The Battle of the Bra Pound Shop Wars

The question I get asked mostly in here, believe it or not,

-is "how much is this?"

-How much is this?

That is the truth.

How much are these chamois?

They're shops with a magical formula.

It must cost more to make what they're selling.

How they do it, I'll never know.

Everything costs a pound.

Buy more!

Bargain in itself!

And some people have fallen under their spell.

-Football!

-This is the most expensive shop in the centre.

You buy one thing, then you find another, then you find another.

-It's just so cheap.

-I like a bargain.

There's now a pound shop in almost every town and city.

Bloody brilliant. I love Poundworld.

But for Chris Edwards, owner of the Poundworld empire, it's war.

It's an insult to everything we try and stand for, it's ridiculous.

It's a cut-price, cut-throat battle for survival

against giant pound shop chains,

and now the supermarkets.

They should put "thief" across the front of their head,

chop their fingers off or something.

And as customers get more savvy...

The biscuits, only 49p in ASDA

and it's a better quality of brand and everything.

..it's a fight to find new tricks to keep the magic alive.

We've saved a fraction by not including any underwear.

She doesn't mind, she's got a smile on her face

This time the competition launches a price war.

That's 3p that I'm saving.

It's frightening cos if we took 3p off our profit margin

we'd be out of business.

So Chris strikes back with a £1 bra.

Have you seen these? They're already our breast seller.

Yeah?

Soon there's a storm in a D cup.

Now we haven't got it in again and I don't know what to do.

Somebody's made a big boob.

Big smiles. I'm trying to not get the Poundstretcher in.

Oh, don't do that.

Ooh! It's a big day for Chris Edwards.

He's just signed a new bank deal to help his company Poundworld grow.

But arch-rival Poundland, two doors down,

seems to be the name on everyone's lips.

Did you want to do this shop with the Poundland at the back?

-World.

-World.

-Poundland?

THEY LAUGH

It's like a swear word. I can't say it, I cannot say it.

Yes, our competitor next door.

-I just got Poundland in the back as well, which is good.

-World!

World, world, world!

Me and you are going to fall out.

US-owned Poundland is Britain's largest pound shop chain.

But Chris wants their crown, and from his headquarters in Wakefield,

he's waging a campaign to become Britain's biggest pound shop empire.

It's a war every day.

We come to work every day, gumshield in, shinpads on, get on with it.

Right, then, what's first?

I've got a few issues at the moment.

He's got a no-nonsense management team.

Can we pay our way on the back of it?

But their meetings are often interrupted by more pressing matters.

-Do you want any toast or anything?

-No, no.

There's some grapes in there

and a little bottle of stuff.

Alice, Chris's 86-year-old mum, clocks in daily.

She's the self-appointed fat controller,

monitoring everything he eats.

It's supposed to reduce cholesterol,

it's supposed to make you feel fit,

and I think the stressful job he does, I think every little helps.

She bought this treat from one of Chris's competitors.

Well, I'll not show Morrison's because they sell pound stuff.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm covering it up, I'm not giving then no adverts!

This is a family firm.

Morning, boss, you all right?

Chris's brother is in the business, too,

and this family has worked together for a very long time.

That's your great-granddad Edwards,

that's the trapeze artist that was born in 1862.

I hope I'd be retired by then!

Chris's family has worked on travelling fairs

for nearly 200 years.

That's when you were in school.

He went six months at school and six months on the road,

travelling fairgrounds, and that's an education in itself.

You're brought up to basically work.

You're working from a very young age.

Very hard work. A lot of people don't appreciate the fact.

It's something to be proud of.

It is something to be proud of, to survive like we did.

The family also had a market stall,

which Chris and his brother turned into a pound shop empire.

People say, "You've done well to get from that."

Well, it's only took us 40 years!

And a lot of hard work, I can tell you.

But the hard work is far from over.

'What drives you now is the fear of going skint.'

I just liken it to a tsunami coming over the hill,

and if you take your eyes off the business, it'll engulf you.

The threats are flooding in.

High streets are bursting with discounters and supermarkets

offering £1 bargains.

Some are selling for under a pound,

and one rival - Southern-based 99p Stores - is expanding north

onto Chris's patch.

In Burnley, they're right next door.

They've got Pringles at 99p.

But his managers here are ready for the fight.

Right, can somebody put two green milk in that gap for us,

make that shelf look OK? Thank you, thank you.

The secret to winning this war

is maintaining the opening day standards that we've had from day one

cos that's what draws the customers in.

Ian Gilbert is the assistant manager.

I'm the grafter with laughter, I get exactly what customers are after.

If they're in doubt, give us a shout,

I sort them out, that's what it's about.

Can I interest you in a pack of Caramacs today for a pound?

-Would you like two for £2 then?

-No!

You have to act fast, think fast, work fast and talk fast

and that's what I do in this business.

These shoes, I'm surprised they're not sponsored by Michelin

cos the amount of rubber they burn, I'm telling you.

I don't think he stops from the minute he comes in

to the minute goes out at half six.

Sometimes customers think, has he got a twin, him, or what?

Thank you, chief.

Nice footwork.

I'd love to clone myself like Dolly the sheep, Ian the sheep

and have double wages, know what I mean?

But I don't think that's going to happen.

Ian's Superman. He's pretty much like me.

He's a lot younger than me

-and he's obviously a lot fitter than me.

-Only just!

HE GRUNTS

Jeff is the manager. He runs a tight ship.

Can I interest you in a six-pack of Polo mints for a pound?

Six-pack of Polo mints for a pound?

Can I interest you in a six-pack of Polos for a pound?

-No, thank you.

-OK.

Do you not think it's a bit repetitive?

-You need to think outside the box here.

-Box, yes.

It's not just 99p stores they're fighting.

Poundland's also in the same shopping centre.

When we first opened, like, you know,

basically it was a blank chequebook, know what I mean?

We had 20 or 30 staff doing ten, up to 40 hours a week

when obviously now we can't sustain that.

As competition has grown, staff numbers have been cut.

Nobody can afford to lose any business whatsoever

and that's why we work so hard.

We've got to do all we can to survive.

Big ball, big ball, big ball, banana, big ball, banana, £1.

Any ball £1, any ball £1, any ball £1.

Nice cherry.

The battle for peoples' pounds is now so fierce

that shops often change tactics to win shoppers over.

Banana, 50 pence, come on, come on, banana 50p.

In East Ham, Poundland is trying a cunning plan.

They've cut prices to just 97p.

That's 3p that I'm saving on each item.

-Everything could have been...

-What was it?

-£6? £6.

But it came to £5.87. I'm happy.

Nice three-penny off.

I'll go four times a week.

Laundry bags, sweets,

whatever you like in there, it's fantastic in there.

-It does get a bit confusing, though.

-Yeah.

-You can't add up 97p.

-Every penny counts.

-It really does!

Two doors down, where Chris has a new shop, they aren't so pleased.

News of the latest offensive soon reaches headquarters.

East Ham, where we had one of our most successful stretches last year,

Poundland have come back by changing to... 97p-land.

It's frightening, they are a big American company.

If they rolled it across, it would be a major impact

because if we took three pence per item off our profit margin,

we'd be out of business.

Can I make a suggestion where these should go?

In the bin!

But Poundland isn't the only fixed- price rival threatening a price war.

Some good offers there, Ian.

Look at that sugar.

99p Stores is cutting prices, too.

Twin-pack as well. That's a good deal for a twin pack, 69p.

'They've decided to enter that price war'

and they're hoping that those posters will get the customers in

and obviously take it away from us. And that, to me, that scares me

because if we haven't got the right range and the right product

at the right time, then obviously

where we're situated and where the competition is so close,

the customer can just turn around and walk out and go elsewhere.

It's a cut-throat business out there.

We are, I suppose, pirates on the high sea.

At HQ, Chris's team is starting to fight back.

Chris, when you've got a sec,

can I just show you one of these new lines, please? Cheers.

Head buyer Daniel has got his hands on something

that's getting him very excited.

We need to talk bras.

The benchmarked price for these in the marketplace is up to like £20

and we can put this in and retail it for a pound, I think.

What's the initial order going to be, do you think?

This has got to be half a million pieces, easy.

You should just go with your instinct, what you think.

If you think we need half a million, let's get half a million bought.

This is a serious wow!

But this is no ordinary bra -

it's the secret weapon in a full-frontal assault

to bazooka their rivals.

The bra is what we would call a wow product.

When they see something like this on the shelf they go, "Wow, look at that,"

so we just naturally call it a wow product.

Some examples of the wow products we've had in the past,

this desktop calculator -

when we first got that, we thought that was brilliant,

it's just a pound.

This is another product - well packaged, quartz movement,

sold for a pound. Even I couldn't believe it.

To make the £1 bra they went to China

and found a factory already making a more expensive version.

They then used cheaper material with slightly less elastic

and ordered in bulk.

But is there a difference in stretchiness?

They're the same, all them pleats are the same.

Alice has been asked to compare her son's new bra with a £13 version.

Well, I can't see no difference, really.

I can't believe it's a pound. Crikey!

It's a throwaway product, I suppose, at a Tom Jones concert, isn't it?

You wouldn't be worried about swinging your bra and throwing it at that price, would you?

Not if they're only going to cost you a pound.

It should be an exceptional line but with it being an exceptional line

it could also put us up for an exceptional fall if I'm wrong.

Some wow products have left Chris red-faced.

We got this TV remote saying it was a fantastic item.

We sold thousands, fantastic, repeat order,

the factory couldn't give us what we want,

so we moved on to a second factory,

we didn't bother having the Trading Standards test because

it was in our eyes exactly the same item. Unfortunately they didn't work.

Trading Standards got involved

and it cost us a fine which we're not proud of

so we had a bit of a Del Boy moment there

but that doesn't happen very often.

Soon they'll find out if the bra is lovely-jubbly.

But Chris isn't just relying on ladies' underwear

to take the fight to the enemy.

This is the map of the shops we've got already.

Now we're focusing on areas where we've got very limited shops.

He's expanding to challenge Poundland's dominance.

We're looking to save £2 or £3 million

which will fund the new store openings.

It's very difficult and you try and do it without upsetting people

but sometimes you do.

Overseeing the cuts is finance director Ian Hamilton.

-Morning, Mr No.

-That's me.

I'm one of the few people who will challenge Chris' opinion.

Most people go along with him for fear of losing their job.

But the fact of the matter is, there's only me who'll speak to Ian.

Everybody doesn't like him!

Those aren't major considerations for me.

The main task is to do the job, do what's necessary at whatever cost.

But Ian's under strict orders not to undermine customer service.

And some think that's already happening.

We've got people leaving our store

that are putting baskets down at the tills

because there's not enough people there to serve them

at the end of the day.

Regional manager Craig Atkinson

thinks Ian's staff cuts are costing more than they're saving.

I've got a queue as long as my arm

where people still want to shop in this store

and there's nobody serving them.

That's lost sales.

Something's got to change and it's got to change fast.

As king of the cuts, Ian's in the firing line.

Ian is definitely putting his neck in the noose on this one.

This matter's very, very serious.

If we let Ian go into a store and work there for the day

and see what they come up against,

-see whether his conclusion is exactly the same.

-OK.

Craig.

So, tomorrow, seven o'clock, that's the time the delivery arrives.

-There won't be any problems tomorrow.

-Let's see.

Over at the warehouse, 100,000 bras have arrived from China.

A military operation begins to get them into the shops.

You don't make vast amounts of profit on each item.

Our profit's made on bulk. It's a fast turnaround.

It needs to get into them shops and get sold.

Buzz is one of the warehouse managers.

If I get an order from the store last night,

they get it delivered today.

This hi tech warehouse supplies up to nine million items a week

to over 200 shops across the country.

In this warehouse at this moment in time

there's probably about £17-18 million worth of stock.

Of all that stock that's up there,

a lot of that stock won't be here next week.

It'll be gone, it's out to the shops.

That's them.

Buzz and fellow manager Kevin

want to take a look at the new top shelf material.

I haven't got a safety knife.

I haven't. Not allowed a knife.

# Safety knife! We're using a safety knife! #

"Say goodbye to bad posture."

-Chafing.

-That's always a problem of mine, chafing.

It looks like a sports thing, doesn't it?

More like a sports bra look to it.

Not that I've ever worn a sports bra.

-I used to.

-Yeah, but you got help for that.

-I did.

Nude - she's not in the nude, she's got a bra on.

That's a disgrace.

I don't know if they're going to sell well.

But Chris wants to shift a lot of bras.

He hopes to sell 30,000 in the first week and millions over the year.

In Burnley, Ian's very excited

about getting his hands on the new wow product.

Brilliant, I like that, that is fantastic, that.

Ooh, nice rack, Ian.

With a product like this, we're not going to go bust anyway.

Next door will wonder what the hell's hit them.

Battle of the bra, yeah, I can just imagine the headlines, innit,

you know - "Storm In A D Cup!"

Ian quickly starts working his magic on the customers.

Hello, love, you all right? Have you seen these?

Pound, eh? Can't go wrong, love. Look at that, eh?

But not everyone's going wow.

Unbelievable value.

Have you seen these? Already our breast seller!

Yeah?

They look really, really cheap, and they're not sexy at all.

You're not going to pull wearing that, really, are you?

-No.

-No, definitely not.

Hmm, well, if I take a medium in a white

and I'll have a large in a nude.

The local competition has heard about the bra

and come to take a look.

Jane works for a more upmarket lingerie shop in Burnley.

-Hello!

-Oh, you're back!

It's quite thin, isn't it?

Why don't you just try one on, Jane?

That, to me, that would ride up.

-It's not giving you much shape, is it?

-It isn't.

I feel like I've got an old lady's vest on, to be honest.

If I put my top on...

..looks like I've got no bust at all in this, doesn't it?

Well, the competition don't feel threatened.

More worryingly, Jeff's learned 99p Stores is already selling a bra.

-99p?

-Yeah.

-Is this what they call pad?

-Yes.

You know, the proof will be over the next couple of weeks.

It'll be interesting to hear the customers' comments.

Will Chris's new bra give his business the uplift it needs?

-What time is it?

-Five to nine.

Five to nine, right.

He's running late already, so this isn't a good start, is it?

In Leeds, it's the shop floor showdown between money man Ian

and regional manager Craig.

I can't wait, to be honest. I'm going to love every minute of it.

I'm going to put him through his paces.

Craig thinks Ian's staff cuts are causing big queues.

Finance director Ian's been sent back to the floor

to find a solution.

-Oh, good morning.

-How you doing?

-Not too bad. Half past eight

I thought we said we were going to be here this morning.

-Yeah. I had a lie in this morning.

-Oh, right, well...

Well, I think you could have done with the extra large.

I don't know about the large, but never mind.

-I think I've been stitched up on that one.

-Back to the gym!

Ian cracks straight on with his fact-finding mission.

Sorry to interrupt, what we're trying to ascertain is,

whether the queuing is acceptable?

Have you queued too long before?

Many a time. We've put stuff down and we've gone somewhere else.

Where would you go? One of our competitors?

-I'd go to Poundland in there.

-Poundland.

-Yeah.

-OK.

When we've been in there, every time there's a lot on the tills.

They're always full when we're in there.

All the tills are full.

And we've never waited long in there ever.

Would you shop with us a lot more

if we had all these tills monitored every single day?

Yeah?

Do you prefer the layout of the store and the products?

There's more evidence left on the shop floor.

So, again, that's potential lost sales

due to not having enough people available on the tills.

But Ian wants to see what happens when all staff man the tills

like they're supposed to when a queue forms.

All back up to tills, please.

-Next, please.

-Next, please.

Next, please.

Called the extra staff straight on the tills.

Queues down in less than a minute.

He thinks the solution is to change the staff rotas

so more can be on the tills at busy times,

but Craig's not convinced.

I'm still a strong believer that we do need more people

in the store in order to make sure we keep up the service

that we're already giving.

It's a stalemate.

It's like dealing with two squabbling kids.

I think one misses one point,

and Ian definitely misses the arguments of customer satisfaction,

which ultimately is where you've got to be when you're a retailer.

To find out who's right, Chris is going to run an experiment.

We've increased the staffing for stores

and we'll see what the results are.

If takings go up, then Ian will have questions to answer,

and if they don't, then Craig is going to have egg on his face.

Meanwhile, Poundworld's press release about the £1 bra

has created quite a stir.

Have you seen all of this about the bra, Daniel?

Mail, Metro, Express.

Facebook, it's on our social media feed, on Twitter...

That one's New York Daily News. HE LAUGHS

"At just £1, it's the world's cheapest bra,

"but is it a girl's breast friend?"

The Sun has tested it against the competition,

using a trampoline.

HE LAUGHS

I can see sacks of spuds going everywhere!

Here are our verdicts - Matalan, 4 out of 5 for style,

4 for comfort and 4 for support.

And ours, style for 2,

comfort, which is the main thing, for 5,

but support, she only gave it 2.5.

Right, but that's only one person, though, isn't it?

It's not a ringing endorsement,

but the publicity works wonders.

-It's really cheap.

-It's marvellous, that!

A pound! Ohhh!

I'm not that big, am I?

And I should think that unless you want to measure me up for one,

then I'll be a medium.

I'll have to warm me hands first, love!

In just ten days, 100,000 bras are snapped up.

What's that - is somebody else stepping on our toes?

We've got ASDA, we've got Tesco,

now we've got a fairground, everything's a pound.

I mean, what's...where are we going with all this, when does it end!?

Three chances of winning for just £1.

With the bras selling so well,

there's time to relax and visit relatives.

Ohhh!

Oh, what a shot.

All right, Herbert, how are you doing?

-This used to be Herbert the Sherbet.

-That's right, aye.

Well, you look at home anyway. You look like you belong there.

It's better than sitting in the office!

Do you feel as though you miss anything?

Well, as soon as I walked through the door, I knew I was at home.

It's a wonderful history to have.

-This is me.

-Yeah.

-This is me.

But thoughts of work are never far away.

Every day, every single day, every minute I'm concentrating

on wage bills, shoplifting, rent, rates, everything.

You've got a lot of people's livelihoods depending on you

getting it right and that is a pressure, without a doubt.

In this business, there's always a problem around the corner.

The latest is with the bra.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

Just wondering when those fabulous bras are going to come in?

I can only apologise. They just flew off the shelves.

Have we got any more of those bras in?

I think you'd have more chance of finding

a virgin in a maternity ward than these bras coming in.

The supply of bras has mysteriously dried up.

Well, it was our breast seller, and now we haven't got it in again.

I just don't know what to do.

Somebody's made a big boob somewhere,

but at least it's not me being a right tit,

because I've tried to order them, so I don't know what more to do.

I really don't, mate. It just frustrates me.

Quick question for you - where are all the bras?

They're still in customs in China.

Christ. And how long is it going to take?

Well, they're hopefully a week.

Right.

Well, obviously, it's an important and serious thing for Chris,

because they're all over the papers and stuff,

and people go to the shops and there isn't any,

and people just think you're lying.

He just wants to get them in to get them back out to the shops

and restore that bit of confidence for the customers,

and he won't look so foolish.

Ian and Craig's battle over staff cuts is coming to a head.

So Ian's just come in and said how wrong he was

where the wages are concerned.

To see if Ian's cuts are causing a drop in sales,

Chris has employed more staff in a few shops

to find out if takings go up.

What's happened over the last three or four weeks, I think,

where we've put extra staff, the takings haven't moved very far,

so maybe the answer isn't increase staff,

it's better management of the rota.

That'll ensure more staff can deal with the queues at busy times.

Ian's won, but we'll come back at it.

Well, round one to you, then.

OK, great.

Go on, take your smug-looking face back in your office.

It's very disappointing that I've lost to Ian.

That is very, very disappointing.

But we'll just have to keep monitoring it.

That's all we can do.

You know, it's a huge sum of money that we've saved,

and I'm not prepared to let that spend go up again

without good reason.

In Burnley, the long awaited bras are back in stock.

They'll be straight out.

Coming though with the breast seller!

Thank you very much.

Chris says customers bought 700,000 bras over the summer...

-Are you stocking up?

-THEY LAUGH

..and that it helped increase sales of other products,

bringing takings up by 5%.

But the bra's success hasn't gone unnoticed.

Poundland's already threatening to spoil the party.

Oh, what's this? Have they got some new bras?

Yeah, that's what Poundland's doing.

Well, it's far better for them to be copying you.

-We lead, others follow.

-Yeah. Allegedly.

To the next line, and the next item, and the battle goes on.

Next time:

Ian's got himself into a spot of bother.

So how are we going to get this stock out?

We haven't got anybody in tomorrow.

Probably gone overkill, but...

And Buzz and Kevin become Big Brother.

There he goes!

We'll probably catch everybody. He's got to be a prime culprit.

Well, he's massive, isn't he?