The Convenience Awards 2022 are now open for entries.
Celebrating the entire sector, there are 14 self-entry categories up for grabs, and retailers will need to decide which one is right for their business.
The majority of self-entry categories are open to all types of retailers – unaffiliated, managed or part of a symbol group. If you own or manage a convenience store, have a look at the categories below and see which fits you and your team.
Brought to you by ConvenienceStore.co.uk, Lumina Intelligence and The Grocer, The Convenience Awards will take place on Tuesday 13 September at The Londoner Hotel, Leicester Square. The deadline for entries is 11 April.
Convenience Rising Star of the Year
The Convenience Rising Star Award is open to retailers of all ages who have opened their first store or become manager in the past three years. As well as examining sales results and customer engagement, the judging panel will be looking for examples of innovation from entrants, particularly around taking a new approach to any retailing challenge. Sales, staff development and community engagement are also key considerations for this category.
Enter Convenience Rising Star of the Year
Community Initiative of the Year
A new award for 2022 - Community Initiative of the Year recognises an idea or initiative carried out by a retailer/store team that has helped their local community. Have you helped your community in a big way? Have you come up with a new idea to help groups near you? We want to hear from you. Entries must show how the store team has identified a particular issue in their community and worked to help remedy/overcome it.
Enter Community Initiative of the Year
Community Retailer of the Year
Community Retailer of the Year is open to retailers who care about their local areas and want to use every resource at their disposal to help it. Judges assessed entries on knowledge of issues affecting communities and how they helped tackle them, how they forged links beyond the traditional retailer/customer relationship, investments in the area and work with local charities.
Enter Community Retailer of the Year
Food to Go Store of the Year
The Food to Go Store of the Year category celebrates stores with a compelling food to go offer, including sandwiches, hot food, impulse items and drinks to go. The judging panel focus on sales, waste management, marketing and innovation as well as how stores manage the varying meal occasions throughout the day to create a rounded offer that caters to all needs.
Sales Colleague of the Year
This is a unique opportunity to share the fantastic work achieved by team members who go the extra mile to help their local communities, raise money for national/local charities, and demonstrates impressive entrepreneurial spirit by suggesting profit-generating ideas.
Judges assess candidates on how they provided excellent customer service by going above and beyond the ‘sale’; that they have responsibilities in the business that make them essential to the store; experience of mentoring others in the business and evidence of fundraising activities that they have created and delivered successfully.
Sustainability Retailer of the Year
Entries are assessed on sustainability initiatives that have been introduced over the past 12 months and evidence of results from them; how sustainability within the business is communicated to customers; investment in sustainability throughout the store, including technology, training and range.
New Store/Refit of the Year
This award is open to stores that have opened from scratch, or re-opened after a significant re-modelling, during the calendar year 2021. This award will be given to the store which, in the opinion of the judges, is the best example of a modern convenience store and is open to stores of all sizes, and any ownership structure.
Enter New Store/Refit of the Year
Customer Delivery Store of the Year
This award recognises retailers that have implemented a successful delivery service that provides the dual function of serving communities and driving sales. Entries are assessed on evidence of a successful service that has either been created or significantly expanded in 2021 including sales growth, upselling, community outreach and customer communication.
Enter Customer Delivery Store of the Year
Of the self-entry categories, there are four main awards which have specific criteria. One of the winners of these four categories will be crowned Convenience Retailer of the Year.
Independent Convenience Store of the Year
The Independent Convenience Store of the Year category is open to single stores or those part of a group of nine stores or fewer under the same ownership, trading under a symbol or retailer’s own brand and is between 1,500 – 3,000sq ft in size. Entries are assessed on sales growth, investment, customer engagement and overall standards.
Large Convenience Store of the Year
The Large Convenience Store of the Year category is open to any store larger than 3,000sq ft in selling space, regardless of ownership or retail brand. Entries are assessed on sales growth, examples of investment in the business, key categories, store standards, use of technology and engagement with customer base.
Multiple Managed Convenience Store of the Year
The Multiple Managed Convenience Store of the Year category is open to stores that are part of a group of 10 or more under the same ownership, or any store trading under a retail brand as part of a franchise programme that is 1,500 – 3,000sq ft in size. Entries are judged on sales growth, overall standards, customer engagement and points of difference.
Enter Multiple Managed Convenience Store of the Year
Small Convenience Store of the Year
The Small Convenience Store of the Year category is open to any store smaller than 1,500sq ft in selling space, regardless of ownership or retail brand. Entries are assessed on sales growth, investment, customer engagement, use of technology and digital, additional services and high store standards.
Research categories
As well as the 14 self-entry categories, there are also seven research awards. The convenience store fascia/group awards are calculated using the UK’s largest convenience shopper study, Lumina Intelligence’s Convenience Tracking Programme. Built from analysis of over 50,000 shopping trips per year, with shoppers asked to rate their shopping experience across a range of different KPIs, including range, availability, ease of shop and friendliness of staff. These awards recognise the very best within convenience from the eyes of shoppers.
The supplier awards are based on feedback from interviews with over 250 convenience store retailers.
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