// New Poundstretcher CEO Derek Lawlor says discount stores vital for families and pledges to help staff and shoppers amid the cost-of-living crisis
// The discounter is to market its value credentials and improve its supply to help attract customers
New Poundstretcher chief executive Derek Lawlor is to focus on promoting the retailer’s value credentials as it seeks to thrive during the cost-of-living crisis.
The former Tesco and Asda executive who joined the discount chain this week, told BusinessLive: “We need to make customers more aware of the value we have, which in turn brings more customers in. Poundstretcher is already excellent at running a low cost operation and the high street discount channel as a whole is well placed during a cost-of-living crisis to help customers.”
Lawlor admitted that the cost-of-living crisis presented a big growth opportunity for Poundstretcher.
He said: “The price of everything is going up and everybody is going to have less money to go around. In a world with a cost-of-living crisis, I think we can do a good job to really make people’s pounds go a bit further.”
Poundstretcher’s owner Aziz Tayub, who has moved to a chairman role at the discount retailer, agreed that marketing its value was crucial to its growth.
He said: “We want to get the business more customer orientated by getting the product range right and through marketing and getting the right price. Our prices are already cheaper than our competitors, even within the discount sector. We are perhaps the best kept secret in the retail trade.”
READ MORE:
- Poundstretcher hires Asda exec as new CEO
- Poundstretcher profits halve as it pushes ahead with store expansion
- Poundstretcher denies raising prices before ‘50% off sale’
A big focus for Lawlor is to improve supply at Poundstretcher’s 337 shops.
He said the business needs to build on its relations with suppliers and get back the 10-15% of suppliers stopped trading with it when it undertook its CVA last year to ensure a regular supply of branded goods.
Lawlor said if that happens sales per square foot should rise and its store estate could swell to 600 shops.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
