In order to ensure that each of its depots continues to deliver an industry leading customer experience, Parfetts Cash & Carry has centralised the buying functions for all six branches into their Stockport head office.
The Parfetts’ board believes that this will enable depots to fully focus on the vital areas of availability, presentation and customer service.
All order placements are now the responsibility of the head office trading team with the exception of short date departments and cigarettes which remain with the local branch. Butchery will still be available in all depots but will be distributed from the Halifax and Somercotes depots and is overseen by foodservice managers which are newly created positions.
Explaining the need for change, Joint Managing Director, Greg Suszczenia said: “The structure of the business has served the company well for 35 years but it is now inappropriate for our future plans. The key levers for the business have changed greatly in recent years particularly with the growth of our Go Local symbol group, Click & Collect and now with our exciting new delivered GO Local Direct project, GOLD. This is the right time to re-align in order to facilitate the migration of our business from traditional cash and carries to local business hubs. As always, our aim is to be best in class for customer service and availability.”
The restructure has affected a small number of depot employees; however, it has also resulted in some newly created positions in both head office and depots. The senior management structure of each depot now includes General Managers, Operational Managers, Supply Chain Managers and Supply Chain Administrators, all with direct communication to the HO Trading department, with Parfetts now actively recruiting for these roles internally and externally.
Discussing the changes, Operations Director Andy Whitworth said: “Moving to central buying is just one part of the current restructure; we are also working to improve the experience our customers have at depot. Depot reception areas will be evolving and will no longer be just an entrance to the depot – they will become the heart of the depot with all the senior depot staff being based there, providing bespoke solutions to customers’ requirements.”
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