P&H changing ranging as part of retail education drive

Palmer & Harvey is making its range "fit for purpose" to prompt retailers to think more carefully about which products they stock.

Speaking at their annual Pro Retail event in Telford, P&H managing director Martyn Ward suggested that the wholesaler’s vast range may be causing retailers to include lines that aren’t right for their store. He stated: “We are not struggling with range, we are struggling on educating the retailer on what they should be stocking.”

Describing this, he said retailers “may think products sell, but there’s often products that shouldn’t be there”.

P&H’s reassessment of their ranging centres around the Pareto principle – where 20% of a store’s range will deliver 80% of revenue. Ward suggested doubling its core range from 4,000 to 8,000 lines, but said this would have to come at the expense of reducing the ranging that falls outside of this. He said it was important for retailers as “if retailers can get that right it gives them space to do food on the go or other niche ranges”.

Alongside range change, the wholesaler's plans to educate retailers on what to stock also includes reports and in-depot advice.

Retail Express spoke to Harj Gill from The Windmill Select and Save in Birmingham. Gill recently audited his stock with the Pareto principle in mind. Agreeing with the P&H boss’ comments he said: “If you don't monitor sales when ordering, products could be being stolen or just not sell as well as you think they do. Sometimes we order on autopilot.”

Describing the auditing process in his store he added: “We have been doing this for the last eight months. We have deleted many lines and have also added a few. Out of the lines we did delete only two or three have been missed and these were brought back in.”

Gill said the lines that were removed came from a wide variety of store areas, with dental floss and TCP being two examples.

Other subjects discussed at Pro Retail with Martyn Ward included the last-minute preparations for EUTPD2, the gradual roll-out of EPoD systems and the growth of P&H's free alcohol delivery service. P&H refused to answer questions related to acquisition rumours.