Last month, Safeway operations leaders and backstage partners gathered to kick off the exciting holiday season with our annual ‘Holiday Show and Sell’. The team stepped away from their stores to regroup on brand strategy, purpose, culture and values, all while keeping our holiday approach and departmental direction top of mind.
Scott Chollak, VP, Alberta Operations, kicked things off with an Alberta business update. Together, we will continue to focus on our common goals – driving sales and growth, winning market share, winning the season and strengthening customer loyalty. Our industry leading customer service will continue to distinguish us from our competitors – both our conventional grocery retail competitors, and our untraditional competitors that are new to the market, like food delivery services and the influx of restaurant options.
Stacey Morgan, Manager, Alberta Retail Operations Customer Experience/L&D, joined Scott to announce the highly anticipated Care Service program, as well as the New Hire On-boarding Program.
The Care. Service program highlights four key service essentials necessary to delight our customers – communicate, assist, resolve, and educate – and provides helpful tips on how we can welcome and connect with every customer that enters our stores.
The New Hire On-boarding Program guarantees a memorable on-boarding experience for new teammates, deeply immersing every new employee in our proud Safeway culture. The Program extends from pre-start through to a 90-day check in with Department Managers, keeping new teammates engaged long beyond their first shift. The program will also introduce Training Mentors, key teammates in every store who will help sustain long term on-boarding take-aways and act as leaders in driving future initiatives. Finally, with a new lens on role-based training for non-management roles, every non-management employee will learn the ins-and-outs of their role in a more consistent and organized manner, supported with training checklists and regular check-ins.
Both the Care. Service program and the New Hire On-boarding Program will roll out to stores across the country and help amplify our purpose while driving our strong culture of pride, inclusivity, support and innovation. With a more harmonized approach to how we operate, we will continue to focus on proudly celebrating our teams and our impeccable ability to serve our customers.
Our Department MRO’s were also on site to share their exciting holiday strategies. MRO’s highlighted new hero items, such as the Festive Meal Deal in HMR and Sterling Silver Roasts in the meat department, while speaking to the larger holiday assortment and the incredible merchandising necessary to outshine our competitors and win the season. Not only will our top products shine through outstanding merchandising, but Safeway’s new holiday marketing direction and enhanced POS kits are sure to brighten our stores, welcome our customers, and spread a little extra holiday cheer.
Finally, Store Managers and Operators were invited to stop by Safeway Beltline, where Store Manager, Kevin Wilson, and his incredible team showcased the enhanced decor package and POS kit. Congratulations to the entire Beltline team for a phenomenal job well done in preparing your store for the viewing pleasure of the larger Safeway team. And a special shout out to Bill Owen and the Safeway Aspen team for hosting the very first holiday walkthrough in July, where we checked out the POS kit for the very first time. This was a crucial step in ensuring the final POS kit was just right for our stores, and it couldn’t have come to life at Beltline without your support.
The holiday season is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to see all of our teams celebrate the joy of the season at Safeway!
