All Focus On Feature articles
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON SUMMER ALCOHOL: Are you ready?
There was a time when some people sniffed at RTDs (ready to drinks) but they’ve come a long way from their cheap and cheerful beginnings.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON INSURANCE: Terms and conditions apply
Nobody likes reading pages and pages of Terms and Conditions but when it comes to insurance they can be the difference between being paid out for a claim – or not!
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON SUSTAINABILITY: Environmental action
The word sustainability means different things to different people. One dictionary definition for it is: “The avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance”.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON SOFT DRINKS: Thirst class
Soft drinks is a massive category for forecourt stores and especially for Forecourt Trader of the Year Best Soft Drinks Outlet 2023 winner, Lynch’s EuroSpar Greysteel in Londonderry.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON CHOCOLATE: Loco for cocoa
The national press loves a story about ‘shrinkflation’ – you know, products getting smaller but prices going up. The latest, earlier this week, was a story in both the Sun and the Mirror about Wispa bars being ‘half the size, but twice the price’. Cadbury brand owner Mondelez responded by saying reducing the size of its chocolate bars was a last resort in combating rising costs.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON VAPING: Forecourt retailers face up to vaping uncertainties and opportunities
From April 2025 – Parliamentary approval and a change of government notwithstanding – vaping, one of the most lucrative retail categories for forecourts in recent years, will be subject to a barrage of new regulations. It will mean retailers having to completely rethink how they stock and merchandise the category, not unlike when the ban on displaying tobacco products took effect some years back.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON CAR CARE: Artic action
A focus on car care has paid off handsomely for Top 50 Indie Park Garage Group (PGG).
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON FORECOURT MAINTENANCE: Keeping costs under control
Despite the presence of a great convenience store or super-fast EV chargers, for many people the main reason they go to a service station is to fill up with petrol or diesel. And for them, nothing is more of a headache than seeing those brightly coloured plastic, out-of-service signs.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON FORECOURT SHOW 2024
If you’re looking for a new fuel supplier or want advice on investing in valeting equipment. If you’re looking for a cutting-edge security solution or help on extending the lifespan of your forecourt assets. Or if you want advice regarding the thorny issue of fuel pricing, then the Forecourt Show is the place to go.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON FASCIAS: Group effort
Whether it’s because they want a well-known name above their door or the buying power that comes from that name, or the own label that’s offered or the regular promotions – thousands of forecourt retailers choose to be part of a symbol group.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON EV CHARGING: Weighing up the options
To invest or not to invest in EV charging? That’s the big question for a lot of you at the moment. But what if a third party does the investing for you?
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON FOOD TO GO: Changing the menu
Many of you have been doing food to go for a long, long time. It’s been a big success story that has really put a lot of sites on the map – whether that’s because you’ve got a Greggs and/or a Subway, you’ve decided to do your own thing or you do a really popular meal deal.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON EASTER: Hatching a plan
Easter is early this year with Good Friday on March 29 and Easter Sunday on March 31, and this means fewer days to sell chocolate eggs, which in turn means getting them out on display early to tempt shoppers. And we all know that many of those shoppers who buy early, also eat early and therefore need to come back for more!
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON TANKS AND PIPEWORK: Phased approach
Having any work done on your forecourt can be a headache, especially if it means downtime across whole site.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON SNACKING: Light bites
Ask 10 different people what they like to snack on and chances are you’ll get 10 different answers. The snacks could be anything from crisps, chocolate, a sausage roll or fruit right through to beans on toast – all depending on when and where they are snacking.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON TOBACCO AND VAPING: Running out of puff?
How times change. In the 1930s-1950s, cigarettes were advertised as being good for you. An ad for Camel cigarettes back then advised people to ‘Give your throat a vacation’ by smoking a ‘fresh cigarette’. It went on to say: “Try them for just one day. Then leave them – if you can.” And we all know what happened next – basically millions of people couldn’t leave them. However, since then, education and legislation has led to the levels of smoking coming way, way down.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON PROPERTY: Express delivery
The biggest property story of 2023 was, of course, the sale of 132 Co-op sites to Asda, closely followed by EG Group selling most of its UK estate to Asda. This led to a massive roll-out of the Asda Express brand as Co-op and Euro Garages fascias were taken down to make way for the bright green Asda logo.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON EASTER: Creme of the crop
It’s not even Christmas yet but some shops have got Easter eggs out on their shelves. Yes, where once you wouldn’t have spotted a Creme Egg before at least Boxing Day, some stores have them – and shell eggs – out on their shelves already. According to news reports, bargain store B&M has them out already and it has certainly got them a lot of publicity.
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON EPOS: Breaking down barriers
Typically, the biggest barrier to any retailer taking on new retail technology is cost. However, Henderson Technology says it has taken this barrier away by offering all its products on a monthly lease agreement, from the installation of its EDGEPoS system, to electronic shelf-edge labels (ESELs).
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Focus On FeatureFOCUS ON BUILDING AND DESIGN: Stunning stations
Members of the general public, when told that there is an award for the design for a petrol filling station, may say ‘But surely they are all the same?’. Obviously, those in the industry know otherwise, as the building and design of forecourts has evolved with the ever-changing needs of today’s drivers and shoppers. Space may not always allow for grandiose plans, but architects have an amazing knack of getting everything in the right place.