A British convenience shop and newsagent operator with over 1,800 stores across England, Scotland and Wales required the support of RGIS. The retail group employs over 16,000 colleagues, serves approximately four million customers and has a turnover of over £1 billion. The retail group's aim is to provide a great range of quality everyday products and services, close to where people live, and available when they need them.

REQUIREMENTS
With Covid-19 closing small stores during the first lockdown, the retail group were still required to deliver inventories of all its stores during 2021-22. The in-house stock counting team complete the inventories annually, but due to the small timeframe to complete the counts of all stores, an extra resource was required to assist them.

The retail group required skilled counters to be managed by the in-house counting team to accurately count stock in all stores, so required RGIS to provide the following:

• Reliable auditors with experience within a retail environment
• All stock to be counted in 500 specified stores
• Work under the management of current in-house stocktaking team
• National coverage  

SOLUTION
The retail group partnered with RGIS to complete the stocktaking staff support project, and RGIS provided the following:

• Scheduled teams of approximately 20-30 experienced RGIS auditors depending on the size of the store, for five days a week
• RGIS auditors were trained by the customer to comply with the high standards expected
• Scanned all stock both on the shop floor and in the back stock rooms
• Multiple stores counted per day across the UK
• Successfully worked under the direction of the current in-house stocktaking team 

RESULTS
The retail group found by outsourcing the stocktaking staff support project to RGIS, the following results were achieved:

• Accurately counted all 500 specified stores
• Completed counts within the timeframe as requested
• The high standards of the customer were adhered to at all times
• The customer was very happy with the service and support given by the RGIS teams