30 June 2009

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I have been asked by my fellow Traders to express our concern about the effect the change of the supermarket to Spar brand has had on village trade, and to pass on our customer’s comments regarding the lack of choice and lack of competitive pricing structure.

I understand after speaking to your branch manager and also to Lymm Parish council you are aware of many of the issues we all have, and indeed you are attempting to address many of them, I applaud you for that and wish to point out that the traders as a group would like to help by offering positive feedback so the concerns can be addressed and hopefully rectified sooner rather than later.

You may or may not be aware many customers are now refusing to shop at Spar because of lack of choice and non competitive pricing and are being forced out to the nearby Co-op stores, we estimate because of this alone footfall in the village is down by 20%.
Our main concern is that this branch appears to be a convenience store and not a supermarket and this is not what Lymm requires, that is why you have lost such a large percentage of your custom.

If my information is correct you are already looking at changing this branch to a more dedicated supermarket format, could I be so bold to outline a few areas which if you introduce in a professionally controlled manner would not only benefit yourselves but would be a superb addition to the village, in fact we surveyed Lymm customers six months ago and 100% stated they would like a good fruit and veg supplier and 80% wanted fresh fish available in the village centre. If you were to add these items to a proper supermarket format I believe you could more than capture your lost trade.

Historically in Lymm we have had parking problems, however Lymm Traders has now made a breakthrough and one of the car parks is just about to become a shoppers pay and display, which is the one nearest your branch, so if you target the right customers with the right product you will benefit, and so will Lymm village as a whole.

From the customer comments we are receiving the general consensus appears to be that you do not have a particularly good feel for your target customer base. Lower cost supermarket own brand will always attract some, but in Lymm a fair percentage are professional people who will pay for better product and service, but they are very prudent with their money and will not pay over the odds for something they can purchase a short drive away. Could we also suggest a short customer questionnaire to ensure you target your customer’s needs.

These areas we feel you need to address immediately, perhaps you have a senior branch manager who might like to spend a few days in Lymm branch and liaise with some of the Lymm Traders who would be only too willing to help.

We would also like to invite you to become involved with the Lymm Traders group.

Yours sincerely
Philip Sexton
Chairman

Thanks David, and you are so right, we need Spar to succeed, lets hope they move forward down the 'proper' supermarket route.
Too many eating places and not enough shops, and now the the 'old' off licence is supposed to be opening as a wine bar.

Yep Hilary, we are having to do the same, ridiculous really