International Retailers to Explore Future of Convenience at London Conference

Leading international retailers will explore strategies for growth in convenience at the Insight NACS Future of International Convenience and Petroleum Retailing 2009 Conference in London next month (14-17 September 2009).

The event comprises two days of convenience store study tours and two conference days: one focusing on convenience and one day dedicated to the forecourt sector.

Keynote speakers at the Convenience Conference, hosted at the British Library on 16 September, include Jerry Marwood, managing director, Spar UK; Edward Garner, communications director, TNS Worldpanel; Neil Applebee, head of process improvement - non trading, Asda Stores and Debbie Robinson, director, food retail marketing, Co-operative Group.

Marwood will present how Spar delivers localisation through a multi format strategy.

Spar currently operates high and low demographic versions of six different formats, which have developed unique space, range and price propositions to optimise retailer sales and profit.

Garner at TNS will explore how retailers are coping in a recessionary and inflationary climate and will consider the extent to which the switch to value own label is being driven by the consumers or whether retailers are forcing the pace.

Asda’s Applebee will tell delegates how the supermarket is improving the customer experience and minimising costs through effective self service retail strategies, while Robinson at the Co-operative will focus on the retailer’s ethical roots and future development.

The forecourt conference day on 17 September, also at the British Library, will feature Jonathan James, owner, James Graven; Jay Ricker, president, Ricker Oil Company and Phil Maud, petrol director, Morrisons.

In a presentation titled, Independent by design, James will set out his vision of the future for independent convenience retailing. James will reveal his thoughts and plans for a new, radical, store design, which will evolve local community engagement and create a new personalised community hub in the 21st century.

Ricker will focus on recent changes in the US market and explore how the US convenience and petroleum industry is weathering the recession.

Maud will discuss how Morrison’s and DHL use real time data to maximise the effectiveness of its fuel supply chain.

For further information on the four-day event and to view the full conference programme, please visit Insight online.