24 May 2019

HIM Shoppers' Favourite Convenience Retailer for BWS Award 2019

The team at Bestway Retail are proud recipients of the HIM Shoppers' Favourite Convenience Retailer for BWS Award 2019 – the first title picked up in the company’s new format as part of Bestway Wholesale.

The award was given to Franchise and Company-Owned store brand Bargain Booze, based on Shopper satisfaction ratings with regards to the choice, quality, price and value for money of the BWS offer.

Andy Cresswell, Chief Retail Officer at Bestway Retail said: “The HIM awards are the only awards that are voted for by those that matter most – our shoppers – and this makes the achievement even more rewarding.

“Receiving this award is a significant reminder of the great work our teams and our Franchisees have put in to maintaining a strong position for our brands on the High street, to be voted as the shoppers’ favourite for the category we are famous for – licensed. Despite significant change in the last year following the collapse of Conviviality, Bargain Booze has maintained its personality as a fun, consumer facing brand and we have managed to reassure customers of our commitment to running leading, licensed convenience stores, with high levels of service and an excellent product range.

“I’d like to personally thank all of our colleagues, our Franchisees and of course our loyal customers who rate our beers, wines and spirits offer highly.’

Bestway Wholesale also picked up The Shoppers' Favourite Convenience Retailer for Snacks Award 2019 for the best-one symbol group brand, which continues to be the UK’s fastest growing symbol group. This award was based on satisfaction ratings in delivering against shopper expectations for the crisps and snacks category.

Dawood Pervez, Managing Director of Bestway Wholesale and Retail added: “It’s been just over a year since Bestway Wholesale acquired Bestway Retail, so these two award wins, one for each side of our retail business, is a fitting celebration for the two teams on our first anniversary together.

“In this first year, we have developed the position of Bargain Booze as a licensed, convenience retailer and individual Franchisees now have access to an enhanced BWS range and a new chilled range, utilising the scale of the Bestway Wholesale chilled depot network and gaining access to the high quality, great value best-one own label range.

“With the addition of the Conviviality brands, our retail offer now extends from Company owned and Franchise stores to Symbol Group, Retail Club and support for unaffiliated retailers. Each of our retail brands within this spectrum offers something unique and for Bargain Booze it’s about specialising in Beers Wines and Spirits, whilst adding the convenience of a chilled and own-label food range, and it’s about having fun with shoppers, whilst for best-one it’s about helping entrepreneurial independent retailers to compete on the high street with competitive pricing and promotions and excellent store standards.”

Reaffirming its position as a fun brand, Bargain Booze recently enlisted the support of X Factor finalist and Brazilian Singing Sensation Wagner and Shaun Williamson (Barry from Eastenders) to lead a new ‘Better Believe It’ campaign positioning hard to believe situations alongside even harder to believe value and choice, inside Bargain Booze stores.

The campaign focused on getting the Bargain Booze brand heard by re-igniting consumer engagement, and it worked. Since April, more people have been talking about the brand than ever before and this has translated into more people seeking out their local stores, with visits to the store locator web page on the Bargain Booze website trebling versus the months leading to April this year.

Cresswell added: “Working with Wagner has been great fun for the Bestway Retail marketing team, who have managed a fine job of surprising and delighting customers. I look forward to this brand continuing to develop in a fun and supportive way for our Franchisee holders and shoppers.”