Sean Hills opened his first Reduced To Clear store in Manuka after noticing how much food was being unnecessarily wasted in FMCG. He had worked at Davis Trading and Prolife Foods, dealing with supermarkets in multiple capacities, when the idea to make the most of short-dated, end-of-line, factory seconds or cancelled export orders was born.
“I would be helping suppliers move the product and get some recovery for it instead of dumping it. On the other side of the equation, I could help the public by offering them heavily discounted products.”
Hills grew up in Hamilton and attended Hillcrest High before moving to Auckland in his early 20s. He and his wife have two daughters and live on Auckland’s North Shore. Since its inception in 2008, Reduced To Clear has grown to 11 retail offerings throughout the North Island, offering products between 50 and 80 percent off the recommended retail price.
In the beginning, Hills spent many years cold-calling suppliers to see if they had any clearance products they wanted to move, and he often had to explain his business's goal. These days Reduced To Clear is reasonably well-known within the industry, and new suppliers tend to come to them. The company has a great range of local and international suppliers.
“We are problem solvers to an extent. All suppliers have the odd issue around stock, so we take it, and it becomes our issue to deal with - we’re here to help them.”
Reduced To Clear stocks all kinds of products. Snacks, treats, health foods, gluten-free products, cheese, and yoghurts are all requested daily. Chocolate is a customer favourite, and Cadbury has been a big supporter of the store since the beginning.
There is no set product layout in the Reduced To Clear Stores. The goal is to get pallets a price ticket and onto the shop floor as quickly as possible. There aren’t many shelves as it is easier to move the pallets around, but there are freezers and fridges for those goods.
“Our main feature is our great prices.”
The goal is to reduce food waste by managing the product and price to ensure it sells. Hills noted that they do this by having proactive stock management. He said supermarket wholesale would not change this business landscape, as Reduced To Clear serves a specific purpose to FMCG. However, some challenges Hills has noticed of late include rising food prices, inflation and staff shortages.
Hills’ long-term goals for Reduced To Clear are to continue the business and open a few more stores around the country. He mentioned a few other opportunities he is looking into but couldn’t share the specifics just yet.
“I’d like to thank all our suppliers for supporting us over the years. We’ve been at it for 14 years now and are still going strong. I’ve tried to measure all the products we’ve saved, and I am picking it sits around 200,000 tonnes, which we are very proud of,” concluded Hills.
