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Shoppers seem to love it, as is evident from Williams's sales. But it's high risk: sales have to increase by enough to limit the impact on profits, and they have to be able to deliver the goods. That's harder than it sounds. Some of the products on offer fly out of the door, selling as much in a week as they normally would in a year. Organising adequate stock levels for that, on different products around the country, is a nightmare of logistics. What makes all this feasible, apart from very good planning, is that Williams's distribution system isn't centralised, unlike some of the other supermarket chains. Williams has just passed the first anniversary of its promotional campaign, so it'll be more and more difficult to keep sales rising. But the company's working hard to keep the momentum going with a renewed focus on fresh produce, having been tempted in recent years by clothing and electrical goods, which are both in highly competitive sectors. The company has also promised longer opening hours at their stores in order to increase convenience for their customers. |
