All Analysis articles – Page 23
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Analysis
Clearing the air
After hordes of headlines suggesting owners of diesel cars were about to be clobbered with huge pollution charges, there were fears that the surge in demand for diesel would suddenly shudder into reverse, but new proposals from the government have eased some of the anxiety at least temporarily.The government ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: Shop Talk
Everyone knows cigarettes are expensive but I was shocked when I recently bought 20 Embassy for Mr West. They cost £9.99. Wow! And those 20 won’t even last him one day. Looking at the ugly packaging, I can see why the tobacco manufacturers were battling so hard to maintain their ...
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Analysis
Diesel dilemma
Diesel has grown to dominate the road fuels market in the UK, driven by government tax incentives for car drivers. In 2001, with the government seeking to reduce CO2 emissions, the greater efficiency of diesel engines compared with petrol made it the obvious choice, and tax rates were adjusted accordingly.The ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
Welcome to our new-look Forecourt Trader. Yes, we’ve had a bit of a refresh, but it’s still the same great mix of news, views and retail insight that, according to our latest research, makes Forecourt Trader still your number one trade mag. New additions to look out for include a ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood: Executive director, BOSS
Any losses from forecourt crime are unacceptable. We fully understand the pressure this type of crime places on retailers, police and government agencies but by developing new and improved ways of working between police and retailers we will reduce losses and increase recovery rates. With Payment Watch we know that ...
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Analysis
Charlotte Blum: analysis editor, Argus Media
Global crude oil prices are driving fuel prices at the pump, and all eyes are on Opec’s attempts to raise them. There are early signs that production cuts are beginning to bite, but producers are facing an uphill struggle. Opec and 11 non-Opec oil producers that have joined forces to ...
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Analysis
James Lowman: chief executive, ACS
Since the publication of the revised business rate valuations late last year, a range of business groups including ACS have been campaigning to ensure that those hardest hit by the revaluation will be given appropriate relief, and that beyond the revaluation, the rating system will be reviewed so that everyone ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: Shop Talk
Sunday March 26 is Mother’s Day or Mothering Sunday. I always take my mum out for Sunday lunch but many families celebrate by eating in, together at home. According to market research firm Mintel, in-home food and drink accounts for 14% of Mother’s Day spending. You can imagine that a ...
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Analysis
David Charman: chairman CWA
Our industry has once again moved into a whole new era, with Tesco taking ownership of Booker and its forecourt brands and the demonisation of diesel as a road fuel. I’m not sure if I would be delighted or worried if I were a Booker-supplied brand. Will the buying power ...
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Analysis
Building growth
The seemingly inexorable rise in the number of sites run by the Top 50 Indies continued last year, but the increase of 99 to 2,222 is much lower than the 300-plus increases of the two previous years.However, the primary reason for the slower growth is that the mass sell-off of ...
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Analysis
Brian Madderson: chairman PRA
The anti-diesel bandwagon is rolling. It was tax incentives in 2001 that encouraged both private drivers and businesses to buy diesel engine cars. The justification related to climate change and lower carbon dioxide emissions. The issues of toxic nitrogen oxide and higher levels of particulate matter were known but downplayed. ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
The frustration is palpable as the realisation of the impact of changes to business rates being implemented in April is realised in companies big and small across the nation. Media headlines have yelled at every opportunity about the smaller retailers that appear to be being taxed out of business. The ...
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Analysis
Tracy West: Shop Talk
I’ve written about this before and I’m sure I’ll write about it again. It’s to do with today’s all-singing, all-dancing service stations. It’s not a complaint: I love them. I wish I had more near where I live or at least one decent one near where I live. The sites ...
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Analysis
Tapping into key trends
The internet has now been widely available for so long that many consumers have grown up with it, and as it continues to develop and affect more areas of everyone’s lives it is helping to shape trends in shopper behaviour in the convenience sector. HIM Research & Consulting has been ...
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Analysis
Chris Hunt: UKPIA director general
’May you live in interesting times’ is actually purported to be a Chinese curse 2016 was certainly interesting for society in general and our industry in particular. Whether it was cursed remains to be seen. Brexit, both in the run up and subsequent period, following the surprise referendum result, has ...
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Analysis
Peter Harding: business development director Htec
Just take a look at any magazine or web page and ask yourself what do you see: home automation. There are many, many devices to control home peripherals as well as home applications such as cameras and recording devices, smoke and humidity detectors. But what’s new in the forecourt retail ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
The momentum around automotive fuels, and what kind of motor vehicles we’ll be driving in the future seems to be really building into something more tangible than previously seen. Last month came the news that a global initiative to drive use of hydrogen (see News page 4), had been agreed ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk: Tracy West
Happy New Year to you all. Let’s hope it’s going to be a good one. After all the surprises of 2016, you can’t help but wonder what’s in store and I’m going to take that quite literally and have a look at the new products we might get to see ...
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Analysis
Investing in growth
Many dealers continued adding to their estates in 2016, driving up demand, and therefore the value of sites fuelling continued optimism and investment in the fuel retailing sector.Clive Sheppard, director of Top 50 Indie Chartman:"2017 promises to be our most exciting year yet. Ongoing investment by the forecourt industry ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: editor
Happy New Year to you all I hope trading was bouyant over the festive season. But while I had intended to continue in positive fashion, I am sorry to hear that it wasn’t a very good start to the New Year for Top 50 Indie, High Noon Stores, which went ...