MEET MR. PATEL, THE SECRET BEHIND BEST ONE (CAMBRIDGE PARK) - OUR PARCELLY LOCATION OF THE MONTH!
This small convenience store is thriving with life as the aisles are filled with eager school kids trying to find their favorite snack and a daily dose of sugar. Our team seem to have picked the busiest time of the day for our visit, right on the bell. Chosen for championing our Click&Collect service and always going out of his way to provide a flawless customer experience, Best One (Cambridge Park) is a fantastic business partner to work with (and even to be found on Instagram: @globalfoods2017).
The store is packed with anything you could want from a simple chocolate bar to international cuisines, and Mr. Patel was even kind enough to let us pick out any drink we liked for the journey home (thank you so much Mr. Patel!). Speaking of Mr. Patel, let's see what he had to say when we spoke with him...
Mr. Patel, for how long have you had this store?
I’ve had this store for 12 years, since we bought it as a florist. I live just over there, that’s my local pub, and that’s my nearest station (pointing across the street). And so I was walking down the road and couldn't believe that there wasn't a Sainsbury’s local or a Tesco or anything like that - I had to go to the next area just for some milk! So one day when I was at the pub with my buddies (where all great ideas are made), and one of them had inherited the shop a few months back (the florist back then). He didn't know how to run it, he wasn't a florist, so over a drink, I was like “how about I buy that off of you”? And I did, and turned it into a shop...
How do you find the Parcelly service overall?
Great as it brings additional footfall. All parcel services do in this way, but it's about commissions too and Parcelly's are way better than the rest. The Customer Service Team is also very helpful. I’m based in my office a couple of streets away and we run a few places, and if the staff run into any issues they give me a ring. They’ve phoned in a few times, but each time it had been resolved instantly.
What type of customers do you typically get?
A lot of school kids, there's offices all above here on this road, a booming restaurant street down there and a lot of commuters. That’s why our parcel service does so well, as loads of people come in and collect their parcels after they’ve finished work.
And do the these customers buy anything else, bringing in more business?
You know we offer a lot of other services to bring in additional footfall, but with these we usually don't have customers buying anything else as it's typically budget conscious customers. But if its someone who’s buying a product from an online company and using click&collect, they’ve got extra money to spend and you know, we see that the majority of these people tend to buy something else in our store. It's that little interaction, that time it takes us to find the parcel and for them to show their Parcelly ID, that they see a product and think 'you know what that looks nice too I’ll get that too'.
Are you watching the World Cup this year?
Of course, in fact, right after this I'm going to go down to the pub and watch the boys bring it home!
If you had a million pounds to invest into this store what would you do?
You know what, we’ve just renovated all of our 5 stores, and that probably cost about a million pounds! So if I were to invest a million pounds in the stores I’d do everything we’ve just done, again: fancy new doors, new refrigerators, LED lighting around the place. Business is booming so it must have worked, don't fix what isn't broken... In fact, this store is UK’s best small convenience store 2018 so we’re doing something right.
Location: 15 Cambridge Park, London, E11 2PU (What3Words: charm.garden.label)
Opening Times: Monday-Sunday: 07:00-23:00
"I have never had any complaints or suggestions about the Parcelly app from my employees, so I'm just going to assume it must be perfect!
Also, my sister trained all my staff how to use it in just one day, so that just proves how easy it is to use and understand...".Mr. Patel - Store Owner
Congratulations again to Best One (Cambridge Park) and a big THANK YOU for being such a great business partner and contributing towards Parcelly’s vision!
Parcelly aims to give business owners full control over their parcel flow, offering them the ability to modify the number of parcels they wish to receive, as well as the option to control the size of the parcels stored - all in real time via the app. This means that regardless of the storage capacity or nature of your business, we welcome you to join our parcel collection network and benefit from new customers, additional footfall to your store as well as an additional revenue stream.
If your business is interested in joining our nationwide network and becoming a Parcelly location for Click&Collect, Key Exchange or Mini-Warehousing services, please do not hesitate to CONTACT US.
