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8 “I see shops as showrooms and the future being 100%digital” I nvesting in both digital and logistical agility has saved the day, says director Tony Hindhaugh. It’s hard to replicate the shop experience – the theatre of butchery – online. When you order remotely most of the time a spotty teen on a scooter arrives and throws the package at you. We put a lot of effort into the delivery method; we started local and dressed our drivers as butchers. We had liveried vans and delivered a personal service. Boxes weren’t vac-packed and thrown together as you’d expect for nationwide service, it was packed TONY HINDHAUGH DIRECTOR, PARSONS NOSE as you’d get it in the shop and boxes were hand delivered. We put a lot into furthering that shop experience in to delivery and it worked, actually. What’s it like bringing a national courier in? Terrifying. It’s terrifying. Before we went live we did quite a few tests sending to friends and family, putting eggs in, trying different packaging...We got broken eggs, we got seeping blood from packaging – all the things you want to avoid. The terrifying thing is you lose a little bit of that customer experience because it’s commercial packing rather than personal packing. The minute you try to make a personal package go nationwide it breaks. Also DPD, as good as they are, are not the same as our drivers talking the customers through the cooking process at the door, as our locals. The key thing for us is that we’re relying on our brand built up through awards and media presence. We’re hoping that will extend past the M25 so the lifestyle We’re trying tomeet all of customers’ needs because people will go back to convenience brand surrounds whatever’s in the box. I cannot express how lucky we’ve been to have an IT partner and be able to track market trends, reacting quickly. That extends right back to the butcher’s. Burger kits became popular over night so we launched a burger kit and sold thousands. We have a commercial kitchen now making meals to feed the market. We’ve opened a fishmonger, got vegetables direct from British farmers. We’re trying to meet all of customers’ needs because people will go back to convenience. Aggressively chasing opportunities. I’m constantly looking at trends. Delivery apps – they work, and we ventured into supplying one but it’s just not what we do. Keeping the quality up is quite tricky so we’re trying to stick what we do best. The investment in the website was essential; we changed the content on a daily basis, adding functionality. Registered regulars can get one-click purchase like Amazon, there’s same day delivery, points for the loyalty card. It all worked really well. We’re on Shopify and the more functionality IN PARTNERSHIP WITH