Earlier this year, PayPoint introduced the new Store Growth Specialist team, designed to help retailers maximise its offering.
Convenience Store went along with SGS Paul Maxwell to visit two stores in Sussex to learn how PayPoint is helping retailers get more from the service.
Drawing on 11 million data points, PayPoint identifies how stores can increase sales and maximise returns on the service.
PayPoint chief marketing and corporate affairs officer Steve O’Neill explained the Store Growth Specialist (SGS) approach. “We started with three store growth specialists with another two in training. As opposed to the rest of the regular field sales team, the SGS is focused on not selling but rather getting the most out what’s there. We give this team more flexibility to help retailers get more so if it takes three hours with a retailer, they’ll spend three hours. It’s very much driven by the retailer’s needs - educating, coaching and going through the service with them, so it is a different approach to the regular field sales team.”
Maxwell says that visits to retailer are designed for them to get the most from it. “The most important thing for me is the time we spend with the retailers, we’re not hiding anything. We go through as much as possible with the retailer.”
The first visit is to Bradleys in Brighton, East Sussex, run by Gihan Salih, which caters to a large student population.
Maxwell goes through a checklist of queries raised by Gihan such as raising the config limit which determines the daily transaction limit; confusion regarding card payments returns; logging into the card payment app; an issue with the ATM which required an engineer visit; and the store’s ATM not showing on the Link website.
He says that the SGS approach is retailer-first. “Issues like the config limit can be fixed easily but retailers have a million things to do so if we can spend some time in the store addressing it, it makes their life easier.”
It is also explained how PayPoint’s partnership with Assured Energy saved two other stores £9,000 and £10,000 on their energy bills respectively. “It’s not necessarily money being made or saved via PayPoint but it’s another way that we can introduce some savings to the retailer while we’re in the store. Helping them save that amount of money is a really big deal for them.”
Parcel collection was also a focus for the visit, with progress made on offering Royal Mail, with the store also offering UPS, eBay and DHL services. The retailer was optimistic about eBay collections in the store due to the student population. “It’s only been a few days but we’ve already had some eBay parcels in.” There was also an expectation that Royal Mail would be popular in Brighton due to its recently-announced partnership with Vinted.
The visit ends with Maxwell making sure that Gihan knows how to process gift cards and providing an ATM sign to help attract customers that may have not come to the store for the service due to it not appearing on the Link website.
“It’s a very good service, before Paul started coming, I had to spend a lot of time on the phone, which is tough when I’m so busy,” adds Gihan.
The SGS visit then travelled onto Beneys Londis in Hastings, East Sussex to meet Sinthy Amalathas and go through their PayPoint offering.
The visit to this store starts with Maxwell explaining the new sim card commission scheme and advised having the sim display more prominent in the store to make the most of the new offering.
He also explained the partnership with Assured Energy. Love2Shop was a big focus for the visit, with Maxwell believing that the voucher offering would do well in the store and offers a 10% commission, up from the previous rate of 5%. He arranged a training visit for the store to teach the staff how to process the vouchers and the importance of engaging with customers to explain them.
Maxwell then took the time to find the optimum spot for the Love2Shop display, deciding on beside the greeting cards to create a gifting zone within the store.
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