Profile Julie Abraham The route to continued success remains a relentless focus on colleagues after you, remarks Abraham, closing due to ongoing lockdowns, there was a fire in Our stores are set up almost as independent explaining that engaged, motivated and well-trained the factory that supplies most businesses, so the manager and deputy are of the worlds computer chips, paid on the success and profits of their store staff, combined with goodvalue products, make for the container ship that got happy customers. If you put stuck in the Suez Canal people before profit, the profits dammed up worldwide tend to follow. shipping, Brexit has caused issues at the ports You name it, The company uses a raft of techniques to motivate staff, from weve been hit with it in the past couple of years, says Abraham. letting them use the companys 12 holiday homes, to daily And now weve got the dreadful situation in Ukraine, plus inflation, training (in work time) and a staff suggestion scheme. Shrinkage is National Insurance and energy costs are all rising. It really is a around 0.1% of sales, a fraction of the 1% to 2% typical of the perfect storm. high street, and labour turnover is less than 10%, meaning the Consumer behaviour has definitely changed, she adds. I havent company saves millions on recruitment and sustains consistently quite been able to work out what the pattern is yet, but there are high customer service. definite signs that people are more cautious in their spending. The fact that staff are now shareholders, receive a windfall The business is managing the uncertainty by just being very payment of 1,000 for every year they have worked in the business, agile, thinking on our feet, Abraham says. The purchasing and benefit from an annual profit-share payment, has boosted department are spinning plates to try to ensure we have the stock engagement further still. that customers want, and we are also doing regular promotions. Abraham explains: All our stores are set up almost as Weve just got to stay on our game and make sure we can always independent businesses, so the manager and deputy manager offer the most competitive price on a day-by-day basis. are paid on the success and profits of their own store. But with The split between in-store and online sales has almost returned profit share on top, they are interested in everyone elses to its pre-pandemic ratio of 80/20 in favour of stores (it is now performance too. 70/30), suggesting that the high street is not as dead as some Abraham nails her colours to the mast in her LinkedIn profile, suggest. Id love to see us steady at 75/25, and grow the overall which is less about her than it is about the values Richer Sounds cake, says Abraham. Thats a work in progress. espouses. A signatory to the Good Business Charter (which Richer The route to continued success remains a relentless focus on was instrumental in setting up), accredited by the Living Wage colleagues. As Julian says, if you look after your people theyll look 18 Impact ISSUE 38 2022_pp16-19_Profile.indd 18 22/06/2022 14:52