Poll reveals support for small business

THE British public wants the next government to protect small business from mistreatment from big business, a poll has revealed. Commissioned by the Forum of...
There are both challenges and opportunities ahead for forecourt businesses. But those that succeed will be those who have understood the market and who have worked to supply the range and services their different customers demand, argues Palmer & Harvey.

Forecourts have to grasp the market

FORECOURT sites with convenience stores have a major opportunity to achieve commercial success in the coming years but only if their operators know the...

Smart app adds touch of loyalty

ZAPPER, the consumer marketing and insight platform, has launched its new in-app loyalty card, that gives consumers the opportunity to automatically earn rewards. People who...
Shell forecourt

Plugging into the potential

Retailers across Scotland are being encouraged to fit multiple new electric vehicle charge points to their forecourts and premises to meet the rising numbers of customers now driving EVs.

Are the days of cash coming to an end?

Bank cash handling charges and changes to payment service commissions have put independent retailers under pressure but some consumers now expect to give up...

Tailoring a service for convenience

There is no shortage of delivery options for retailers at the moment, with  tech firms and entrepreneurs responding to the surge in demand for home delivery last year
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Ready to look into the future

THE development of symbol groups by wholesaling companies and the use of new technologies and digital communications in wholesaling will both figure this month...
United Wholesale (Scotland) has been disinfecting its depots using ‘bio-fogging’.

UWS takes a tech approach to COVID

Wholesaler cleans depot with ‘bio-fogging’ system

Ensure procedure is fair – know the facts

WHILE sickness absence has been falling over the last decade, according to research by the Office for National Statistics, employers can still face challenges...
Jane Green is a partner and head of the Employment & Pensions team at Maclay Murray & Spens LLP and a member of the firm’s Food and Drink team.

Employee shares – tread carefully

Involving staff in ownership of retail and other businesses could be beneficial. But it could also lead to confusion over the status of different...
A Spar-branded filling station. The first Scottish unit is scheduled to open later this month.

Spar’s Scots forecourt first

THE first Scottish filling station to feature Spar-branded fuel is due to open later this month. Mark Steven, Spar UK business development controller said: “Our...

Delivering more for c-store customers

Philippe Rondepierre, marketing director at Snappy Shopper, reckons home delivery has been so successful in the convenience channel “because it is the one initiative which will add thousands of pounds to a store’s weekly turnover."
Asda petrol filling station

Multiples under fire on margins

Consumer group critical of large multiple fuel retailers taking high margins during lockdown
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Drive-in darkness

Tobacco sales are hugely important to many forecourts. But next April will see tobacco retailing in all impulse outlets change dramatically when the tobacco...

Fighting to keep up

It seems that the law affecting licensed retailers is constantly evolving, making it difficult for even the most diligent of operators to keep up....
Peter Muir is head of rating with Colliers International in Scotland.

A rates strategy that will do serious harm

One of Scotland’s leading rating experts argues that businesses in Scotland should lobby urgently for a Holyrood u-turn by Peter Muir THE Scottish Government has...