‘A clear plan and continued investment for SPAR Scotland’ – Colin McLean

Despite a highly challenging marketplace, SPAR Scotland is outperforming its competitors on several metrics. It is also building on its Scottishness and focusing on driving profitable growth.

Colin McLean: ‘We’ve got a clear plan for the future centred on our customers, our people and continued investment.’

Those were key messages from Colin McLean, CEO of SPAR Scotland’s wholesaler and retailer CJ Lang & Son, at the company’s annual tradeshow and conference, which was held today (24 September) in Aviemore.

Along with other senior executives, he gave several examples of SPAR Scotland’s achievements:

• While the average spend in Scottish convenience is £7.30, SPAR Scotland’s is £8.47.

• SPAR Scotland brand index is up eight points to 38% – the biggest gain of any SPAR region and nearly three times the average improvement across SPAR UK.

• Value Deals, SPAR Scotland’s best recognised campaign, has 45% recognition.

• Spontaneous awareness of SPAR Scotland is at 57%, and three out of four shoppers would consider SPAR Scotland.

• Over half a million shoppers visit SPAR Scotland’s company-owned stores per week.

• In the 2026 Advantage Survey, as voted by suppliers, CJ Lang was ranked No.1 in convenience, high street & symbols.

Biggest in Scotland

The scale of the tradeshow itself also illustrated the appeal of SPAR Scotland, with nearly 900 people attending the event for the fourth year running, making it the biggest wholesale and convenience retail trade show in Scotland.

Guests included existing and prospective SPAR retailers, suppliers (of whom 200 were exhibiting), SPAR Scotland colleagues, and representatives from the other UK RDCs (AF Blakemore, James Hall & Co and Henderson Wholesale).

Also in attendance were the new SPAR UK managing director Jerome Saint-Marc, SPAR International CEO Tobias Wasmuht, and SPAR Guild chairman David Sands, owner of SPAR retailer David’s Kitchen.

Opening the conference, McLean was unflinching in describing the nature of the marketplace: “It’s definitely not easy out there. We’ve seen the relentless growth of the discounters and the grocery market leaders stretching ahead of the pack. Driving like-for-like volume growth is really challenging for the rest of us,” he said.

“Consumer confidence is low and customer footfall is at best flat or down. Food inflation is rising again and continues to squeeze already tight margins. The retail market growth is at best stagnant, with retail volumes flat or declining. Meanwhile, we’ve got further legislation looming.”

Further legislation

This includes the recent election promise by the Scottish Government of lower prices for up to 50 basic foodstuffs by Christmas – a food price cap.

Before that, new HFSS legislation and a Vaping Duty Stamps Scheme come into force on 1 October 2026, and then on 1 January 2027 the generational tobacco ban will take effect, requiring training for over 1,300 SPAR Scotland colleagues.

Further ahead, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will go live on 1 October 2027. Reverse vending machines are currently on trial in SPAR Scotland stores, and SPAR Scotland is working with its soft drink suppliers to ensure that it can be compliant ahead of time.

Genuinely Scottish

Josie Cattermoul, trading & marketing director, commented: “Convenience is still a growth channel but that growth is getting harder to win.

“Why should a shopper choose us? My answer is something very simple and something that the major multiples cannot replicate: we are genuinely Scottish.

“Our branding, our trucks, and our stores don’t belong to a business trying to look local. We are local. And the numbers prove it: 50% of the products sold on our shelves are Scottish sourced. That’s more than a marketing claim, it’s a tangible commitment to Scotland running through our range. Provenance builds trust and trust builds loyalty.”

Community support

SPAR Scotland is also highly supportive of the communities it serves. Since 2013, CJ Lang  has donated more than £1 million to local causes in Scotland.

Further support comes through initiatives like the Future Stars Football Cup in partnership with the Scottish Football Association, and the Community Cashback scheme, as well as all the different ways that SPAR retailers support their neighbourhoods day in, day out.

CJ Lang helps SPAR Scotland retailers to interact with their customers through digital marketing platform SocioLocal. This started with a 30-store trial giving SPAR Scotland a controlled way to run local Facebook and Instagram posts; today it has 91 company-owned store social pages and is rolling out this opportunity to its independent retailers.

“We’re seeing around five times more engagement through SocioLocal than through the national branded pages,” reported Cattermoul, “and during the World Cup campaign, our local pages generated 17 million impressions in our best week.”

Meanwhile, at a national level, SPAR Scotland advertises on STV, and 35-40% of all adults across the STV region see the adverts on average eight times, driving awareness, footfall, sales and value perception.

Growth opportunities

Cattermoul highlighted food to go as one of the biggest growth opportunities and now the strongest mission in the channel. “It also brings in 18 to 44 year-olds, who account for approximately 70% of food-to-go occasions,” she pointed out, adding: “Shoppers don’t walk into our stores thinking in categories. They arrive with a mission in mind. And across 300 stores, we need to solve those missions better than anyone else.”

An example of fulfilling a key shopper mission is SPAR Scotland’s breakfast deal, which now accounts for over 25% of Barista Bar coffee sales.

Coffee is a driver of footfall and basket spend, and there are now more than 145 Barista Bar coffee machines in SPAR Scotland shops. With the potential for additional sales, new Barista machines that offer over 30 drinks, including iced coffees and milkshakes, are about to be trialled in 10 stores.

In addition, the company is encouraging loyalty with the Barista Bar rewards app, which is live across the company-owned store estate and being used by some independent stores.

Another point of difference for SPAR Scotland is its Iceland partnership. Iceland frozen food is now available in 95 company-owned stores and 40 independents, with more to come on board.

“It has been an absolute game changer – we have seen frozen food sales grow at wholesale level by 17% year on year,” said Cattermoul. “Customers buying Iceland products spend over £16 per shop – that is almost double the average SPAR basket.”

The ‘whoop whoop’ moment

Cattermoul urged suppliers to consider SPAR Scotland first when it comes to NPD. “CJ Lang gives you access to more than 300 stores where we can launch, test, learn and build momentum together. And when newness, value and brilliant activation come together, that’s when we create what I call the ‘whoop whoop’ moment.”

Marketing campaigns including ‘Spin into Spring’, ‘Dream Big’, and the ‘Great Big Giveaway’ are examples of those activations.

For ‘Spin into Spring’, sales increased by 206% and volume went up by 182% against baseline sales, while the ‘Dream Big’ digital campaign generated 73 million impressions.

The ‘Great Big Giveaway’ is currently running, with customers able to win a share of £50,000 in SPAR Scotland vouchers. This will be followed in the spring by ‘Tartan Treasure’.

Q-Commerce

Another focus for SPAR Scotland, said interim CEO Sonya Harper, is Q-Commerce [ultra-fast deliveries] – currently worth 7% of the convenience market and growing by 13% year on year.

SPAR Scotland has over 50 company-owned stores, as well as many of its independent retailers, offering home delivery. “We have an average online basket of £31 compared to £8.50 in store. That’s a customer worth going after,” she noted.

“We’re live with Snappy Shopper and we have our own SparDash platform, but there’s more to do. There isn’t a magic formula with Q-Commerce. We’ve recently reworked our operating model so that every delivery is profitable but we need to grow sales and retain customers.”

Availability targets

In order to fulfil its growth potential, CJ Lang needs the support of suppliers to meet its 97.5% inbound availability target so that it, in turn, can achieve 97.5% outbound to its stores and retailers.

“Currently, our top 50 suppliers are at 89.5% inbound availability. After 21 weeks, that’s 320,000 cases short delivered to our depot in Dundee. We cannot grow a business on 89.5% inbound availability,” she said.

She urged suppliers to use the RELEX demand forecast that CJ Lang sends out every week and to book with the transportation management platform Transporeon as soon as they receive a purchase order.

Harper gave an example of how well this can work. A week 18, Vape Supplier’s inbound availability was in the low 70s. CJ Lang made a tweak to the delivery pattern and in the last couple of weeks Vape Supplier has delivered 99.4% availability. “That’s the change that we want to make and that’s a 20% sales increase for that supplier. By working together, we really can make a difference to service levels,” she said.

Continued investment

McLean concluded by emphasising the determination of CJ Lang to build on SPAR Scotland’s successes: “We’ve got a very experienced management team, a strong underlying business, and a clear plan for the future centred on our customers, our people and continued investment.”