Iceland supermarkets ready to expand after debut store success
Guia store manager, Ian Walker, who started his career with Overseas Supermarkets six years ago at their first Spanish mainland store, on the Costa del Sol, spoke highly of the company’s first year in Portugal. “Our store in Guia got off to a roaring start and then found its level. It will take time to build the store up properly for the British market as well as Portuguese and customers of other nationalities,” he said. Despite British expats and tourists being the main shoppers at the store, more and more Portuguese customers are venturing in to see what is available.
“British people sort of know what to expect when they come in, but we are attracting more Portuguese people all the time. Their main purchases include frozen pizzas, chocolate and Indian takeaway meals, I think they treat the store as somewhere to go for something special, a bit of a treat.” Overall, the store’s best selling products are smoked haddock in the frozen line, baked beans in the grocery section and British milk in the chilled section. “It is our first year and we are still learning and working alongside our customers,” said Mr. Walker, adding that the supermarket has a request book for customers to add their suggestions for new products. Speaking about the Overseas Supermarket concept, he said that despite trading under the Iceland name, their stores are very different to what a customer would find in an Iceland supermarket in the UK. “Aside from the Iceland frozen food range, we also have an additional grocery range, Waitrose products and a fresh butcher,” he said. According to Mr. Walker, the concept has proved so successful that “people looking to open franchises in Poland and other countries come to look at our operation.” With the opening of their first store in Portugal, he admitted that the company has had to overcome hurdles such as the higher taxes on a number of products compared to Spain.
“Products in Portugal come under different tax brackets and we must be very careful when introducing a new item to the shelves that the price includes the correct tax for this country,” he said, explaining that this is one of the reasons why Iceland products marked with the big pound sterling prices have to be sold for a price in Euros that doesn’t necessarily correspond to the current tourist exchange rate. Other factors the company has to take into account are the growing transport costs “with the cost of fuel increasing all the time” and the fact that the company buys stock at business exchange rates, which are fixed for a period of time. During the 15 years since Overseas Supermarkets first started trading on the Canary Islands, they have introduced a number of new things to their stores to improve service and quality for their customers.
“Something we have introduced is offers, as the company has grown, we are now big enough to buy products at special prices for limited periods and so we pass these savings on to our customers,” he said.
For the next eight weeks, the Guia store will be focusing on its busiest time of year, the run up to Christmas. The store already has a number of products on its shelves such as chocolate and biscuit selection boxes, mince pies and crackers, for example, and the butcher is already taking orders for fresh turkeys and other meats. “The deadline for suppliers is early December, so customers wanting to reserve a fresh turkey or something a bit different should come in store now,” he said. Throughout December, the supermarket will have extended opening times from 8am until 11pm, being open from as early as 7am on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The store will be closed on 25 December and 1 January for the holidays, as well as on 30 December for their annual stock take.
Source: theportugalnews.com
