Londis

Londis is one of Ireland’s most established community retail brands and caters to a wide and diverse base of customers through its forecourt, neighbourhood and urban store formats

Q&A with…Conor Hayes, sales director, Londis

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Brand Central

FACT FILE

Number of stores nationwide: 140

Sales director: Conor Hayes

Typical store size: Varies

Head office: BWG House, Greenhills Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, D24 Y722

Wholesale partner: BWG Foods

Type of distribution network: BWG National Distribution Centre, (NDC) servicing fresh, ambient
and alcohol to all Londis stores nationwide

Website: www.londis.ie

Social media: @LondisIreland on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook

Tagline: Local like you

Conor Hayes, Londis sales director

Q: Working in partnership with retailers, what support and advice do you provide to enable them to run their businesses more successfully?

A: Londis Ireland works very closely with our retailers and this symbiotic relationship is critical to improving retailers’ effectiveness in targeting customers of their particular store. Our Retail Development Managers’ team (RDM) remains in constant contact with retailers to help improve profitability and deliver margin, while simultaneously maintaining and, indeed, increasing customer satisfaction level.

In response to the current energy challenges brought about by external events, we are working closely with our retailers in identifying how they can go about saving on their energy costs and keeping their overheads as manageable as possible.

We are also advising them on how best to maximise their business across every department while maintaining their margin.

Londis has very strong links to Irish suppliers across its range of goods from fresh to ambient

Q: How have you innovated to deliver in-store concepts and a store design that consumers are drawn towards?

A: Londis is well established as a brand renowned for innovation; for example, the introduction to the estate of a new branded self-serve tea offering, The Local Tea Company. The in-store Local Tea Company is one of a number of new food-to-go concepts we will be rolling out across the Londis estate in the coming months, all of which are designed to help them increase profits while keeping overheads and costs down.

Working closely with the BWG Foods’ IT department, Londis has introduced various innovations to immeasurably help our retailers with their administrative and logistical needs.

Q: As the cost-of-living-crisis continues to affect consumers’ budgets, value-for-money has become even more important. How are you ensuring you provide the best value and promotions possible for your retailers?

Londis stores serve local communities right across the country, supporting local jobs and local suppliers. Across our forecourt, neighbourhood and urban store formats, we are proactive in communicating our value offering to our customers. We achieve this through regular cycles, tactical offers, weekly special offers and a robust benchmark pricing strategy, which amplified our Best Value Promise’ across our network of stores. This initiative is to ensure we are price matched against competitors to ensure that our customers are benefitting from the best value the market has to offer.

We are committed to promoting this value offer through our TV and radio advertising, through our consumer flyers that are published every three weeks. We continue to work closely with our Trading and Promotions teams to ensure that shoppers at Londis stores are benefitting from the best price and value in the industry.

Q: How extensive is your brand marketing programme and how do you ensure your messaging resonates with consumers?

Londis advises retailers on how best to maximise their business across every department while maintaining their margin

A: Our brand marketing programmes centre around sponsorship partnerships and a strong TV, social and digital advertising campaign ‘Overheard in Londis’.

Ireland’s Fittest Family provided the perfect platform for Londis to grow its already stellar

community-based reputation. The geographical spread of competing families offered the ideal opportunity to engage local retailers and shoppers. We have strategically been able to secure in-show branding for Londis; of particular note is our brand featuring on ‘The Wall’, one of the most iconic obstacles. Throughout the season, our Londis logo also appears on the sleeve of all of the families’ jerseys.

The Londis advertising campaign launched in September 2021 and is a modern take on the Londis strapline ‘Local like you’ and focuses on how ‘Londis Listens’ to its shoppers and tailors in-store offerings to reflect the needs of Londis shoppers. Liam and Des are key characters in the campaign as they listen to customers’ interactions and stock the store shelves accordingly. We aspired to reinforce how Londis is centred on being ‘Local like you’. The ads demonstrate how Londis retailers always have the locality and community at the heart of their businesses.

We introduced Liam and Des’ story to Irish shoppers in 2019, when they appeared in Londis stings, as part of our TV sponsorship of Ireland’s Fittest Family. These performed superbly on social media, gaining compliments and strong interactions. Londis analysed the results of our stings and following positive feedback, we launched Liam and Des, played by actors Alex Hannigan and Bryan Quinn, in our Londis brand advertising campaign in 2021.

Q: How are you working to support local Irish suppliers and deliver quality Irish produce for your retailers?

A: Londis has very strong links to Irish suppliers across our range of goods from fresh to ambient. Through our relationship with BWG Foods, we have dedicated relationships with a significant number of Irish suppliers. Our commitment to Irish produce is a key strategic element of our buying and we have a strong track record of supporting Irish suppliers both large and small across the country through BWG’s partnership with independent Londis retailers. Londis retailers are also strong supporters of suppliers in their locality because an integral part of the Londis model is to be a part of the local community and supporting local initiatives in any way they can.

Q: How would you sum up your main goals for the next 12 months?

A: Our immediate priority is to work closely with our Londis retailers to help them navigate this latest challenge we are all facing as a result of the energy crisis. For the last two-plus years, Londis retailers have been utterly magnificent in rising to the challenges they have faced. Through it all, I continue to be exceptionally proud of our Londis retailers and how they continue to serve the needs of their customers during these times. Away from that immediate need, the longer-term ambition of the Londis brand is to continue to push boundaries, to grow and evolve while continuing to provide the excellent service Londis retailers are renowned for in their communities in which they are embedded.

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