Industry representatives gathered to discuss incoming changes
INDUSTRY representatives, retailers and leaders of the convenience sector gathered at the Scottish Grocers’ Federation‘s (SGF) annual Mini-Summit event to highlight the changes coming down the pipeline for store operators.
Covering the next 18 months in the Scottish convenience retail sector, the SGF supported Scotland’s retailers to get to grips with a range of new regulations and requirements that will be rolling out across their stores and affecting many of their communities.
The day’s programme covered topics such as the new Tobacco & Vapes Bill in a panel session that opened the day. Representatives from Imperial Brands and Elfbar were on hand to answer questions directly to retailers and highlight what this new Bill means to them, while Chris Gallacher, managing director at United Wholesale Scotland (UWS), and Mohammed Rajak, retailer at Buywell Day-Today, discussed what opportunities there were to support retailers in the immediate future, with Rajak showcasing what impact this Bill will have on stores moving forward.
The following panel moved to the ongoing issue around the illicit trade in Scotland and the challenges many retailers face as a result of this. Eve Peters, government affairs director at Elfbar, was on stage to field questions from concerned store owners on how to manage with the illicit trade and was joined by Brian Boyle, chief operating officer (retail) at Scotmid, and Michael McDougall from TLT LLP, a leading law firm.
After the lunch break, the next topic to be discussed was the incoming regulations surrounding HFSS (high fat, sugars and salts) food products and what these changes mean for the sector. Set to come into force from 1 October this year, Shamly Sud, managing director of GHSL Ltd and co-founder of RaceTrack Pitstop, engaged with her fellow panelists in a discussion around the topic and the detrimental impact these rules will have for her stores and staff members.
Sud argued that many of the regulations went too far and, as a result, jeopardised her business and could turn some of her biggest profit-makers into dead space on the shelf that will have to be tucked away in a corner.
The trade event concluded with a discussion on what could be the biggest change to the entire retail sector in 2027, the introduction of the deposit return scheme (DRS) in the UK.
With less than 18 months to go until the go-live date for the scheme, many store owners have some very real concerns that have left plenty questioning the viability of DRS, particularly when it comes to the scheme in Scotland.
Panel members for the discussion consisted of Zak Miller, general manager at BMC RVM Solutions, John Lee, vice president for public affairs UK & Ireland at TOMRA, Stephen Jackson, senior retail operations, transformation & sustainability leader at G101, Jennifer Roberts, head of commercial strategy & planning at Highland Spring, Kevin Lowe, head of store implementation at Scotmid, Sam Jones, head of climate and sustainability at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, and Jonathan Kemp, non-exec director at Exchange for Change.
The panel talked openly about what the incoming changes meant for retailers and their stores and what support was on-hand to help store owners to introduce return operations and ensure a seamless transition come October 2027.
Following the session, Pete Cheema, chief executive at the SGF, said: “To begin with, I want to give a huge thank you to all of our expert panellists from across the UK who represented every aspect of our sector, government officials and leading experts in the field. I also wnat to thank our members, without whom, the event could not take place.
“The Scottish convenience sector is under immense pressure both from external and global issues, from the worrying trend in retail crime and illicit trade, and from a conveyor belt of new regulation coming into force over the next year.
“Our event highlighted those challenges, provided important guidance on compliance and the best advice for businesses on how to manage those changes.
“The SGF will continue to engage with government and decision makers on these key issues and ensure our sector’s voice is head.”
