Nisa looks to recruit 400 more stores this year

Nisa is gearing up for an ambitious recruitment drive for 2023, with a target of 400 new stores. The group has seen a strong start to the year with 130 stores having been recruited year to date.

Over the last two years, Nisa’s recruitment has remained strong, with almost 900 stores joining the fascia group during this time. The symbol group and wholesaler opened 473 new stores in 2022.

Nisa said the recruitment of wholesale partners, including Greens Retail and MPK, has almost doubled in the same period year on year, which it said is a testament to its availability levels, competitive prices and access to the Co-op own brand range.

“Following many strong years for recruitment, we’re pleased to have continued this momentum in 2022 and now into this year,” Peter Batt, managing director at Nisa, said.

“The sustained growth in recruitment is not only down to the brilliant team at Nisa, who have gone from strength to strength, but also to the strength of Nisa’s proposition for independent retailers. At Nisa we’re committed in ensuring our retailers are at the heart of the decisions we make, and we’ll continue to invest in our offer.”

Recently, Greens Retail announced expansion plans with Nisa, committing to open over 20 new stores across Scotland, with growth into England. The stores will operate under the Greens Fascia in partnership with Nisa.

The recruitment drive has also been supported by investments in price. In the last six months, Nisa has announced significant investment in reducing price across Co-op own brand and branded items, enabling retailers to remain competitive and supporting sales margins during the tougher macroeconomic environment.

Just last month, Nisa announced a simplified version of its Fresh Rewards rebate scheme, to give independent retailers the opportunity to be rewarded financially. Funding, which was previously held in the store development fund, will now be given as a cash rebate, with qualifying retailers earning on average £2,300 cash back in their pockets per rebate period.

Victoria Lockie, head of retail at Nisa, said: “At Nisa we’re passionate about being the partner of choice for retailers and wholesalers, driving mutual success and benefits and I’m absolutely delighted to see that Nisa is the continued partner of choice for so many independent retailers. We strive to be the best we can be for all our partners and we look forward to welcoming everyone joining the Nisa family.”

Nisa offers a flexible partnership for each retailer it works with, providing the option to operate under a symbol fascia – Nisa Local, Nisa Express or Nisa Extra – or dual -branded, whereby a Nisa partner can maintain their own local identity while also benefiting from the strength of the Nisa brand.

It provides retailers with a range of more than 13,000 SKUs, as well as access to more than 2,400 Co-op own brand products including its Co-op Core Essentials and Honest Value range, providing a recognised, quality brand for shoppers and good margins for retailers.

Nisa currently supplies 2,480 Nisa facia/independent facia retail stores.