Convenience Leadership Programme

Students successfully completing the course will have:

• A solid strategic and practical knowledge of convenience retailing.
• Knowledge of the portfolio and activities from the ACS.
• Gained a network of like-minded people within the sector.

Session 1: Introduction to the programme

Session 2: Analysing the factors affecting the convenience sector

• How is the convenience sector impacted by demographics, technology politics, economics and society?
• What does ethical retailing mean, and why does it matter?

Session 3: Personal and professional development

• How can we manage competing business pressures?
• How can best communicate with others? How to best have a difficult conversation?
• How can we network, influence and present your best self?

Session 4: Making attractive value propositions

• What are the key market trends, and how are the needs of the convenience consumer changing?
• How can we decide on the right offer for a convenience store, and how do we evolve it in line with our customers?
• How do we make decisions on pricing and national, local and in-store marketing?
• What is great service and how do we deliver customer satisfaction?

Session 5 and 6 : ACS Summit

• Participation in ACS summit
• Reflection session on the summit, what does it mean to my business?

Session 7: Data and decision making in the convenience sector

• What data sources are available to support decision making in convenience retailing?
• How can this data be integrated into the decision making

Session 8: Innovation thinking and supply chain management

• How different kind of companies innovate?
• How can innovations be managed how can organisations be more agile?
• How is our supply chain and the way we source products changing?
  • How do we manage the supply of products and services into stores?
  • What do good relationships with suppliers look like?

Session 9: Store and customer management

• What’s the future of store design and layout?
• How can data help us to control stores and grow sales?
• How do we getting stock levels, inventory, health and safety, security and systems right?
• How do we find, develop, keep and inspire our colleagues?

Session 10 and 11: ACS Store Tour

Session 12 and 13:  ACS Study Tour /  Presentation of final projects and graduation

This is an applied, evidenced-based course that aims to be directly relevant to business decisions in convenience retailing, but also has a sound  basis in academic or practical evidence. The course has both a theory and a practical component. The course structure is aligned with various ACS activities and embeds them into the curriculum.

The assessment has two components:

• Attendance and active participation in modules.
• Conducting a consultancy or research project and compose a final report.

At the end of the course, you will receive a graduation certificate (dependent on if you have passed your assessments).

Research project

The research project and report summarising the results of the project shall cover one particular topic in convenience retailing in-depth. It can be proposed by your employer funding the course or yourself. The report will enhance your convenience retailing-related knowledge and deliver insights to your employer and the sector.

All the projects are presented at the end of the module, which will also enable the participants to practice their presentation skills and enhance the knowledge of the entire group through the insights generated in the final projects. The final reports will have to be finalised in the phase from April to June and will be supervised by staff from Surrey Business School.

Staff

This course is taught by academic staff from the Department of Marketing and Retail Management.