Costcutter and Amber ‘make it official’ - ten years on
COMPANIES ‘BORN AND BRED’ IN NORTH CORK OFFICIALLY TEAM UP WITH NEW 5-YEAR DEAL
NORTH CORK companies Amber and Costcutter have signed a five-year partnership that will ensure a secure trading environment for over 20 of their retailers across Munster and their customers.
The official partnership will also see the duo expand its offering to customers in many of its stores with upgrading and refurbishment plans for stores in Fermoy, Watergrasshill and Youghal on the cards. Amber and Costcutter, owned by Barry Group, enjoy a relationship based on many shared values. The complementary brands have more than ten years’ involvement in the provision of advice and guidance for their franchise partners.
Chairman of Amber Liam Fitzgerald said, “There has always been a great working relationship between Amber and Barry Group. We share the same work ethic which has formed the cornerstone of both family-owned, family-run businesses. Over the years, we have used these personal relationships to support our retailers with expert advice and support no matter what the issue is.”
At the core of the two companies’ relationship is a commitment to customer service. Both place enormous importance on how their teams function believing that a happy team means happy customers. Amber’s aggressive fuel pricing policy has proven attractive to customers across their 45 sites.
“Costcutter – under the umbrella of Barry Group – and Amber have enjoyed an extremely fruitful relationship and look forward to continuing and expanding this relationship. We aim to continue to work closely together to further develop customer led concepts in store and to continue to offer the very best service to our customer and retailers,” says Managing Director of Barry Group Jim Barry.
Innovation is another extremely important part of the business relationship. Both companies share a passion for pushing the boundaries when it comes to design, service and planning, and this has pushed standards across the board in store. In addition to the investment made by the companies, the dedication of their staff has been recognised through numerous awards including the current Costcutter Forecourt of the Year, Amber Costcutter Charleville.
Unsurprisingly, this partnership has proved a hit with customers with many of the forecourts and stores situated in prime locations and providing of state-of-the-art facilities such as delis, instore bakeries, seated restaurants, an exclusive selection of wines, car wash facilities, free Wi-Fi and ample parking. Many of the sites are also open 24 hours, such as Fermoy, Charleville and O’Brien’s of Bishopstown.
“Consumer buying habits have changed over the years. People are time poor and tech savvy but they’re still drawn to high quality, value products. We’re excited about our plans for the next 18 months. The competition amongst retailers is fierce, however. We want to provide our customers with a quality product at the best price when they visit an Amber forecourt or Costcutter store. That is a vision we are happy to continue investing in,”