One year on from Wilko’s collapse and subsequent rescue by The Range, chief executive Alex Simpkin talks to Retail Week about the brand’s progress and future plans.
It seemed as if Wilko would be another beloved UK high street staple lost and never to return, until Chris Dawson, owner of The Range, decided to save the housewares retailer just a few weeks after it went into administration.
This left Wilko in need of a new chief executive and The Range CEO Alex Simpkin slotted into the role nearly a year ago.
Using his 20 years’ experience at The Range, from head of supply chain to chief operating officer and then chief executive five years ago, Simpkin has made big strides at Wilko in a short time.
He understands the history behind the Wilko brand, and says the retailer was “inundated with requests” from shoppers to re-open stores after its collapse.
Its grand opening in Plymouth and Exeter in December last year was met with much delight from customers, who were greeted by full shelves, new services, more products and seasonal categories equipped by The Range.
While only six Wilko stores have re-opened so far, there’s scope for much more as the retailer plans to open around 40 stores a year.
Simpkin speaks to Retail Week about the new store locations, strengthening Wilko’s ecommerce offering, and how customer reaction has given the retailer renewed “confidence” to keep opening new stores.
How is Wilko growing under its new owner?
“For 93 years, Wilko has been a fixture of many British households and it was important to us that the brand had a future. Using our online and digital expertise, we were quickly able to re-launch Wilko.com in under just six weeks, but at the same time we were being inundated with requests to re-open stores.
“It was this outpouring of love for the Wilko brand that gave us the confidence to return to the high street, and the interest in our new stores has absolutely been maintained since their launch dates.
“We’re in discussions with a huge number of landlords regarding sites. Yes, it’s important for us to open stores but they have to be in the right locations. Regardless of whether we’re looking at old Wilko locations or considering new ones, we have to make sure we’ve secured the right space and rents to make them work.
“Plus, we’ve increased our instore services to make our high street locations even more useful, with Wilko.com click and collect and the National Lottery now available, alongside site-specific services such as key cutting, paint mixing and instore web ordering.”
Will there be an aggressive rollout of new stores?
“We’ve identified up to 300 potential locations where a Wilko store could serve a local community and we’re continuing with plans for a nationwide rollout. We’re engaged in many active conversations with landlords across the country and are choosing only the best locations.
“We urge any landlord looking to bring a much loved, relevant and growing retail brand to their location to get in touch so we can consider their space as part of the rollout.”
Will you ramp up digital and ecommerce operations?
“We’ve already grown our product offering by 20% so that we can offer customers as much choice as possible. Wilko.com is now home to more than 100,000 products that can either be collected from stores or delivered directly to customers’ doorsteps.
“We’re bringing back the best of Wilko, including our best-loved former product ranges such as Wilko brand pet food. They’ll be returning to our shelves and Wilko.com this month, plus we’re introducing so much more.”
How have shoppers reacted to Wilko’s return to UK high streets?
“The initial reaction to the concept stores and then our rollout has been better than we could have ever imagined. We’ve had queues of as many as 500 returning and new customers waiting for the doors to open. Their feedback, which is invaluable to us, is giving us continued confidence to roll out more stores.
“We’re also delighted to have re-employed many talented team members from the former business across all departments, so we’re still able to draw on 90 years of high street and online retailing experience as we roll out the new Wilko brand.
“We’re excited for the future. We’re expanding and developing the brand, everything customers used to love about Wilko and more, all alongside significant improvements in customer experience both online and within our new store formats.”
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