A look at what’s going on across the convenience channel and associated businesses and organisations
SWA in plea to Scottish covid inquiry
THE Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has called for Holyrood ministers to embed the sector into all future pandemic and national emergency planning.
Chief exec Colin Smith made the plea while giving evidence to the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry.
He said the £21million given to support wholesale had saved businesses and prevented a catastrophic food supply chain failure.
And he argued such aid should come at the start of restrictions in the future, to enable quicker reopening of markets after any crisis. Smith also called for wholesale staff to be classed as “key workers”.
BRC makes call to tackle card fees
THE British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling on the Payment Systems Regulator to tackle the lack of competition and rising costs caused by card companies “raising their fees without transparency or justification”.
According to the latest BRC Payments Survey, card fees paid by retailers to banks and card schemes soared by over 25% in 2023, at an extra cost of £380million. This brought the total card fees paid to £1.64billion.
The study found cash transactions rose for the second year running, with money used for 19.9% of payments in 2023, rising from 18.8% in 2022. But debit cards remained the most common method, up from 61.4% to 62.0% of transactions (66.7% by spending). Along with credit cards, card payments accounted for over 75% of transactions and 85% of spending.
Customers visited shops more frequently but made smaller purchases, as the financial crisis continued to pinch in 2023. The total number of transactions rose from 19.6billion to 21billion, while the average amount spent (per transaction) fell from £22.43 to £22.03.
Baxters donates £50,000 to It’s Good 2 Give charity
BAXTERS Food Group has donated £50,000 to the It’s Good 2 Give charity that supports young cancer patients in Scotland.
The cash boost comes via the firm’s inaugural Super Good Award – an initiative to provide a one-off sum to a charity nominated by a Baxters employee.
It’s Good 2 Give funds four psychologists on the children’s oncology wards in Glasgow and Edinburgh children’s hospitals and allows patients and their families to unwind at the purpose-built Ripple Retreat by Loch Venachar.
The retreat’s Susan Milligan said: “This superb donation will allow us to support many families.”
