Britain’s top 14 supermarkets collectively win ‘The AlixPartners Outstanding Contribution to Retail Award’ at Retail Week Awards

Britain’s top supermarkets were collectively rewarded for their incredible response to the pandemic at the 26th annual event sponsored by Salesforce, which took place at a glittering ceremony at Evolution London this evening.

In a new category at the awards this year, The Outstanding Contribution to Retail Award sponsored by AlixPartners, recognised the incredible hard work, dedication, resilience, and selflessness shown by the 4 million+ supermarket colleagues working across stores, head offices, distribution, and delivery across the UK retail sector.

Battling a huge plethora of new challenges such as COVID restrictions – the introduction of masks in stores, PPE shortages, self-distancing regulations – not to mention staff shortages, customer’s panic buying, stockpiling and changes to delivery laws and opening hours, the supermarket sector was at the coalface during the pandemic.

Helen Dickinson, OBE, Chief Executive at the British Retail Consortium who led daily calls with the supermarkets CEO’s during the early days of the pandemic commented “As Britain went into lockdown and non-essential retail shops were closed, supermarkets became an absolute lifeline for customers. The supermarkets who have won this award faced a collection of unprecedented huge challenges which continually evolved in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment. These retailers acted with immense professionalism, quickly introducing new initiatives whilst always prioritising the needs of the customers, putting them first.”

Hannah Jackson, Retail Week Managing Director commented “From Iceland stores opening one hour early to allowing older shoppers to buy food when it is quieter amid the early day of the coronavirus outbreak to Morrisons being one of the first supermarkets to release food boxes during lockdown which were delivered straight to customer’s front doors, the leading British supermarkets displayed incredible agility and compassion to meet the needs of customers during the COVID crisis. We are delighted to be able to highlight their fantastic achievements during the past incredibly difficult 18 months.”

The Retail Week Awards 2021, whose headline sponsor is Salesforce, is a symbol of excellence in the retail sector, providing a platform for industry-wide recognition and a celebration of outstanding work.