Availability is key
For Amrit and his family, planning ahead is vital, even more so in lockdown, so they bought a second van and sourced additional stock, such as alcohol, to make sure service levels remained high and their customers were looked after.
“Coronavirus meant we had to adapt the way we ran our business and it’s been a huge learning curve,” Amrit says. “My dad was the driving force for us in maintaining our availability because, for him, it’s key.”
Amrit and his family utilised existing supplier relationships, as well as making new ones. “We worked with LocoSoco and others, and these partnerships helped us to secure stock when we needed it most. We also partnered with other local retailers, too,” Amrit adds.
He used social media to alert customers about high-demand grocery lines, such as toilet rolls, that they had in stock.
“We’re usually quite active on social media and use this to drive new products, and regularly measure our engagement,” he says. “But at the beginning of the pandemic, we posted about beans and toilet roll, which received the highest engagement. Having strong availability was the most important thing in the height of lockdown and it really set us apart.”
