Ron and Aruna Patel of Ron’s News in Droitwich Spa have been named the winners of Cadbury’s Great Retail Ideas Exchange competition, taking home a £5,000 prize.
The competition launched at the start of this year to mark the confectionery brand’s 200th anniversary.
Convenience retailers were invited to share their best business ideas to be in with a chance of winning cash prizes. Cadbury says it received 700 ideas.
Ron and Aruna won the top prize with their idea of learning customers’ names to greet them more personally.
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“This simple idea creates a bond, which becomes a friendship, which in turn brings loyalty and respect. This then passes down through families and generations, and so a bond is created with multiple levels of your customer base, and they in turn reciprocate in kindness,” said Ron.
“I was once asked to describe my work, and my answer was simple: mine is the only job I know where I can come to work and chat to my friends all day. Our motto is, ‘We don’t have customers, because everyone who comes into our establishment is a friend – we’re always pleased to see them.’ With that philosophy, we always look forward to going to work – to see our friends.”
He added that some of the money would be donated to a local charity: “When you get an unexpected windfall, you should do things you wouldn’t necessarily do. Although we do a lot for charity on a personal level, this gives us an opportunity to go the extra mile.”
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Beyond the top prize, 10 other retailers won runner-up awards of £1,000 each. One of these was Julie Kaur Duhra of Jules’ Convenience in Telford, Shropshire. She said: “Our store is the hub of the community, so we enjoy investing back in the people – our Christmas fair is our biggest event and has been a big hit since last year, and this prize will help us run this and support the local community.”
Another runner-up, Jonathan Cobb, from Miserden Stores in Stroud, Gloucestershire, added: “I designed a postcard which has the shop front on it that my customers could use as a postcard but also to provide feedback – they can bring the postcard into the shop and post it in our suggestions box. Every few months we put these in our weekend papers and get a wealth of direct customer feedback. Customers can even send them to a friend.”
The 700 ideas have been arranged into a booklet, specially produced and available for retailers to view on Mondelez International’s trade website, Snack Display.
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