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OUR RETAILERS STEPHEN XENIKOUDIS Foodland Supermarkets COO What has been your greatest lesson to date, navigating through this pandemic? Other than coming to terms with the ins and outs of video conferencing, my greatest lesson to date is the importance of still having the ability to make a choice – whether that be in relation to where I shop, what I buy, and when I buy it. We’re fortunate that these choices haven’t been taken away from us. Outside of purchasing behaviour, I still have the choice to do what I want and when I want. Albeit within a period of limited options and under some additional rules. With all the challenges you’ve faced, what has been your proudest response? The ability of our brand through our retailers and their teams in adjusting to this new world. Each and every one of them in their own way has maintained a balancing act of implementing new procedures and work practices in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 (irrespective of whether the government has directed them to do so or not), operating in a period of unprecedented demand and in turn having to deal with frustrated customers not being able to buy what they want. What extra measures have you needed to implement to provide a safe and highly productive environment for both your staff and your suppliers? Measures to enhance social distancing and deliver greater levels of hygiene across our stores. It’s amazing what insulation/PVC electrical tape can be used for. Staff have stepped up to the challenge and are getting involved in areas they’ve not been exposed to in the past. Some of those who recently were trainees are now becoming trainers for new recruits. Examples in the media include arrows on the floor of aisles to direct the flow of traffic through stores, designated full-time cleaning teams (wearing different colour polo tops) and staff assuming a ‘concierge’ role to guide customers around the store to limit the time they need to spend in the store. Human behaviour is never easy to navigate. What positives have you experienced from both consumers and suppliers? During periods like this we’ve seen the best and, on occasion, the worst of human behaviour. Overall feedback from our customers has been positive. Many have shown a genuine concern for our store staff through words of thanks and encouragement, through to respecting their role via distancing and using cards rather than cash where they can. We’ve even had examples of children creating drawings and messages of thanks to hang on empty shelves. Even colleagues and peers simply asking, ‘how are you?’ is more prevalent than ever. Where does our industry still need help and what response do you need? Two main areas, in my opinion. Stock supplies still remain our biggest issue. Although panic buying seems to have subsided, it will take time for our suppliers to return to consistent supply levels. Secondly, we need customers to stop panic buying or hoarding. There’s plenty of stock to go around. Our supermarkets and suppliers just need some clear air to get the pipeline filled and operating consistently again. This message needs to be reinforced at every opportunity presented to us. How has your community interaction changed over the past few weeks? In all honesty, the only key change has been the heightened level in the quantum of interaction. Community and the Foodland brand have always gone hand in hand, and during this time our stores’ interaction with both their local and greater community remains as important as ever. Whether this be through greater cleaning and hygiene measures, finding alternative or substitute products to put on shelves, or employing and training more staff to meet increased store requirements, the community has been impacted in some shape or form. Online has become more prevalent as a form of communicating to our customers. For the first time in my memory we’ve had physical catalogues replaced by online catalogues – predominantly to give us greater control resulting from uncertain stock supply – to ensure that what is advertised in our catalogue is actually available at store level. If you had a message or a call to arms to our entire industry, what would it be? We’re all in this together. The supermarket industry has multiple moving parts and if we’re all patient and respect what each other does, we’ll soon return to a level of normality. “The supermarket industry has multiple moving parts and if we’re all patient and respect what each other does, we’ll soon return to a level of normality.” APR, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 9