Convenience Leadership Programme

During the programme we will discuss a wide range of topics which will help you to:

• Understand what’s changing in retail convenience and why
• Gain the skills to make and implement effective decisions in this industry
• Acquire a great network of like-minded people
• Move ahead in your career or your business.

Session 1a: The convenience sector and its political and legal retail environment, societal and economic trends

• What are relevant political and legal developments, such as HFSS, minimum wages and employment conditions?
• What are relevant economics challenges does the sector face, such as inflation, energy costs or the labour market?
• How are societal changes affecting the convenience sector, such as the ageing population or urbanisation?

Session 1b: Personal and professional development : Your career in the Convenience sector

• How can we identify how we are perceived or positioned in the workplace through the eyes of your employer
• Which experience/skills are valued highest by the convenience sector?

Session 2a: Retail technology in the convenience sector

• What are the most important technology trends?
• Best practices adopting technology in the convenience sector

Session 2b: Personal and professional development: Leading brilliant teams

• How can we improve the effectiveness of our collaboration within teams - as leaders and as colleagues?
• How can best communicate with others?
• How to best have a difficult conversation?

Session 3a: 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?
• What is great service and how do we deliver customer satisfaction?

Session 3b: Store and customer management

• What makes a store more valuable for customers?
• The basics in store layout and competitive positioning
• Fundamentals of assortment management
• How to optimise pricing to increase profit?

Session 4a: ACS Conference

Session 4b: Guided tour over the National Convenience Show

Session 5: National Convenience Show reflection

• Reflection on takeaways from the ACS conference and the National Convenience Show
• What have we learned? What does the information mean to the business?

Session 6a: Innovation management

• How to create an organisational culture to stimulate innovation?
• How do different kinds of companies innovate?
• How can innovations be managed how can organisations be more agile?
• How can large organisations think and act like start-ups?

Session 6b: Assortment and New Product Management

• How can technology optimize shelf availability?
• How to avoid food waste? What are the different categories of retail losses?
• How to bring a new product to the market and evaluate its success?
• Mini Guildford store tour

Session 7: The dark side of the UK convenience sector

• The state of crime in the UK convenience sector
• How can theft and criminal behaviour be avoided?
• How can staff safety be secured?

Session 8 : ACS Technology Showcase

Session 9 : ACS Technology Showcase reflection

• Reflection on takeaways from the event. What have we learned? What does the information mean to the business?

Session 10: Presenting yourself online

• How to make a powerful presentation online?
• How to improve your LinkedIn page

Session 11: Final Presentations

• Practice and present an online project
• Online Graduation Ceremony

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

Requirements for graduation

This course is developmental. Participants will receive a graduation certificate if they have:

1. Regularly attended and actively participated in modules
2. Composed a final poster presentation about a topic of their choice.

At the end of the course, you will receive a graduation certificate at an ACS event.

Final project

For the final project presentation, you will look into one particular topic in convenience retailing in more depth and create an online presentation summarising the results. Topics in the past were, for example, HFSS, food waste, seasonal stores, or vaping assortment. This topic can be proposed by your employer or yourself.

The online presentation 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 programme via an online presentation.