All Analysis articles – Page 26
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Analysis
Peter Harding - retail consultant
We all understand standards within the technological arena change, sometimes so quickly that it is difficult to keep pace. This is a pre-warning that things may again be set to change. We are all familiar with WiFi and indeed our working and home lives may depend on the technology existing. ...
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Analysis
Chris Hunt - UKPIA director general
The competitiveness of oil refining and other energy intensive industries is under threat. The current crisis facing UK steelmaking is symptomatic of a much wider malaise, mirrored across the whole major industrial manufacturing infrastructure. In exploring the challenges facing oil refining and wider industry in the UK, UKPIA has produced ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Booker begins to deliver
When Booker acquired Musgrave Retail Partners GB last summer, it said it had a track record of turning around ’challenged businesses’. Its extremely accomplished CEO Charles Wilson said Booker, Londis and Budgens were joining forces to help independent retailers prosper. Well the deal announced with MFG last month (see News ...
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Analysis
When staff are a liability
In the recent case of Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc, the Supreme Court ruled that WM Morrison was vicariously liable, as an employer, for an unprovoked attack carried out by one of its forecourt staff on a customer. This case raises important points and considerations for all petrol filling ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Search starts here for this year’s best retailers
So oil prices are slowly rising again currency fluctuations and an anticipated production freeze contributing to the joyfully complex formula that dictates what motorists pay at the pump. Like sailing away from a sunny holiday destination, we seem to be leaving the £1-a-litre prices behind shame, I quite liked matching ...
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Analysis
James Lowman - ACS chief executive
The March 2016 Budget is likely to be remembered by the general public for what ended up not happening, notably the review of benefits to the disabled. It may also be remembered for the announcement of the levy on companies selling sugary drinks. I may be a cynic, but I ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk - Tracy West
I love chocolate as much as the next person actually probably more so, and my absolute favourite is Cadbury Dairy Milk. However, I am not a big fan of what they are doing to it ie launching more and more obscure varieties. They must have done their research but even ...
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Analysis
Top of the class
Despite a surge of more than 300 in the total number of sites run by the Top 50 in last year’s report, the independent sector’s appetite for growth showed no sign of slackening with an even greater increase over the most recent 12 months. After reaching 1,762 last year, the ...
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Analysis
David Charman - chairman CWA
The 2016 rates valuation is something the whole industry is worried about, but not, it seems, the hand car washers. Yet again so many of them will not be listed or if they are, no proper investigation will have taken place to ensure that they pay their correct rates. It’s ...
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Analysis
Brian Madderson - chairman PRA
I would not place a bet on the next movement of Brent Crude having listened to many hours of detailed presentations from some of the most experienced analysts in the industry during International Petroleum Week there are just too many variables. What is irrefutable is that OECD stocks have risen ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton:Top 50 - a decade on
Another successful Top 50 Indies dinner took place last month, and as we reach a milestone 10 years of the report, I thought it would be interesting to look back at the launch of the listing, which was first published in 2006. As you can imagine, it makes for very ...
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Analysis
Top 50 Indies own 25% of UK sites
The Top 50 Indies now account for almost 25% of the forecourts in the entire UK market, according to Forecourt Trader’s latest report on the biggest independent retailers.Editor Merril Boulton told an audience of more than 150 at the 2016 Top 50 Indies Dinner that between them they added 361 ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk - Tracy West
Our esteemed editor Merril Boulton loves a Sherbet Lemon and Bassett’s are her favourite, so she was delighted with the news that brand owner Mondelez is promoting ’adult candy’ via a major relaunch. She’s hoping her favourites will then be more widely available. Whenever I see them in a shop, ...
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Analysis
Peter Harding - retail consultant
This year will see many changes in the provision of point-of-sale systems in the UK. Torex/Micros/Oracle seems to have passed the mantle for sales to other parties and several have taken partnerships with Oracle for the supply of systems at various different levels. But a word of caution when seeking ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: MRH - from bust to boom
Big news that the owners of MRH have sold the business to US private equity company Lone Star (see News page 4). While details about the deal were scarce as we went to press, it’s an amazing story for the owners, particularly Graham Peacock and Susan Tobell, who were part ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk - Tracy West
Happy New Year to you all. Can you believe that we’ve already had 15 years of the 21st century? Every time I think of the 21st century, I’m transported back to my school days when we all imagined that by now, some of us would be living on the moon. ...
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Analysis
Positive outlook
Last year saw a major landmark for the dealer sector in the UK as it powered ahead to represent nearly 70% of all UK forecourts.The decision by the major oil companies to continue selling off many of their retail assets has enabled a few of the larger independent groups to ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Ignorance is key for Fair Fuel campaign
Happy New Year to you all. Made me smile to see the supermarkets getting a slating over their pricing strategies for a change, instead of always the traditional fuel retailing fraternity. As we kicked off 2016, the RAC’s first report of the year slammed the big four supermarkets’ fuel pricing ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood - Executive director BOSS
The police and other law enforcement bodies face continuing pressure to prioritise resources in the face of austerity measures. BOSS has been working hard to maintain and build on existing relationships to ensure maximum benefit for members, recognising that it’s important to do more than just report a crime. This ...
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Analysis
James Lowman - ACS chief executive
In the summer of 2015, ACS launched one of its biggest ever campaigns in opposition to changes to Sunday Trading regulations announced by the Chancellor in his July Budget. We lobbied hard to ensure that the issue was front-of-mind for MPs, and as a result of the campaigning work, a ...