All Analysis articles – Page 11
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Analysis
Fiasco fuels alarm
Last month’s furore over contaminated fuel brought some unexpected good fortune to many independent retailers, with increases in fuel volumes of as much as 40% or more being reported by some sites.But that may not have been the only benefit. PRA director Ray Holloway believes the petrol retailing industry has ...
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Analysis
Alive & kicking
The UK forecourt sector is healthy, with independent operators leading the way, according to Arthur Renshaw, Catalist’s UK and Ireland sales manager, speaking at the Energy Institute’s inaugural Forecourt Strategies and Trends conference last month.With sites currently disappearing at the rate of about 300 a year - there were 9,570 ...
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AnalysisWaiting game
News that Torex Retail plc was being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, shortly after it had announced a dire profits warning followed by a suspension of share dealing, has sent shivers down the spines of the many forecourt operators who use the company’s retail systems.There are estimated to be ...
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AnalysisDouble take
Last year saw a steep rise in the number of oil company and grocery retailer partnerships, a trend that is undoubtedly going to continue into 2007, according to Greg Hodge, retail forecourt analyst at Planet Retail, in his latest report on the global forecourt market."Oil companies across the globe are ...
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AnalysisGet connected
The idea of taking on a franchise is instinctively taboo for most independent retailers. But that is what’s on offer from BP as it deems the trial of its Connect and Wild Bean Café franchise - on two sites belonging to Motor Fuels Ltd - a success, and has put ...
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AnalysisHighly charged
Exorbitant credit card charges are at the centre of the toughest battle being faced by retailers in the US, according to Hank Armour, president and CEO of the National Association of Convenience stores, which represents the US convenience and petroleum retailing industry.Appealing to retailer members to join the fight at ...
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AnalysisAge concern
Unless you’ve had a very long holiday on a desert island, you will all know about a major tranche of age discrimination legislation which comes into force this month. It will mean, for example that, advertising for a ’mature’ person to do a job or someone with a specific amount ...
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AnalysisPoles Apart
Two major oil companies, two major fuel-related launches on the same day. One rolls out a leading environmentalist. The other unleashes a Formula 1 car onto the streets of London. Their mission - to entice more customers onto their forecourts to sell them more fuel?Well, probably not in the case ...
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AnalysisSqueezy Street
Why is Shell doing it? It’s the question on the lips of certain dealers having to operate within the vicinity of a cluster of Shell co-owned sites that, for some time, have been displaying fuel prices totally out of sync with other local forecourts. In these areas, while many forecourts ...
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Analysis
Emission impossible?
After years of consultation, smaller sites have been given a reprieve as the government finalises new legislation to curb vapour emissions from petrol pumps. Final plans for implementing stage II vapour recovery - officially known as Petrol Vapour Recovery II - mean that service stations selling more than 3.5m litres ...
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AnalysisIt’s a bore
What could turn out to be the driest summer for 100 years has given many petrol retailers in the south east some sleepless nights. With car washing one of the three main profit centres of a petrol retailing business - alongside petrol and the forecourt shop - the merest hint ...
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AnalysisPound of flesh
As BP’s Lord Browne warns motorists that filling up with petrol may soon cost £1-a-litre, diesel prices on some sites have already burst through the £1 barrier, leaving retailers to ponder the impact such prices may have on their businesses.Independent dealer Jonathan James said: "Around here we’re trying to keep ...
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AnalysisBe seen to be green
The pressure on fuel retailers to open their eyes to alternative fuels was squeezed a little harder last month when Morrisons announced the opening of the UK’s first bioethanol E85 fuel pump. The launch, on Morrisons’ site in Albion Way, Norwich, was timed to coincide with the first deliveries of ...
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AnalysisFighting Talk
A bleak picture has been painted of the future for independent fuel retailers following the publication of a report by the All Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group, which says that many are "unlikely to survive" beyond 2015 unless the power of the mighty supermarkets is reined in. The ACS, however, ...
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AnalysisPumping up shop sales
Fears that pay-at-pump technology could have a detrimental effect on forecourt shop sales have been dispelled in a new study by shopper research specialist HIM. The company interviewed 680 forecourt customers across 63 different sites at the end of 2005 and concluded that, in fact, the reverse could be true. ...
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AnalysisBuncefield Burner
On a normal day the Buncefield depot (Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd) provides the UK with 5% of its road fuel. But in the early hours of Sunday, December 11, 2005, that all changed. An explosion, and subsequent fire which lasted four days, destroyed around 20 tanks holding three million gallons ...
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Analysis
Time for pay at pump
There may still be teething problems, but now that the rollout of Chip & PIN is well under way, a seminar last month suggested that it was time for forecourts to fully explore pay-at-pump technology. The question was raised at a ‘Chip & PIN at the Pump’ seminar, organised by ...
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Analysis
Opposing fortunes
Oil companies face a huge dilemma over their retail strategies, according to Greg Hodge, retail analyst at Planet Retail, which specialises in analysis of the major retailers and retail markets worldwide.“The OFT’s approval of Tesco’s acquisition of 21 forecourt sites from Morrison’s has capped an interesting sequence of events in ...
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AnalysisPanic stations
Fuel crisis – what fuel crisis? And lo and behold there was a fuel crisis. It didn’t take long for panic buyers to come out in force, causing huge problems on the forecourts in the week beginning September 14. Nearly a week’s worth of fuel was sold within 24 hours, ...
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Analysis
Pole vault
The call to remove fuel prices from forecourt pole signs has gathered momentum following the publication of driver research which showed that the majority of drivers could not recall how much they had just paid for their fuel. And that is despite retail fuel prices – diesel in particular – ...