the largest independent petrol and convenience
retailer in the UK
Since its establishment in 1997, MRH has become the UK’s leading independent service station owner and operator.
In 2004 it acquired the Kuwait Petroleum GB and this was followed by large acquisitions from Texaco, BP and Esso. MRH Retail now has over 450 company-owned service stations in its portfolio, most of which are branded Esso and BP.
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Development
Updating the method of communicating retail operations information to a wide network of parties became a high priority for the Area Manager in charge of Merchandising and Shops, Lee Barnes. He needed a more modern and efficient solution that would save costs and increase business efficiency.
Having in mind the challenges in the current communication, we have developed a custom system, which allows easy access to information from all relevant parties. The developed platform, RITA (Retail Information & Template Access) is an intranet/extranet secure web database application, designed for the company to support the distribution and flow of information and documentation to their retail sites.
The system allows two types of access – one for the managers of the chain and a separate one for the shop managers. Once you log in as a shop manager you have the options to search for different documents using special categories, to read the news and FAQ section and to upload any types of issues.
Part of this panel is a special engine that sends each shop only the specific information, which is relevant to them. At first it was very important for every shop to be aware of the suppliers’ conditions and regulations when it comes to the right position of their products. That is something, which is strictly regulated by the contract between the chain and each product supplier. The issue that appeared is that it was very difficult to create a scheme how to position each product as every shop is equipped differently. Therefore, we created an engine, which based on the equipment in the shop, recognizes what type of documentation each shop needs. The process is made as simple as possible and allows easy and fast distribution of all documents. In order to recognize where exactly to send it to, the system contains a full description of every shop’s equipment.
The system also allows the option to check whether each shop has received their specific documentation, whether they have applied the changes and whether there is someone who has audited the whole process. At the same time each supplier is provided with access to the same system so that they know whether the changes for their products are applied and if yes, to go and audit them themselves.