Fascia report: Is Costcutter the right fascia partner for your store?

Peter Patel

Costcutter, Brockley, south London,

and Brentwood, Essex 

I’ve been with Costcutter since last September. What attracted me was the varied promotions – it’s never the same, they constantly change them depending on trends. They also have access to Co-op own-label lines, which are popular with shoppers. Our old symbol group used to rotate the same promotions, so there was nothing new on offer.

When we initially joined, Costcutter were great at looking at our location and assessing what format would be best for the community – we fit their ‘younger and meal for tonight’ category, so they helped us expand fresh and food to go. We’re on a main road, so we have a lot of residential customers, and a strong passing trade. 

They helped us come up with a plan, they talked us through it and got our input – it was a two-way conversation and now, once a week, our business development manager comes in and talks us through how we can improve the store. 

I’d recommend Costcutter to any retailer because they offer the complete store package. They want your business to grow.

Costcutter facts

Number of stores: 1,560

Average store size: From 700sq ft to 7,000sq ft

Cost of joining: No joining or membership fees

Minimum order commitment: Eighty ambient/BWS/tobacco lines and 30 chilled/frozen

Delivery frequency: Delivery frequency is matched to retailers’ volumes to ensure Costcutter provides a service that delivers high levels of availability and freshness for shoppers.

Own-label range: Access to the Co-op own brand is a major highlight within the range. Featuring more than 2,000 products, footfall, basket spend and sales are increasing across Costcutter stores as shoppers value the quality and appeal of Co-op products.

Costcutter’s Shopper First: Drive Five to Thrive business growth programme uses in-depth shopper insight and data to guide retailers in tailoring “every aspect of their store”. This covers everything from ranging and merchandising to marketing and in-store execution. 

The primary aim of the programme is to help retailers increase footfall.

According to Costcutter, since launching the Drive Five to Thrive programme in 2017, participating retailers have seen sales and profit growth of more than 20%. Now, the symbol group is making new investments in a bid to expand the shopper insight that is available. 

Another major attraction Costcutter is able to offer retailers in its symbol group is the supply deal it holds with Co-op. Costcutter claims that since this agreement came into effect, it has seen increases in footfall, basket spend and sales across its stores, with customers attracted by the reputation of Co-op products.

In commercial terms, Costcutter has no fees or surcharges and a rebate of up to 6%. Costcutter Supermarkets Group includes Costcutter, Mace, SuperShop and Simply Fresh brands.

If you’re interested in joining Costcutter, call 01904 488 663