Mulkerns EUROSPAR, Forkhill, County Armagh

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OVERVIEW

Located less than 10 miles from Newry City, Mulkerns EUROSPAR is based in Forkhill, a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.  Originally a SPAR, the store was opened over 42 years ago by Paul Mulkerns.  Now a 3,000 sq ft EUROSPAR, siblings Terry, Mairead and Ciaran have grown this popular local superstore, with loyal customers flocking from all over County Down and County Armagh.  Thomas Magennis has been the store manager for over 18 months now and could not be prouder of the store and their achievements to date.

EDGEPoS WITHIN THE BUSINESS

Thomas has had a career in retail management for over seven years now, and has used the EDGEPoS system for over six years.  With a refurbishment underway when Thomas started in Mulkerns and redevelopment of a deli counter and butchery area, Thomas tells us,

“Having the EDGEPoS system onsite when I commenced employment was invaluable.  With a team of staff growing very quickly from approximately 70 to 120, we were able to rely on EDGEPoS to delegate out authority to supervisors only.”

The store boasts a total of nine EDGEPoS lanes, with one of these now adaptable as a Self-Checkout lane.  One of their tills is also portable, being moved from the bakery during the week to their busy off license at the weekend.  These are all clever ideas from the Mulkerns team and show how they are utilising their technology onsite.  With a busy Maxol Forecourt also, Thomas tells us how they have benefited from the OPT and Prepay integrations with EDGEPoS,

“EDGEPoS allows us to integrate with the Tolkheim OPT, allowing our Forecourt to offer Fuel 24 hours per day, seven days per week.  And the Prepay function on EDGEPoS ensures that all our Fuel transactions are paid for.  We have zero drive offs on our Forecourt because of this.”

Mulkerns EUROSPAR have a list of achievements this year to shout about.  They were named as the only Irish Retailer in the top 100 Retailers by the Independent Achievers Academy in 2018.  The top 100 is achieved by retailers benchmarking their shops, and follows a rigorous, independent in-store assessment.  What an achievement for Terry and the team!  When we asked Terry and Thomas how they feel EDGEPoS has helped them along the way, they told us,

“Operationally, EDGEPoS is easy to use.  With our level of business, we need a system that can cope with the high volume of transactions and not slow down.  EDGEPoS also gives us a full Safe Drop function and ensures that we have a full audit trail of these.”

“We are located extremely close to the border and it is essential that we are able to accept dual currencies.  We have a big percentage of our transactions taken in Euro cash, and need to be able to maintain the rate easily.  EDGEPoS allows us to do this with the click of a button in the back office, and this is an immediate amendment across the system – front end and back.”

Mulkerns EUROSPAR are incredibly proactive in their local community and with their charity work.  As recently as October 2018, Terry ran the Dublin Marathon for Adoption UK.  A heart-warming story at its best!  The loyalty and respect shown from local clubs, schools and businesses is apparent from the support shown both instore and online.  Mulkerns show their appreciation by being able to offer these organisations a credit account for their support and purchases instore.  Thomas tells us,

“We have over 40 credit accounts, and our Supervisors can check their balances from the from end till and print out balances.  This makes it a simple, non-time consuming process, and our customers appreciate this and are loyal to us.” 

Talking of loyalty, Mulkerns EUROSPAR are by far one of the most successful Henderson Group stores in Northern Ireland who run the Azpiral Customer Loyalty programme through EDGEPoS.  Thomas comments,

“We have approximately 3,000 customers now on our Loyalty programme.  With a population of around 700 people in Forkhill, this shows the further reach that we have with our shoppers.  Furthermore, we now have access to the demographics of our shoppers through the data collected.  We are able to see their age, gender and gather various other information on our shoppers.  The Loyalty really works for us, whether it’s through offering bespoke offers to our Loyalty customers only, or by running double points on certain items, we see an increase in spend and it allows us to upsell products which we need to.  It also offers the personal touch – when the customer scans their loyalty card their name appears on the cashiers’ screen and therefore the customer is being called by their name throughout the transaction.  Our customers love it.”

AWARD WINNING SUCCESS

What a year 2018 has been for Mulkerns EUROSPAR!  After huge success at the Retail Industry Awards and Forecourt Trader Awards in 2018 by winning Fresh Independent Produce Retailer of the Year and Best Food-To-Go Outlet, Mulkerns were awarded with Community Store of the Year at the Neighbourhood Retailer Awards in October 2018.  This finds Northern Ireland’s top community retailer, a retailer with strong links to supporting its local community, a retailer who endeavours to better the area in which it stands, and a retailer who can demonstrate examples of philanthropy and social enterprise.  Mulkerns EUROSPAR ticked all these boxes and more; and one of the best things about winning this Award is the fact that it is voted for by the public.  How proud must the whole team at Mulkerns must be to be voted Community Store of the Year.  Well done to Terry and whole team!

“It’s great to be recognised for what we’re doing here in Mulkerns” Thomas told us. “It builds the profile of the store both with current customers, and non-shoppers in the community.  We wouldn’t have this success without our loyal customers and the hard work and dedication of our staff.”

IN CONCLUSION

EDGEPoS allows the Mulkerns family to control and grow their business.  They have plans in 2019 for growth within their car park, and after introducing one Self-Checkout Lane in 2018 to improve the efficiency of the store and help their staff with the peak periods throughout the day; could potentially grow the amount of Self-Checkout Lanes over the next 12 months also.