One Stop franchisee Manjit Gill has recently switched his two stores to the convenience retailer and says his biggest regret is that he should have made the transition a decade ago, having now tripled his turnover!
Manjit’s two stores are located on Lincoln Road and Hawton Road, Newark, Nottinghamshire. Prior to changing to One Stop, Manjit worked long hours as his business relied on a wholesale model, and he wasn’t making the profit or the salary he should be.
Whilst retail has been in his family for over 40 years, Manjit only started his journey in the trade when he was made redundant from a tyre company, explaining: “As my family were in retail, I thought I might as well have a go. But it was hard, and sales were not growing and in fact, going down.”
He was struggling to work out how to get his stores to work better for him when his brother switched his store to One Stop: “Almost immediately my brother saw a positive change and I realised how much easier life could be in retail!
“This encouraged me to change both my stores to One Stop and straight away sales grew and kept growing and I’d get support continuously, whereas nobody would come out to me before” said Manjit.
John Miller, Head of Franchise at One Stop comments: “We love hearing comments about how positive and easy people find switching to One Stop is. As a business, we focus on consistency and running systems and processes that people want to buy into. The result is an incredible shopping experience for customers and strong profit growth for our franchisees.
“There is a natural reluctance sometimes to change with a ‘better the devil you know’ acceptance, especially at the moment where people are just holding out for ‘things’ to change. Manjit’s story shows the transition can be pain free and opportunity ridden, with support available at every stage, so things don’t go wrong and can be easily rectified.
“Manjit no longer has to worry about the wholesale buying relationship and has time to focus on his store and his customers as everything else is done for him.”
Manjit’s customers are clearly important to him and the positive transition to One Stop is evident, as he explains: “When we converted the stores to One Stop and had the refits completed, our customers were flabbergasted when they saw what had been done. The store looked tidier, it was set out well, the pricing is better, and our footfall is growing.
“Customers know we’re part of Tesco and new customers are more inclined to shop with us as they trust the brand.
“We couldn’t sell certain lines before like chilled or frozen, as they were too expensive, and customers didn’t trust certain products. But we’re selling so many more categories now and lots are coming in for a whole shop.
“They’ve got a good model at One Stop and things are just easy now!”
Manjit’s Business Development Manager, Danny Insley adds: “Manjit has always been welcoming to the support we offer, especially as he came from a wholesale rather than a retail background.
“He is really settled with two stores and wants a steady business with consistency so he can take a step back and spend more time with his family. Since he’s joined, he doesn’t have the grind of travel and picking up stock and storing it, which is easier for his team to work through.
“Manjit believes and trusts in the One Stop model and despite having a smaller second store and competitors around him, sales have risen dramatically. We’ve shown him how to work smarter and by really investing in training his team, means our systems are simple enough for them to do it for him. Manjit wanted a better lifestyle and increased profits, and we’ve supported him to do this quickly and easily.”
