By Ian Hall
As retail leaders focus on in-store cost efficiency, many believe that investing in new technology, such as AI, is often the first consideration to improve operational performance. However, as far as in-store retail is concerned – especially for enterprise-level retailers with large budgets – analysing how the shop floor operates can provide clear insights into wider operational efficiencies.
In fact, considerable costs can be recouped through greater efficiency in consumables procurement, management, and consolidation. In-store sales still represent the majority share of all retail transactions, with online sales accounting for 27.2%, according to the UK ONS in May 2025, but the costs of the infrastructure needed to support these operations are rising.
In particular, how retailers procure and manage non-core consumables – their GNFR (goods not for resale), retail packaging, and other in-store essentials – can significantly affect both costs and processes, impacting the bottom line. The reality is that these everyday store essentials rarely have a dedicated owner; and retailers frequently overlook them as an area where efficiency improvements could generate meaningful savings.
The importance of operational resilience for retailers
Operational resilience is essential for all retailers to ensure that business foundations can withstand pressures and uncertainties, keeping operations running smoothly. This resilience helps avoid more drastic measures, such as reducing headcount or closing stores. According to the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), operational resilience is the ability… to prevent, adapt and respond to, and recover and learn from operational disruption.
In the context of in-store retail, disruption from poor consumables management can be significant. This includes the consequences of over- or under-ordering, or wasting time handling multiple deliveries from numerous suppliers.
Stores often require hundreds of items to run smoothly. Retailers typically source size cubes from one supplier and toilet rolls from another for example. Despite some store managers receiving frequent deliveries per month, poor resource planning can lead to stockouts of critical supplies, such as carrier bags – resulting in costly emergency deliveries. Over-ordering, conversely, causes storage issues and clutter behind tills. These inefficiencies can negatively affect staff satisfaction and contribute to staff turnover, making it harder to maintain effective operations.
Supply chain impact
It’s not just a retailer’s own operations that matter; the resilience of connected supply chains also plays a crucial role. Research suggests that 60% of UK businesses consider their supply chains more fragile than ever, and nearly half have experienced a surge in disruptions over the past year. That fragility doesn’t just apply to core product lines – it extends to the everyday in-store consumables that underpin retail operations. Bags, hangers, cleaning products, signage, till rolls, and countless other essentials may seem minor, but they quietly sustain the shopping experience.
Retailers often focus on securing their main product supply chains, yet these non-core consumables are equally vital to keeping shop floors running. When they fail, the impact is immediate and visible to both staff and customers. For multi-national retailers, ensuring consistent delivery of simple but critical items becomes a complex challenge.
How effective GNFR management can build resilience
UK in-store retail sales saw a 2.2% year-on-year rise in non-food sales in June, according to the British Retail Consortium. With the UK high street showing signs of resurgence and in-store retail remaining central to the customer journey, retail leaders should consider how to improve efficiency within the in-store environment.
By using an experienced global consumables partner to consolidate multiple deliveries of everyday items into fewer or even once-weekly shipments – covering everything from hangers, garment display rails, and accessories to carrier bags and cleaning materials – a retailer can achieve two key goals: enhanced operational resilience and significant budget savings. Across dozens or hundreds of stores, this consolidation translates into substantial annual cost reductions.
An organized delivery approach also reduces pressure on store managers and their teams to order, receive, and manage consumables. It enhances staff productivity and supports sales. From a sustainability perspective, it reduces carbon emissions and improves the measurement of environmental impact.
By taking the right approach, retail brands can enable staff to focus on customer service and use in-store technology to drive curated sales, rather than spending time managing consumables inventory. Keeping employees satisfied is essential to sustaining strong retail operations.
Benefits of a retail consumables review
Reviewing consumables management is an important initial step toward achieving the above benefits. A thorough consumables discovery session identifies areas performing well and highlights opportunities for improvement. An effective retail consumables review will:
- Highlight the steps that retailers should take to enhance their processes, assessing current delivery, storage, and ordering practices before calculating needs and developing a tailored roadmap.
- Recommend the key areas that a detailed assessment of in-store consumables should cover, including performance reports, leakage reports, internal feedback, and ESG recommendations.
- Make recommendations for financial improvement, such as cost savings through competitive sourcing, buying and pricing reviews, improved invoicing via consolidation, and tighter control of miscellaneous spending.
- Suggest ways to optimise stock control and quality, including product re-engineering and enhancement, reduction of wastage, and online ordering for better tracking and visibility.
- Advise on regulatory changes to help retailers stay compliant with evolving rules on packaging, materials, and waste. Non-compliance not only risks fines, but also damages brand trust if customers perceive a retailer as falling behind on sustainability or safety standards.
In-store sales rely on finely tuned systems that operate smoothly and efficiently. A global consumables partner can streamline essential requirements and strengthen operational resilience. Reviewing the consumables management strategy and optimising everyday essentials enables store managers to perform effectively and, crucially, keep customers returning.
The author
Ian Hall is CEO, CCS McLays
