footfall and make more cash profit. Our focus for 2021 is to help all Londis retailers make at least £50,000 more profit this year through our Fit for the Future programme. This aims to maximise opportunities, such as: on-trend growth areas, home delivery, food-to-go, footfall and value drivers and our exclusive Tobacco Club.
Why should an independent retailer join your group?
The benefits of the Londis offer include Booker’s unrivalled buying power and group exclusives, free marketing support and a fantastic promotional package offering strong retailer margins.
RETAILER SNAPSHOT
Owners: Steve and Mandy Andrews
Store name: Londis Bemerton Heath Post Office & Store
Location: Salisbury, Wiltshire
Number of years as a member: 13 years
Turnover before and after membership: Went from £9,000 a week to £16,000
Opening hours: 7am to 9pm Monday to Friday; 7am to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday
Main advantages of membership: Good availability and reliable deliveries, the increased fresh range, business support that listens to our needs, innovation and footfall-driving promotions.
Why did you choose to join this group rather than one of its competitors? We found Booker was easy to do business with, as well as offering a good rebate scheme and a recognised and-long established brand.
CONTACT
Fascia name: Londis
Address: Booker Retail Partners, Budgens Londis House, Widewater Place, Moorhall Road, Harefield, Middlesex, UB9 6NS
Telephone: 0808 178 8644
Website: www.joinlondis.co.uk
Twitter: @LondisRetail
First contact for potential members: 0808 178 8644
FACTFILE
Average store size: 1,300sq ft
Average store turnover: £15,000 a week
Number of UK retail members: More than 2,100
Names of all UK fascias: Londis
