Budgens

Budgens

Budgens is a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores with 260 outlets across the UK. Founded in 1872 as a family-owned grocer, the brand nowadays operates as a franchise business owned by Booker UK, with stores run as independent businesses serving local communities. Bourton-on-the-Water is one such community.

Situated in the heart of the Cotswolds, this pretty village of 4000 residents is famous for its five low stone bridges spanning the River Windrush, which have earned it the nickname “the Venice of the Cotswolds”. The Budgens store which serves the village is located right at its heart, on the High Street overlooking the river.

The store team was looking for a way to improve communication to make day-to-day operations smoother and more efficient. Staff relied on a bell at checkout to call for assistance and had to walk across the shop floor to pass on messages.

This led to delays in serving customers, who might have to be left at the til while a replacement item was fetched or a price was checked. It also made stock checks and replenishment inefficient, as staff would have to keep walking back and forth to the stock room to check what was available.

The lack of an effective communication system also led to safety and security concerns, especially during shifts where fewer staff members were working, which made it even more difficult to ask for help from colleagues if they were in another part of the store.

Our solution

After an initial enquiry, we arranged a phone consultation to gather as much information about the business as possible, including digging into details about how staff work together and what the priorities for communication were. One of the obvious requirements was the need for a hands-free solution that would allow team members to scan items through tills and restock shelves without the distraction of using a radio handset.

We therefore suggested VoCoVo Link single earpiece headsets offer mobility and hands-free convenience, allowing users to carry on with other tasks and interact with customers as normal while still hearing calls from colleagues. The headsets come with a push-to-talk (PTT) button mounted on the earpiece to make calls, or users can choose the Talk Lock function for completely handsfree use.

On top of convenience, VoCoVo Link is also very simple to use. Each package comes with four headsets and a charging dock. Set up takes no more than 10 minutes out of the box. We initially provided a trial pack to allow the team to ‘try before they buy’. They were immediately impressed and bought into how VoCoVo Link would improve how they worked. Feedback from the store team once the full system was up and running was very positive.

The improvements in communication have empowered staff to make decisions faster, raise the bar on customer service and boost efficiency, especially when it comes to stock replenishment. Staff also reported feeling safer and more secure, especially on evening shifts when there are only two people working, as they can instantly report and ask for help if there is any suspicious activity or emergencies.

Since Bourton-on-the-Water purchasing their VoCoVo Link, two other Budgens stores in the local area have also purchased and installed VoCoVo Link from Brentwood Communications.