Booths - Verdict Company Briefing

Booths is a regional grocery chain which has been run by five successive generations of the same family. It trades from 29 stores in northwest England and has a distinctive upmarket positioning, focusing on premium and high quality products, excellent customer service and enjoyable store environments. It has strong ties with community, priding itself on its use of local suppliers.

Report Scope

- Benchmark your performance in food & grocery with detailed key performance indicators across sales and space data for Booths
- As a wholesaler or supplier, identify the unique potential of Booths as a new retail partner by understanding its specialist range strategy
- Understand the store investment plans the retailer is rolling out and why expansion will take a back seat in 2013

Key Highlights

Waitrose' plans to expand in northern England in 2013 are potentially very bad news for Booths, given their similar premium positioning and emphasis on quality, provenance and customer service. Booths is only just over a twentieth of size of Waitrose and subsequently has none of its economies of scale in buying.

Margins at Booths are under pressure as the market remains challenging. The grocer's margins, which have already fallen from a pre-crisis peak of 4.0%, are likely to remain under pressure from the highly promotional nature of competition between the Big Four and from Waitrose' increasing tendency to respond to it.

The grocer is offering a click & collect service for Christmas 2012, following a successful launch in 2011, and may roll it out in other periods of the year. It is also considering introducing an online offer for home delivery, but says it will not use any of the business models of other grocers.

Reasons to Buy

- How will Booths continue to grow sales as competition increases in northern England?
- What are the key threats and opportunities for Booths given its upmarket positioning?
- How will Waitrose' expansion impact Booths market share?