Fascia Guide: Nisa

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Criteria for becoming a member: Retailers need to have an existing business with an acceptable balance sheet, or a start-up business and a sound business plan.

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Nisa

Costs of becoming a member: Joining Nisa can cost as little as £860+VAT annual subscription for the company’s paperless option, which is the most popular.

What financial packages or credit terms do you offer?

Minimum 14 days.

Minimum length of contract:
No minimum length contract, but retailers wishing to leave the group must give at least six months’ notice.

Do you offer a trading area agreement? If so, within what radius is a member assured exclusivity?
Nisa has a proximity agreement with its retailers and can apply for exclusive fascia trading within a drive time of its store. The proximity agreement changes slightly in dense housing areas where the drive time exclusivity zones reduce.

Minimum drop requirement:
Retailers joining the Nisa symbol group must be able to take a minimum weekly case drop of 100 chilled/frozen (a minimum of 30 cases per order) and 300 ambient products. The products are delivered direct to the store and retailers can make use of Nisa’s six-day-a-week delivery service.

What options do retailers have for ordering goods?
Nisa offers its retailers a full web-based multi-channel ordering system that allows orders to be placed 24 hours a day via the EPoS ordering system or direct through the internet. The new OCS mobile app also enables tasks to be done away from stores, including ordering, price checks and delivery tracking.

How many own-label lines do you have listed and what are the own-label ranges? Nisa retailers have access to more than 2,400 Co-op own-brand products across all categories, including the new vegan GRO range.

What arrangements do you have for fresh produce and chilled and frozen foods?
Tri-temperature, six-day-a-week delivery service.

How many of your retailers have EPoS and how do you encourage them to take on new technology packages? There are more than  500 stores using Nisa’s in-house EPoS system and more than 400 with Nisa’s latest Epositive Evolution system.

In February an offer was launched providing retailers with a two-lane system comprising tills, a back-office PC and installation, free of charge to those converting from other EPoS providers or upgrading or renewing their existing Nisa EPoS system.

Do you invest in consumer advertising? Nisa invests heavily in consumer advertising, including a bespoke offer leaflet distributed to more than three million homes every three weeks, regular adverts in national tabloid newspapers, social media and online.

What promotions do you offer? Nisa works on a promotional calendar that changes every three weeks and is aligned with the Co-op, with promotions including lunch meal deals, £5 freezer-filler deals and Super Saver Deals.

What category management help can you provide? Nisa has a dedicated category management team. Through this area of the business, a comprehensive online planogram service for chill, frozen and ambient merchandising is delivered that allows retailers to create bespoke planograms for their stores.

What other support measures for retailers have you introduced recently? Retailers get access to support through Nisa’s new partner proposition, Fresh Thinking, including retail expertise and thought leadership to help continually improve customer experience through in-store solutions, category insights, store format innovation and account management teams.

Fresh Thinking also provides Nisa partners with access to convenience and symbol expertise through an in-house Insight team to help retailers understand their customers and their marketplace, access to planograms, marketing support, central helpdesks and expertise, and the Co-op promotional plan.

Nisa’s new rebate model is set to launch on 28 June. Fresh Rewards gives independent retailers the opportunity to unlock up to 5.5.% rebate with additional benefits available for those with a Nisa fascia store.

Why should an independent retailer join your group? Nisa provides a complete retail support package to its retailers to ensure they remain competitive in the marketplace. This comprises a strong retail focused team, an enhanced category management system, providing personalised planograms and a comprehensive marketing package. All of this is in addition to the award-winning supply chain, a strong award-winning own-label range and over 13,000 SKUs.

Having now been part of the Co-op for three years, work has focused on ensuring our independent retailers can enjoy the benefits of this through their strong relationship with Nisa as their primary supplier. With new-found business stability and improved financial strength, Nisa partners can trade their businesses in the independent way they have always enjoyed, backed by competitive prices, promotions and a deeper own brand range which is so important in today’s market in order to drive a real point of difference.

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CONTACT DETAILS

Name:  Nisa

Address:  Waldo Way, Normanby Enterprise Park, Scunthorpe, DN15 9GE

Telephone:  0800 542 7490

Website:  nisalocally.co.uk/retailers/contact-us-and-join-nisa

Twitter:  @NisaRetail

First contact for potential members:  Nisa recruitment team

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FACTFILE

Average store size: 2,200sq ft

Number of UK retail members: About 1,300, operating about 2,400 stores

Names of all UK fascias: Nisa Local, Nisa Express, Nisa Extra or dual-branded or independent.

RETAILER PROFILE

Owner:   Harry Ahmed

Store name:  Nisa Local Greenock

Location:  Greenock, Renfrewshire

Number of years as a member: One and a half

Opening hours:  Monday to Saturday 7am to 10pm; Sunday 9am to 10pm.

Main advantages of membership: The support offered by the Nisa team. Even though during the coronavirus crisis they haven’t been able to visit, the support has still been there on the phone whenever needed. And the experience they have, sharing information from across the whole country with guidelines to keep us all safe, has been great. Nisa has also enabled me to maintain stock availability during the pandemic.

Why did you choose to join this group rather than one of its competitors? The expansive range, especially the fresh options and importantly the Co-op own-brand products. Nisa’s pricing structure was also the best we saw and it is also the most moder- looking fascia.