Year in review – retailers work harder during hard times
TRADING in 2024 has been gruelling for convenience retailers, as each month seemed to bring a brand new challenge to overcome.
Concerns have been left on the parliament floor and, sometimes, it can feel as though retailers have been left to fend for themselves.
But if one thing could continue to ring true this year, no store is an island in Scotland, as the community spirit has been well and truly alive within the sector and store owners have gone beyond the port of call to support each other.
Here is a quick summary of some of the year’s biggest stories, highlighting just what retailers had to deal with during the course of 2024:
Horizon Scandal
It may have taken an ITV drama for it to finally enter into the public consciousness in such a dramatic way, but the Horizon Scandal has plagued postmasters in the sector for years now.
This year saw some real action finally come for victims of the scandal after Mr Bates vs The Post Office aired at the start of the year and retold the story of the thousands of subpostmasters who had their lives ruined by the Post Office and the subsequent legal case – Bates & Others v Post Office Ltd – which proved the faults of the Horizon system.
Nearly four years after this trial, the UK Government announced that subpostmasters would be cleared of convictions and would see compensation for this, and current Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that £1.8billion had been set aside to go towards this in the Autumn Budget statement.
And the public inquiry into the Horizon Scandal came to a close on 17 December.
Crime
While justice is set to be delivered for postmasters, the same cannot be said for store owners across the country who have been victims of criminal activity this past year.
A rising tide of crime has plagued too many store bosses and staff this year, with reports of shoplifting at an all-time high and stories of retailers becoming victims of violent crime.
At the Scottish Grocers’ Federation’s (SGF) Annual Crime Conference this year, retailers spoke out about the mental strain this has placed on them and their staff members, with Dan Brown, owner of Pinkie Farm Convenience Store, telling the story of how is fiancée faced an armed robbery and stared down the barrel of a shotgun.
And the SGF revealed that the average cost of retail crime had risen to £12,164 per store over 2023/24.
In a bid to respond to this, retailer leaders across the channel have been urging governments to take note and act to fight back against this rising crime wave.
It’s clear that retailers are rising to this challenge, but it is now way past time for the same to be seen at a government level.
Vape & Tobacco bans
This year saw the confirmation of a sleuth of new legislation set to impact trading, but none more so than the bans on nicotine products.
The disposable vape ban, now set to be introduced in June 2025, will see single-use devices disappear from store shelves next summer, but this does not mean they will be gone from the streets.
Indeed, many have shared concerns about how this ban will only serve to fuel an already concerning illicit market.
For example, research carried out for the Association of Convenience Stores found that this incoming ban could inject an eye-watering £645million into the illegal trade.
There is also the concern about public health as well, with the products in the illicit market coming into the country without regulation, meaning devices with higher levels of nicotine or that contain poisonous chemicals will litter the streets instead.
Further to this, many have highlighted the impact the generational tobacco ban could have on age-restricted sales for retailers who already face violence when they refuse those who don’t pass an age check.
The Government is expecting retailers to be the “judge and jury” over whether or not a person has been born before or after 1 January 2009.
New Government, new Budget
Most recently, many store owners have been contending with the incoming financial strain that will be placed on them from the UK’s autumn budget statement.
A rise in workers’ wages, increased employers’ National Insurance contributions and planned rises for product levies will leave plenty of retailers out of pocket next year.
With this, many retailers will be forced to think twice before bringing on new staff members or increasing the number of hours worked and, for some, this could mean the difference between staying open, or closing up shop for good.
It’s still early days and time will tell how this budget will impact the sector but the outlook for many remains bleak.
