Retail Convenience

I was first introduced to Retail Convenience in 2006, where as a Business Process Owner I responsible for service station operations which included shops, food and services.  Together with the dealer councils we formulated the convenience business model which included the sourcing and loading of product masterdata and establishing the database rules, supply chain, pricing strategies, category hierarchy and operational management (receiving, stock management) of all shop, food, QSR and services.

In April 2010, I was appointed as the National Convenience Manager for Total and in addition to the database management was then introduced to space planning and supplier management.  Because a new system was introduced I revised all the existing convenience business policies and procedures, supplier trading terms and new product listing rules, introduced category, merchandising and system training for staff and dealers to ensure the profitability of convenience stores across the Total network.  Together with Smollan using the JDA space planning tool I introduced a full planogram and compliance program.  Using the data we now had access I initiated category workshops with key suppliers and used AC Neilsen to develop category strategies aligned to shopper missions.  Together with Coca-Cola we did a full review on shopper buying patterns in-store and then developed unitary at touch points throughout the store which we then sold to suppliers for promotional and new product merchandising.  Finally, together with the dealer councils we developed a monthly promotional grid which was implemented monthly and did pricing strategy reviews every 6 months. 

In 2017, I became the Divisional Manager for a number of departments which included Retail Convenience.  Because I was now in charge of Marketing and Retail Systems and have a passion for innovation I was able to introduce a number of initiatives: Introducing cell phone entries at the POS (a 400% increase in number of entrants - we collected over 100 000 contact details in the first year), Vouchering where instead of rewarding customers with other retail vouchers we now could reward them with Total Vouchers, I piloted a Click and Collect system, introduced a system to automate non-fuel rental.  I also spearheaded digital promotional advertising as a priority for Shop promotions.