Page 13 - Conveniece World Magazine Nov/Dec 2020

Melbourne. This tech solution helps us deliver unparalleled speed and accuracy in the online picking process, while keeping us close to our customers for faster and more flexible deliveries. It’s a good example of how our store network will remain an essential part of our e-commerce service, as we work hard to provide customers with exceptional in-store and online shopping experiences. At the same time, digital is quickly becoming the new ‘front door to Woolworths’. We have around 12 million digital visits a week to the Woolworths website and apps, and around 19 million physical transactions in our stores. We fully expect to have one to two times as many digital interactions as physical ones within the next 18-24 months. The people and capital investments we’ve made in digital and e-commerce over many years have stood us in good stead in a challenging year. But there’s a world of opportunity ahead of us to further improve these experiences for our customers. We’re energised by rising customer expectations and looking forward to what 2021 brings. 7-Eleven CEO and Managing Director Angus McKay the community, we moved rapidly to put in place measures to ensure the safety of our team members and customers as our highest priority. Delivering this wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic support and buy-in we received from our franchisees and store managers. While we had to deal with the immediate crisis of Covid-19, we couldn’t let it knock us off course or stop us planning for what the business would look like after the pandemic passed. Firstly, we committed to implementing our supply chain transformation: an enormous task while navigating a pandemic, but the long-term benefits of this transformation were too big and important not to proceed as planned. Covid-19 meant that we actually accelerated our digital transformation with the rapid rollout of our delivery service, the opening of a new micromarket-format store and the launch of our My 7-Eleven app. Our food team continued developing a range of vegan friendly options – plant-based products that have proved to be hugely popular with our customers and winning new fans among people looking for plant-based food. Overall, our business has travelled well, though Covid-19 has absolutely impacted us, particularly our CBD stores. However, our franchise model means we’ll stick with our partners through both the highs and the lows of these circumstances. In 2020 our frontline teams have been brilliant in how they’ve managed store operations while caring for their communities. As a leader, I’m incredibly proud of how we’ve looked after each other. To all of the 7-Eleven team, thank you for the work, effort and resilience you’ve displayed over the past seven months. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t just run convenience stores, we run essential stores. Lockdowns and other restrictions resulting from Covid-19 have only amplified the importance of our stores and the goods and services they provide in local community neighbourhoods. When Covid-19 began moving about PETROL & CONVENIENCE SUMMARY NOV/DEC, 2020 CONVENIENCE WORLD 11