All Columnists articles – Page 20
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Analysis
Shop Talk - Tracy West
I always used to be impressed by US forecourts they always seemed so cutting edge, so ahead of the curve but on a recent trip to Florida the ones I visited were a bit disappointing. One was downright awful. Mr West and I only stopped because we needed a map ...
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Analysis
David Charman - chairman CWA
Spring 2015 may turn out to be a huge turning point in the car wash industry. The weather has been kind, resulting in the best start to trade for maybe five years. Could it be also that the new found wealth afforded to the motorist, with the falling fuel prices, ...
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Analysis
Brian Madderson: chairman PRA
The extraordinarily steep decline in Brent Crude from $115 per barrel last June to $45 per barrel by mid-January was predicted by very few (if any) analysts, traders or oil companies, tempting the same scribes to pen their best guesses for 2015. The recent Bloomberg headline which read "analysts are ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Burgeoning Top 50
It’s been another busy month as we completed the research on the latest Top 50 Indies listing, which shows a burgeoning group which has grown at the rate of more than 300 sites in the past year (see report on page 20). And of course more growth will come with ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk - Tracy West
Valentine’s Day (February 14) falls on a Saturday this year, which is always good news for restaurants but I think it’s good news for you too. That’s because even though surveys say people are spending more on eating out in restaurants, many consumers just haven’t got their confidence back yet ...
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Analysis
Peter Harding - Retail technology consultant
It’s the first month of the New Year and time to consider what can we expect to see happen in the world of technology over the next 12 months? Following a fairly quiet 2014, Micros is continuing to promote its Prism 2 system, while CBE continues to grow its systems, ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk with Tracy West
Happy new year to you all let’s hope it’s a good one for you and your business. And, if you look at new research from Barclaycard, it seems things are already looking up as 2014 was the year when we all started spending again. The biggest increases in spending were ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Good year - good start
A happy and prosperous New Year to you all, and as we kick off 2015, it’s not looking at all bad for the independent dealer sector is it? The big story during the past few months has been the ongoing fall in fuel prices, which currently shows no sign of ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood - BOSS executive director
About 900,000 times each year motorists drive away from service stations either without paying or having drawn fuel then claiming that they have no means to pay. These problems cost each forecourt retailer an average of £3,000 every year. The success of BOSS Payment Watch lies with its tried and ...
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Analysis
James Lowman: ACS chief executive
Announcing business rates reform was the easy bit. Now the Chancellor has to work out what changes to this £26bn tax revenue stream will be fairer, pro-growth, fiscally responsible and popular. There are two key decisions to make. Firstly, what level of contribution does the Chancellor want business rates to ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk with Tracy West
Christmas is fast approaching and as I write this, I’m thinking about all the things I’ve still got to do. These include wrapping presents then wrapping them again in brown paper and sending them off to far flung places before those pesky ’last posting dates’. December is, of course, the ...
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Analysis
David Charman - Chairman CWA
The end of 2014 is fast approaching and a major subject on people’s minds is UKIP and immigration. ’Take us out of Europe’, they cry and send back the illegal immigrants to their country of origin. This influx of keen, young labour has been coming for decades of course, but ...
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Analysis
Brian Madderson - Chairman PRA
This year could mark a watershed for the beleaguered independent sector with several structural changes swiftly impacting prospects. The oil companies continue their orderly retreat from direct retailing (Murco, Esso, Shell) and we have been monitoring these disposals carefully. We predict that the independent sector could increase to more than ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Criminally intense
Crime is certainly alive and well in the forecourt retailing sector and a scroll through the latest news on our website in the past few months is confirmation of that. From a serial cross-dressing fuel thief, to exploding cashpoints and attacks on sales assistants, there seems to be no end ...
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Analysis
Shop Talk with Tracy West
Christmas and the shopping frenzy that surrounds it is fast approaching. I know it’s still only November, but as we have a festive edition of Product News I thought I’d add my festive tuppence ha’penny’s worth. Christmas is an interesting time as you get some families that like to stock ...
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Analysis
Peter Harding - Retail technology consultant
Everywhere we look these days things seem to be cloud based. What does this really mean? Many companies give you free space on the cloud to store files such as photos. It seems the idea is that you get a small amount of storage for free and are then enticed ...
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Analysis
Chris Hunt: UKPIA director general
In January, the UK’s first Petroleum Driver Passport (PDP) was launched. It was developed by the Downstream Oil Industry Distribution Forum (DODF) to deliver a consistently high level of training to all petroleum tanker drivers, verified by an accredited third party. It represents a benchmark by which all petroleum driver ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Hang on to your hats
It’s like someone has dug a big hole, and fuel prices are falling into it at great speed. It’s actually quite weird seeing a price pole displaying figures of say, 122.9ppl for unleaded and 126.9ppl for diesel. They look more like museum pieces so long has it been since prices ...
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Analysis
Kevin Eastwood: BOSS executive director
For more than 20 years BOSS, the British Oil Security Syndicate, has worked closely with fuel retailers, police, government departments and other agencies to reduce crime. So how disappointing was it to hear from Norman Baker, the Minister of State for Crime Prevention and the chief constable of Durham during ...
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Analysis
Merril Boulton: Awards showcase
Excitement all round for the forecourt sector last month, what with the rather spectacular Forecourt Trader of the Year Awards (see full report, starting on page 49 and also the awards website www.forecourttraderawards.co.uk); and then the Shell announcement confirming the sale of around 250 sites. On awards night we had ...