Taylors shop project – visit 2 Bay Bashir

Over the course of the six weeks, Better Retailing is joining forces with Retail Express and Taylors of Harrogate, makers of Yorkshire Tea, to follow the progress of two leading independent retailers who are implementing some groundbreaking category advice from the company.

Two weeks ago we introduced you to Bay Bashir. Bay admits that he has neglected his hot beverages display. He said that he wanted to improve his range to help him fight the raft of local competition within his local area.

Hannah Barnes, category executive at Taylors of Harrogate, visited Bay’s store and recommended that he gave his range a full overhaul, catering for both premium and value ranges across all hot drinks segments.

Attracting his customers to the new offering is the key to getting them off the shelves and into their baskets, so I want to work with Bay on agreeing a new layout that will hopefully draw the eye in, she said.

Hannah notices that Bay only offers one type of strong blend tea, Tetley Extra Strong and it becomes apparent when talking to Bay that it doesn’t sell well. She replaces it with Yorkshire Tea 40’s and 80’s to offer customers a choice in pack size, while capitalising in the popularity of the Yorkshire Tea brand in the area. “I used to sell Yorkshire Tea years ago but back then it didn’t sell that well. I’m happy to try it again because trends do change, and there are some good price marked deals on it,” says Bay.

We all know that consumers are becoming more health conscious, and it’s important to tap into that when considering your ranging decisions. Bay doesn’t offer his customers any decaf options which means he’s missing out on a huge trend. “Bay has agreed to let us introduce Kenco decaf refill packs which are ideal for the convenience shopper, and Tetley Decaf 80’s, which should sell well with the passing trade as well as his regulars who might be looking for healthier alternatives” says Hannah.

Bay only offers a full fat hot chocolate variant which isn’t making the most of the trend towards health, as well as not offering his customers any choice. Bay explains, “I’m aware that there are other hot chocolates on the market that sell really well across the board, I’ve just never thought that introducing them myself would make much of a difference, until now.” Hannah replaces his Wispa hot chocolate with Cadbury Highlights and Options sachets in various flavours.

 Look out next week for the final blog, when we reveal the results that the changes made by Taylors of Harrogate have made to the sales of both stores.