As part of the 2022 Leaders Forum, Glenys Tristram, National Marketing Manager at NightOwl, discusses emerging from Covid, breathing new life into old stores, and improving company culture.
C&I: What have been the biggest highlights for NightOwl over the past 12 months?
Tristram: Coming out of difficult times driven by Covid and the restrictions placed on public and business alike, NightOwl celebrates a return of customers to stores that were struggling. We have opened new stores and have welcomed new franchisees into the business.
C&I: What will be your main priorities for the remainder of 2022?
Tristram: We have a project running to update a number of our more regional stores over the coming months. Working closely with operations and our signage partners, we will see stores receiving new external signage, and in some cases new fitouts and upgrades. Watching new life breathed into some of the older stores is an enjoyable priority.
The NightOwl team is always working to incrementally improve the customer experience in-store, so that’s ongoing. But something I’m immersed in and enjoying is designing and pulling together our 2022 Summer Promotional Campaign. It’s too early to discuss details yet, however, designing a campaign that is truly integrated over all forms of media and using gamification to embed customer interaction is really a lot of fun.
C&I: What is your company doing to meet changing customer demands?
Tristram: I believe our customers essentially want good old-fashioned customer service. We can become too caught up in trying to meet the next trending need when what is required is constant vigilance to meet and exceed the basics of bringing joy to the customer in the moment of interaction opportunity.
We are working on improving our training systems, our policies, and procedures, but most importantly our own company culture. In ensuring we meet our employee’s needs; we will be best placed to meet our customer’s needs.
C&I: What does your crystal ball say about the year ahead in convenience?
Tristram: There is no question that the year ahead will bring challenges. Australians are feeling the pinch of price increases in all areas from petrol to housing to grocery. Rising interest rates will push customers to be further budget-conscious in decisions on where to shop and what to buy. That said, businesses within the convenience industry will need to be mindful to well articulate the unseen value propositions of their core offering.
C&I: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
Tristram: The team we have here at NightOwl Head Office is inclusive, focused, and motivated. It’s a joy to come to work and be surrounded by people that love what they do and are happy to share their insights and knowledge to drive our business forward. What I enjoy most is the daily interaction and feedback I receive from everyone I hear from within the NightOwl network.