30 Nov Embracing modern innovation with Booths Supermarkets
Booths Supermarkets has been in business since 1847, serving the North of England through 27 stores and various online channels, including Amazon. Booths currently operates 30 trucks with 16 trailers, half being Gray & Adams built. The relationship between Gray & Adams and Booths began in 2010 and the strength of this partnership has been recently bolstered by the delivery of three urban trailers. Booths has traditionally operated a fleet of rigids and curtainsiders to serve its own stores, which brings the benefit of managing its own delivery schedule to facilitate fluctuating needs at short notice.
WORKING COLLABORATIVELY:
Transport Manager for Booths, Craig Stopforth, says of the relationship,
“Gray & Adams has supplied Booths since 2010, which was before I joined the business, and I continue to keep the valuable relationship with the Gray & Adams sales team due to their ability to take a deep dive into our business needs and make recommendations based on new technology and innovation. We’ve traditionally used rigids but Gray & Adams were the ones that actually recommended we explored working with the urban trailers.”
SOLUTION:
Booths ordered three urban trailers fitted with the Carrier Vector HE 19 and 10.6m twin axle in 2021 and has recently taken delivery of these vehicles. Craig said of the new order, “We’ve had great feedback from our drivers so far, due to the current HGV driver shortage facing the UK, it’s important to Booths that we regularly engage with our staff and listen to their needs and feedback, so it’s great to see that our team find the urbans easier and more efficient to manoeuvre round our stores’ delivery yards, which can be quite tight. The other benefit is that Gray & Adams fitted the trailers with roller shutter rear doors that can be operated from the cab which has been great for our drivers in terms of making their roles easier and deliveries more efficient.”
He adds,
“Rigid bodies definitely have a place within our business, but it was great to see Gray & Adams take the time to understand our needs & the market and then suggest something different to enhance our operational efficiency.”
IMPACT:
The urban trailers have provided Booths with other positive impacts around their business. Craig tells us that with the internal layout of the urban trailer, more stock can be transported in one delivery compared with a rigid body vehicle.
He tells us,
“We have found that with the urban trailer, we have capacity for an extra two to four pallets on each delivery, which has made a positive impact on our efficiencies as well as reducing our carbon footprint throughout the business by reducing the number of journeys.”
CUSTOMER TESTIMONIAL:
Craig finishes,
“I would give Gray & Adams a 10 out of 10 for customer service every time, the collaborative working, and partnership approach has been the correct route for our business. Booths also value their approach to innovation and the fact that Gray & Adams have been the first to offer trailers that integrate Vector eCcol technology. Sustainability is important to Booths, so we have ordered three more urban trailers with the eCool technology as from the team at G&A as well as a further two rigids, fitted to DAF tractor units to further enhance our operational capabilities in 2022.”