Page 22 - Conveniece World Magazine Nov/Dec 2020

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW MORE THAN JUST THE LOCAL CONVENIENCE STORE Through pandemic and disaster, 2020 has been a year of adversity and challenge. But as the tide ran out, it was the agility and creativity of the New Sunrise ‘Enjoy Local’ program that sustained the period of falling fuel demands and delivered record retail growth numbers. With well over 1000 members and growing, Managing Director, Steve Cardinale, spoke to Convenience World’s Lorna Gloria to give his perspective on 2020, next year and beyond. New Sunrise’s retail network is often referred to in the industry as “the family business”. Understanding the complexities of operating independent local businesses is at the heart of their function and delivering a customisable platform to retail members is at the core of their foundation. An unwavering strategic house with pillars built on mutuality, visibility, execution, and growth has seen the company grow significantly in size in the last 36 months, and 2020 has been no exception. The year that was “What a year! A year that has tested our resilience. A year that has made us stronger retailers and better people. This was a year we all stopped taking the small parts of life and business for granted and appreciated more,” Mr Cardinale said. From an industry perspective, 2020 was also a year that has invigorated and accelerated the innovation that had been forecast or predicted. “With c-stores deemed an essential service early in the onset of the pandemic, we knew that the spotlight would be focussed on our industry. Intuitively, we also appreciated that this was an opportunity to shine, to create a competitive advantage, to be the first to move to create a safe environment, and to make customers feel safe and welcomed to visit,” Mr Cardinale said. New Sunrise retailers acted with agility and flexibility. Literally overnight, many retailers made immediate changes to meet the challenges of compliance, cleanliness and regulations that were required to trade during this period. “From Perspex screens to Covid plans, to JobKeeper laws, trading during this period brought about some unique challenges, but also some clear opportunities,” Mr Cardinale said. “It was clear that consumers looked to avoid crowded places, were looking to reduce travel where possible, and were concerned about their finances. “New Sunrise coined the phrase ‘clean, close and frugal’ which underpinned our marketing plan during this time. Price sensitivity, familiarity of offer, choice and ease were key areas of focus. “New Sunrise delivered a merchandise campaign over this time to build confidence with locals that, at New Sunrise stores, the ‘c’ in c-store was a lot more than just your local ‘convenience’ store. That ‘c’ stood for clean, coffee, close, community, caring and competitively priced.” Over a 12-week period after Easter, New Sunrise conducted a retail boot camp focusing on the core business imperatives. Ensuring high store standards, customer service, in-store promotional activity, social media and out of store communication, the initiative also focussed on working New Sunrise Managing Director Steve Cardinale. closely with retail partners across the key categories in store. The period saw the introduction of key tactical initiatives and promotional offers tailored to the post-Covid shopper. “The end result was extremely pleasing. Throughout the year, the New Sunrise network has grown faster than any other retailer and delivering a program that results in strong sales growth for retail members,” Mr Cardinale said. “We received some great qualitative data from Convenience Measures Australia on shopper behaviour pre, during and post national lockdowns. From here, we challenged ourselves and worked closely with trade partners to act quickly to deliver the best possible retail experience at this time.” This included a focus on grocery and 20 CONVENIENCE WORLD NOV/DEC, 2020