Somerfield's 最高の saver splashes out

By This Is Money
Updated: 00:00 BST, 2 June 2002

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LIKE many of the shoppers at his 蓄える／店s, Alan Smith is careful with money. にもかかわらず tucking into a breakfast of poached eggs in the opulent surroundings of one of London's 最高の，を越す hotels, the 長，指導者 (n)役員／(a)執行力のある of Somerfield, once one of the most ひどく indebted c ompanies in Britain, keeps a の近くに 注目する，もくろむ on the purse strings.

He volunteers the fact that 会合s with his 1,300 蓄える／店 経営者／支配人s are held at football clubs because 'they're cheaper than hotels'. And his hobby of 飛行機で行くing ヘリコプターs is, he 主張するs, 全く 除去するd from the company. 'It's not like a 法人組織の／企業の jet or anything,' he says.

But Smith, 55, who took over two years ago with a 簡潔な／要約する to turn 一連の会議、交渉／完成する the 病んでいる company, can spend if necessary. Somerfield, which 含むs the Kwik Save chain, is in the middle of a £100m programme to refurbish its 蓄える／店s. However, watching the pennies has been a habit ever since he arrived two years ago, when his first 仕事 was to agree a refinancing を取り引きする the banks to keep the company going.

Smith's return to the High Street was a welcome homecoming for someone who had spent a 'not 特に enjoyable' year at Punch Taverns, even though he 首尾よく steered the group through a high-profile 企て，努力，提案 戦う／戦い with Whitbread for the 連合した pubs. 'I 行方不明になるd 蓄える／店 小売ing,' he says. 'It's what I enjoy doing and when this 適切な時期 （機の）カム up I grabbed it. I got into 蓄える／店 小売ing running Victoria ワイン 17 years ago, and apart from the Punch excursion that's what I've been doing.'

Smith's career took him from Victoria ワイン to Kingfisher, where he was managing director of Superdrug and then B&Q. He loved his next 職業 at Boddingtons, but it ended when the brewer and pub group was taken over by Greenalls. Three years at car retailer Evans Halshaw followed before he moved to Punch.

But taking 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 at Somerfield was perhaps his most difficult 仕事. His 使節団 was to revitalise a 会社／堅い that was reeling from the neardisastrous 購入（する） of Kwik Save and a misguided 試みる／企てる to 変える tired Kwik Save 場所／位置s into Somerfield 蓄える／店s.

His first moves were to 取り消す the 蓄える／店 転換 programme and the internet shopping service. Just as important was to 上げる the 意気込み／士気 of the 60,000 staff. 'They had two years of bad 圧力（をかける） and 拒絶する／低下するing fort unes,' he says. 'It 次第に損なうs people's energy. It also gets rid of 顧客s. So you get into this 早い downward spiral - turnover goes 負かす／撃墜する so you 削減（する） 支援する, people feel 脅すd and insecure, turnover goes 負かす／撃墜する again.'

製品s not 存在 on the 棚上げにするs, even while they were 存在 促進するd on TV, was not 広大な／多数の／重要な. Smith says: 'Our 供給（する） chain was pretty rickety. It had indigestion - too much 在庫／株 clogging up the 倉庫／問屋s and 蓄える／店s.'

激しい 割引ing （疑いを）晴らすd the backlog and within six months 意気込み／士気 was 改善するd as 顧客s stopped haranguing staff about gaps on the 棚上げにするs. Smith says: 'It takes time for 顧客s' opinions to 落ちる, but also a long time for them to bounce 支援する. We are now seen as having betterrun 蓄える／店s than before, with shorter 列s and more 製品s 利用できる. But we are held 支援する by the fact that some are underlit, oldfashioned and have not had money spent on them.'

Hence the 投資 programme: so far, 50 out of 580 蓄える／店s have been 改造するd. Kwik Save, which 'needs money quick', is having a makeover - 460 out of 780 蓄える／店s have been done. A new advertising （選挙などの）運動をする and 製品 開始する，打ち上げるs, 含むing 改名するing its Basics 範囲, are all 目的（とする）d at changing public perception.

Somerfield is 支援する in the 黒人／ボイコット, but Smith 強調する／ストレスs that this is part of a five-year 計画（する）, not a 奇蹟 turnround. He says: 'We've been off our competitors' レーダ for a few years, but now we're getting more noticed. It's a wake-up call to them.' Smith's 焦点（を合わせる） is also on Somerfield's move into city centres, に引き続いて the successful '地元の' and 'Metro' 概念s from market leaders Tesco and Sainsbury.

When not working, or trawling 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 競争相手s' 蓄える／店s at the 週末, Smith takes to the sky with his wife, Linda - they are both qualified ヘリコプター 操縦するs.

負かす／撃墜する on the ground, life moves a bit more slowly at Somerfield. 'It's all about carrying on with the 戦略,' Smith says. 'I think we'll be ploughing that furrow for now.'