Costcutter – Point Of Sale

Improving the Point Of Sale process for Costcutter

Costcutter has some 1,700 stores of varying sizes across the UK and Ireland.  Each store receives the same Point of Sale material (POS) every three weeks. Costcutter wanted to find out whether the POS was relevant and useful for the stores. They commissioned Qa to carry out research with retailers to understand their views towards the current POS process and how it could be improved.

The Aim of the Research

The overall aim of the study was to ‘Investigate retailers’ opinions towards the POS promotional system and identify how it could better meet their needs’.

Specifically, Costcutter also wanted to investigate such issues as: quantify how much of the promotional material was used as well as wasted by retailers, what they liked and disliked, the extent to which the POS affected sales, whether the materials highlighted the offers well enough, and what could be improved.

Research Method

Qa initially visited four Costcutter stores to gain an insight into how POS featured and listen to store managers’ views as to how the system could be improved. The outcomes of the visits really helped to shape the questionnaire that would be used for the subsequent national survey of store managers.

To help enable busy store managers to participate in the national survey we initially emailed them an online version of the survey. Following the closing date for the online survey we then conducted telephone interviews to top up the sample.

The survey was completed by 200 Costcutter retailers and included a variety of store sizes and locations across the UK and Ireland.

POS and promotions vital to the business

The overall feeling about POS in the stores was positive and there was a genuine desire for improvement. The results from the research are now helping Costcutter to improve their POS process, making it more effective and reducing waste. These improvements will save the individual stores and Costcutter time and money in the future.

What the Client said:

Michael Hooley, Promotions Manager at Costcutter said: “The Qa team were very responsive, met all our needs and delivered a thorough report which will be used in co-ordination with our future plans.”

For more information about this project please contact nick.lynch@qaresearch.co.uk  or call 01904 632039