3 steps to compete against national chains

Battle of the Bakers

I was drawn into my local independent bakers the other day by a breakfast bap and was so impressed by what was going on inside that I had to make it the subject of this post.

Independent bakers are facing competition from both supermarket chains reducing high street foot fall and national baking giant Greggs attempting to sweep up what is left of it. Reeve the Baker of Wiltshire is far from one short of a dozen with its 11 stores showing a great example of defiance in the face of these national competitors by following these three steps:

1. Awareness – Reeve haven’t just stood still. They’ve identified a need for change and acted on it. Smaller independent businesses are faster to react and can implement changes quickly, tweaking elements or recovering from mistakes easily.  Don’t be afraid to try new things.

1. Specialise  - Reeve offer a specialist baked to order service and a massive range of specialty products all the while encouraging customers to spend more time in store with their cafe culture campaigns. You don’t want to be thought of as “like Greggs only more expensive.” Find gaps and niches in the market by looking at what you do best and where national retailers perform badly (or not at all.)

1. Core Values – Reeve encapsulate: expertise, quality and pride – in everything they do. From the quality of the flour my roll was made from right through to the service I received and the way I felt as a valued customer. It is very hard for a national chain to build a reputation as strong as this simply because it’s so hard to remain consistent and near impossible to fake.

As usual all comments welcome – you can check Reeve the baker out here

Thomas