The master plan
Giant-Carlisle acquired the Clemens stores to reach more customers, so right from the start it wanted everything ready to welcome shoppers in the pre-Christmas holiday shopping season. That meant highly detailed planning to convert the stores and bring in a whole new product assortment – in just weeks or even days.
And while Giant -Carlisle wanted to delight customers, it recognized that this was a major change for employees concerned as well. It was important to be sensitive to their needs too.
Total team effort
“It was a total team effort – this is what made it successful,” said Bob Wasikowski, VP Operations and Merchandising for Giant-Carlisle. “From day one everyone knew their importance in the project and what they needed to contribute.”
The planning committee made sure everything was covered from real estate, construction, risk management, advertising, merchandising, HR – the list goes on.
“Throughout the whole process, communication was outstanding,” says Mike Baumeister, Operations VP of the region where the new stores are located. “We had a plan down to the hour. People were touching base daily and even hourly at certain points of the process to keep everything running smoothly.”
A warm welcome
During the conversion, Giant-Çarlisle’s HR department pulled out all the stops to welcome former Clemens employees and to keep them individually informed about what was happening and when. It also trained its own staff to give them insight into the perspective of their new colleagues.
As a result, the vast majority of Clemens employees have stayed to join Giant-Carlisle, a development that is as good for Giant as it is for its new customers.
The merchandise challenge
Alongside the human aspects came the challenge of ensuring all the merchandise ended up in the right place on the right shelves. With many differences in stores and departments, the team had to develop and execute 13 separate plans!
500 people from the region were sent to the stores to assist with the conversion. Plus every store and department manager had a ‘shadow manager’ who worked side by side with them to help them through the conversion.
Plus Giant-Carlisle was keen to maintain successful ideas from Clemens. It has rolled out Clemens’ bundt and ‘happy’ cakes to other Giant-Carlisle stores in the area. It has also tested Clemens’ popular pre-sliced deli meats with its customers.
Bringing new life in the stores
So what of that most vital factor – customer reaction? It has been extraordinarily favorable. “They see new life in the stores,” says Mike. “The stores are much busier than before. We have the same people in place, the same management, but new products and more variety.”
Giant-Carlisle acquired the Clemens stores to reach more customers. And having done so, it aimed for an amazingly rapid conversion ahead of Christmas. Thanks to great teamwork, it can say with pride – mission accomplished.