Introduction
David Sands Ltd is a long established family owned and controlled company operating twenty six convenience stores in the Fife, Kinross and Perth areas.
In the year ending 31 st December 2007 sales (excluding VAT) were £29m and the Profit on ordinary activities before taxation was £1.1m.

OUR VISION
Our aim is extraordinarily simple; make the lives of the people in the communities we serve easier and better by providing the products and services they really want and need in friendly shops and at prices and times that suit them.
All ambient goods are supplied to the stores from the company's central warehouse in Kinross. The head office in Kinross also carries out all the administration for the company including full stock control for the warehouse and each of the stores. Purpose built, the new head office and distribution warehouse opened in September 2005, and gives the company the ability to double the number of convenience stores operated.

Introducing a convenience Store

THE CONVENIENCE MARKET

• UK convenience market is valued by the IGD at £27.4bn, an increase of 5.1% on 2007. This is a strong performance and compares with the UK food and grocery market overall, which grew by 4.1% over the same period.
• The IGD forecasts the UK convenience market to reach a value of between £35.8bn and £37.6bn by the end of 2013.
• 49,530 outlets trading as convenience stores in the UK , a decline of 2.4% from 2007.
• Independents 23,108 stores with £6.9bn sales , Multiple owned c-stores 2,604 with £3.8bn, Symbol group stores 14,340 with £9.7bn sales , Forecourts 8,629 with £3.9bn sales and Co-ops with 2,409 stores and sales of £3bn. Source IGD's UK Convenience Retailing Report.
• Nearly half of all UK adults visit a convenience outlet in a typical week.

PHYSICAL FACTORS

• Often located alongside complementary retailers such as fast food operators.
• Store size varies within David Sands Ltd from 1,000sq ft to 4,000 sq ft, but average 2,000 sq ft with the average c-store size in the UK 1,304 sq ft.
• A small amount of parking outside the store is essential

• Serving a local area usually with a high density of immediate housing
• Majority of customers walk to stores (58%).
• Travel times to store rarely above five minutes by foot or by car
• Convenience (proximity to home or work) is by far the most common reason for choosing a particular convenience store
• 67% of David Sands shoppers come "from home".
• 60% of David Sands shoppers travel less than ¼ mile to their stores, 25% travel between ¼ mile and 1 mile. The average distance is 0.8miles.

CUSTOMER PROFILE

• Rarely used for main weekly shops
• Destination for top-up shopping
• Low average till ring i.e. David Sands Ltd average £4.03.
• Low number of items purchased per visit (average 3.1 items).
• Majority consume their purchase "immediately".
• 95% of David Sands shoppers pay by cash.
• Customer profile at David Sands;
  AB's 16% C1's 29%
  C2's 26% DE's 29%
• Shoppers at David Sands stores visit on average 4.8 times a week with 42% of shoppers using a David Sands store everyday.
• David Sands customers shopping missions can be broken down into the following; Top-up 43%, Newsagent Purchase 28%, Food for Now 21%, Meal for Tonight 6%
• 59% of David Sands shoppers are female
• David Sands shopper age profile;
  (18-24) - 8% (25-34) - 15% (35-44) - 23%
  (45-54) - 21% (55-64) - 16% (65+) - 15%

OPERATIONAL FEATURES

• Provides a wide range of services
• Very much part of the local community
• Open 364 days per annum
• Open for at least 16 hours per day

STAFFING

• Relatively few full time staff, approximately two thirds of employees are part time
• Part time staff wage rate minimum wage.

ADVERTISING

• Very localised through leaflets and occasionally local radio.
• David Sands Ltd distribute up to 80,000 door to door leaflets each three week promotional period or 17 times a year.

RANGE

• Wide but shallow range
• Up to 4,500 lines stocked in store
• Major brands plus one own label
• Key departments: News, Off Sales, Lottery, Tobacco, Confectionery, Chilled Foods, Snacks, Bakery and Soft Drinks

WHY FUTURE GROWTH?

• Out of town superstores, leaving gaps in certain areas
• Reduction in the numbers of high street food retailers i.e. butchers, bakers, newsagents and greengrocers
• Customers are often in a hurry and demand a quick shop rather than a visit to a superstore
• Ageing population less mobile and thus less able to visit out of town superstores
• Smaller households result in a reduced requirement to complete a large shop in an out of town location, and single parent households are less mobile and hence more dependent on local shopping facilities. A fifth of shoppers are single and live alone.
• Rising population
• Increase in working women means less time being allocated to grocery shopping and ensures more "topping up"
• Desire for better quality food/healthier food means that by their nature such foods are short dated and thus require more frequent purchasing
• More and more consumers are "snacking", i.e. eating between meals, and often the handiest store to satiate a hunger craving is the local convenience store

WHERE DOES THE SHOPPER INFORMATION COME FROM?

David Sands Ltd joined the Convenience Tracking Programme (CTP) in 2003. CTP is the authoritative industry reference for all retailers involved in the UK convenience sector. CTP is run by HIM Ltd who for 39 years have helped retailers to understand their shoppers.....and sell more to them. They are a consulting firm with a commitment to research, who have conducted over 15 million moment of truth "conversations", during shopping. In March and October each year, HIM Ltd conduct over 1,000 customer interviews with David Sands shoppers.

Over the past three years key growth categories have included Food to Go, Soft Drinks, Cigarettes, News & Magazines and Off Sales.

The company has National Lottery terminals in twenty three stores.

Paypoint terminals are available as a service to customers in all stores. These terminals allow the acceptance of payment for household electricity, gas, and telephone bills as well as offering mobile phone e top-up facility. This is an invaluable customer service and ensures stores remain at the heart of their communities.

David Sands Ltd operate Post Offices in eight stores; Kinross, Cardenden, Auchtermuchty, Pentland Place, Oakbank Rd, St Andrews St , North Muirton and Ralston Drive.

Where possible David Sands stores offer their customers an ATM (Automated Teller Machine), generally this is free to use. Alliance & Leicester have formed a good working relationship with David Sands Ltd and operate the majority of the ATM's.

David Sands Ltd own and lease a number of adjoining shop units, residential accommodation and storage containers.

Approximately 78% of the goods sold in the stores by value are delivered from the central warehouse in Kinross. Goods are ordered electronically by the stores up to seven times per week and normally delivered in roller cages within twelve hours. The company operates a small fleet of three lorries. Twenty six staff are employed in the warehouse , which operates seven days a week, with two shifts Monday-Friday. By operating its own central warehouse David Sands Ltd is uniquely placed to ensure good availability in store and to ensure the right goods are bought at the right time.

There is ample capacity in the new warehouse to supply up to an additional 25 stores.