Back to B&M Basics
Yet we recognise that in the UK, our execution of the original B&M model had drifted. As a result, like-for-like sales (LFL) in B&M UK weakened.
In October 2025, we launched a clear plan to tackle this, which we call Back to B&M Basics. Its goal is to realign our business with the principles that made B&M so successful –
and its number one priority is to return B&M UK to sustainable LFL growth.
Back to B&M Basics harnesses a set of immediate actions to restore sustainable sales growth by tackling drift in our pricing and on-shelf availability while bringing excitement back to our stores by revitalising our promotions and sharpening our ranges. Each action is driven
by a rigorous "test-and-learn" approach designed to measure its sales impact before we fully deploy across all our stores.
While we recognise that its full impact is likely to take 12 to 18 months to realise, Back to B&M Basics is already bringing about improvements in four key areas of our retail execution – price, promotions, ranges and on-shelf availability.
Price
Sharpen our customer value proposition.
While our blended FMCG basket has remained around 15% cheaper than mainstream UK supermarkets (even after loyalty discounts) and we have been price competitive versus the discount retailers, we identified the need to be consistently more competitive on price on individual lines to ensure these are never higher than our closest competitors.
In August 2025, we introduced line-by-line price analysis alongside our basket index and cut prices on 35% of our 450 key value items (KVIs) where we had lost competitiveness. Today, we use both methods to ensure we are never undercut on key brand pricing while offering an attractive discount to UK grocers across our FMCG range.
Promotions
Bring excitement and outstanding value back to our front-of-store bays.
Manager's Specials promotions had become too static and duplicative. These front-of-store bays are a great opportunity
for us to showcase our very best value opportunities while "trading the moment" through exciting seasonal products.
We are doubling our front-of-store promotional space to 12 bays and dedicating space elsewhere in the store to new seasonal lines we call Customer Moments.
Ranges
Reduce line count and accelerate the clearance of discontinued ranges, particularly in FMCG, home accessories and toys.
A material increase in line count in recent years has introduced complexity for our customers and our operations while obscuring our value offer through crowded shelves and bays. We see an immediate opportunity to reverse these through sharper ranges
that convey great value across our branded grocery offer and, longer term, through more focused and structured ranges throughout our General Merchandise (GM) categories.
Seven category pilots in FMCG to test the sales impact of reducing line count are now complete. From this insight, we are now rolling out sharper FMCG ranges across all stores. With an objective of driving sales uplift with around 20% less range on shelf, we plan to complete full deployment of our sharpened ranges by the end of 2026.
On-shelf availability
Improve on-shelf availability from an estimated 86% availability for our FMCG best sellers across key stores versus best practice industry standards of 98%.
A previous focus on store standards and shelf presentation had prioritised the look of a full shelf over actual stock availability of products customers most want. In some instances, this led to key brands going off-shelf completely.
In Q3 FY26, we introduced a "best sellers" pilot in 11 stores for around 240 of our most popular grocery lines to examine how new in-store workflows could lift sales. Early results from these trials were encouraging, with many lines recording double-digit recoveries in sales. This gave us the confidence to introduce these practices across our UK store estate in Q4. The result was an uplift in on-shelf availability for these key grocery lines from 86% to around 94%. We're now extending this to more lines and introducing automated and store-specific availability alerts to enhance our replenishment processes further.
