Category: Question

We strongly believe that sampling is a great way to build better connections with our customers and to engage them with our products.

Our office merchandising teams work with vendors continuously for new product innovation, flavour profile changes and seasonal items. We also work with local regional vendors, especially when their products are in season and available for sale. We regularly have sampling stations set up in-store by our store managers. As well, we encourage employees to provide customers with a sample any time there is a request or opportunity to do so.  There is a sampling policy in place that all employees should be familiar with in order to help customers select their favorite products.

If you have any further questions on in-store sampling, please feel free to speak to your Store Manager directly.

Store hours are set individually for a number of reasons aside from the banner. Some of these factors are the needs of the community or neighbourhood, local bylaws, customer traffic and sales, so not all stores will have the same set of open hours. Creating a balance between customers’ needs and operating costs helps us to improve sales and our bottom line, helping us return to our spot as one of Western Canada’s leading grocery stores.

We offer our customers a variety of ways to save each time they shop with us so they can find a program that works best for their budget and lifestyle. Some of our programs include:

• Savings through our weekly flyers;
• Savings through our AIR MILES program (including Blue Friday);
• Savings through our Everyday Value program that offers even more value on certain key products that customers purchase on a regular basis; and,
• Savings through regular promotions such as Customer Appreciation Day and Dollar Days.

In addition to these programs, our Buy More Save More program provides a discount on a single item plus a further discount when more of the same products are purchased beyond a certain threshold.

All of these programs provide an excellent opportunity for employees to share price savings with their customers. We continue to listen and diversify our offerings to customers from the food on our shelves, to the way we help our customers save.

Staffing stores to serve our customers is one of the most important jobs we have. We know our employees are critical to ensuring customers leave our stores satisfied and stay loyal to the Safeway brand. To make sure we get that right balance we work with our Department Managers, Store Managers and Directors of Operations. In addition, we also rely on technology.

We use a sophisticated tool called “Workforce Management” (WFM) to connect the right number of employees to the tasks that require their skills at the right time to meet our customers’ needs.

It is our goal to balance the right level of staff to provide the customer service we expect while managing our labour costs. Even though we have the tools to help us manage our workforce, the reality is that scheduling is tied to the financials of our stores. We face a competitive market – with constant pressures on costs. And our labour costs are still too high for industry standards. We must address our labour costs and sales performance to improve our viability. We have to be the best place to shop, again.

If we do not address these challenges, we will not be able to make our stores profitable.

The grocery and shopping landscape is changing quickly and we are working to ensure we keep up with the demands of our customers.

We currently offer online shopping services at some of our stores and banners, and we are looking to expand to other banners. It is our priority to get Safeway back to being one of the top grocers in Western Canada. To do this, we will have to continue to look at where the industry is going and what our customers want. While online shopping in the grocery industry is getting some attention, it is interesting to note that with the acquisition of Whole Foods, even Amazon understands that they need bricks and mortar to sell groceries.

We have no timelines at this point, but are looking forward to how we can make online shopping a more expansive part of our business at Safeway to better serve our customers.

We understand that having out-of-stocks is extremely frustrating for you, especially when such products are advertised.

In Grocery, the more significant issues that we face are:

• Forecasting: Following the acquisition, we had to integrate our systems resulting in changes to tools and processes.  People needed to be retrained.  Our RSCs were consolidated which led to logistical issues.  All of this led to shortages on our shelves.  We continue to work hard to improve the collaboration between our Buyers, our Category Managers and our Vendors.
• Delisted items: In some cases, stores are ordering delisted or seasonal items that are no longer available.  We are working very hard to update our POGs (Planograms ) and getting better at communicating our delists to the stores.
• Vendor shortages: We are experiencing a number of problems with vendor shortages that are higher than usual.
• Frozen Food was a major issue a couple of months ago when we consolidated several of our frozen RSCs. Our service levels are recovering although we are still not where we need to be.

In the case of Fresh:

• Our produce service levels have been challenged by the growing conditions in California, which have been worse this year than in previous years.
• The supply of beef has been very tight so, if the stores sell more than forecasted, we run into problems getting replacement stock. Even if we find product, our standard of 21 days of aging means that we likely can’t ship it even if we have it.

In warehousing, we have made a significant investment in leading-age technology at our Rocky View warehouse. This warehouse is one of the most sophisticated and smart warehouses in the country and will position us well in the future.

So, while it is true that we are still experiencing problems with out-of-stocks, we are happy to hear that the stores are reporting progress every week. As time goes on and our people become more familiar with their new systems, tools and processes, we will continue to see improvements in our stock levels in our stores.  This is a priority for us and it will continue to receive the highest level of attention and focus it deserves.