All Forecourt Trader articles in July 2013 – Page 2
-
News
MFG signs BP supply deal
Top 50 Indies forecourt operator Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has announced the signing of a new multi-site fuel supply agreement with BP.Jim Mulheran, MFG’s fuels director, said: "We are delighted to have recently concluded a new deal with BP and we look forward to our continued association with the UK’s ...
-
News
in brief
Blue + yellow = greenJet is rolling out a new green initiative to complement the re-imaging of its sites.It has established the original bins came in two parts, one part blue, one part yellow, which could easily be separated, and its manufacturer has confirmed it can produce a blue bin ...
-
News
Service Centre: Jac Roper highlights problems when a supplier goes bust; and saving money on cards
How you can optimise your losses Here’s a cautionary tale for you. Back in March 2010 James Henderson, managing director of Cohannon Inn Ltd (which includes a filling station in Dungannon, County Tyrone), was approached by Energy Saving Company, an approved agent for Carbon Trust. It offered to supply electricity ...
-
News
Euro Garages buys price-setting kit
Inform Information Systems’ product, FuelsPricing.com, is to be used by Euro Garages to support fuel pricing across its growing network of 100-plus retail locations.The deal will allow Euro Garages to monitor the market in real time and assist it in price decision making, enhancing its fuel pricing capabilities as the ...
-
News
Petition calls for OFT inquiry
A petition calling for a full and transparent inquiry into the oil pricing process will be handed in at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) by Quentin Willson of FairFuelUK, Robert Halfon and other MPs from all parties, on Monday, July 15th at 9am. The FairFuelUK petition contains more than ...
-
News
New car sales up
The latest sales figures for new cars show month on month sales in May were up 13.4% compared to May last year. Private registrations increased by 21.3%. “It is extremely encouraging that new car sales continued to improve in May with dealers reporting increased footfall in showrooms” said Sue Robinson, ...
-
News
PRA warns over card charges
The PRA has warned that rising charges for processing card payments are threatening the future of many petrol filling stations, and has called on the government to take urgent action. Plastic accounts for up to 50% of all UK retail business but this has now accelerated to an average of ...
-
News
Vote for your champion
Voting is under way for this year’s Retailer Champion award, sponsored by Palmer and Harvey. This is your chance to express your opinion about who you think is leading the way in the forecourt retailing sector, through a combination of innovation, initiative, and exemplary operating standards.The winner is determined by ...
-
News
The chill drill
Did you know that the average household fridge is opened 42 times a week versus a kitchen cupboard, which is opened 22 times a week? Interesting stuff, which goes a long way in explaining the growth of the chilled foods category which, according to Nielsen Scantrack data, is worth ...
-
News
Clean living
When it comes to hair care, consumers really do believe "they’re worth it" and stick to named brands. So says Mintel in its recent Shampoo, Conditioners and Styling Products report. Highlighting this, is the fact that last year own-label products accounted for a measly 4% of haircare value sales. Meanwhile, ...
-
News
Coke says: see the soft drinks’ sales opportunity
The soft drinks’ market may already be big, but it could be a lot bigger. According to Coca-Cola Enterprises’ (CCE’s) new See The Opportunity report, there is an opportunity to grow the category, which is currently worth over £11bn , by a further £2.1bn over the next five years.Much of ...
-
News
Industry column: James Lowman
The government recently published the full details of its Anti-Social Behaviour Bill. ACS has been heavily involved with the development of new policies, contained in the Bill, that will make a real difference to retailers who are affected by crime in their stores. The ’community trigger’ will make it impossible ...
-
News
Equipment column: Kevin Eastwood
A major source of loss for retailers results from motorists who claim to have ’no means to pay’. BOSS estimates the industry lost more than £4m last year and its Payment Watch scheme has been developed to recover as much of this as possible. Obviously, honest mistakes occur and many ...
-
News
Money Talk: Limited knowledge of running a company
As accountants specialising in several retail sectors (forecourt, convenience, hospitality and even opticians’ practices) we’re involved in a great many new business start-ups. In recent years, a large proportion of these new businesses have come under the generic heading of franchises, and it’s quite routine for franchise-type businesses to be ...
-
News
Global competition
Forecourt stores from the UK and Ireland are vying to be crowned International Convenience Retailer of the Year 2013.The awards are organised by Insight Research in the UK and NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) in the US.The first stage is an on-line voting process, for retailers and industry suppliers ...
-
News
Controls on e-cigarettes
New regulations are being introduced for nicotine-containing products (NCPs), such as electronic cigarettes.The UK Government has decided that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will regulate all NCPs as medicines so that people can be confident that they are safe, are of the right quality and work.Jeremy Mean, ...
-
Analysis
Refining the cost of fuel
Two major reports in the past month have looked at road fuels and the motoring sector from very different perspectives, but both have highlighted the cost of fuel and taxation.At one end of the spectrum, the Statistical Review 2013 of the UKPIA (United Kingdom Petroleum Industry Association) covers the fuel ...
-
News
Crispy and creamy
Cadbury Crispello has a new flavour vanilla velvet. The 30g countline comprises three crispy wafer shells with a creamy vanilla filling, all wrapped in Cadbury milk chocolate. Rrp is 50p.According to Nielsen data Cadbury Crispello, which first hit the shelves in September 2012, is already worth over £4m in ...
-
News
Tokheim Eye tailors reaction to each customer
Tokheim has unveiled an addition to its Tokheim Eye forecourt monitoring/control system, offering operators opportunities to boost their retail revenue on-site through additional sales.The Retail CRM system links vehicle recognition/tracking with advanced customer relationship management software to provide real-time customer profiling and automatically initiate specifically targeted advertising, based on customer ...
-
News
Warning over the danger of falling signs
A "significant number" of forecourt price signs in the UK are vulnerable to windy weather because of flawed foundations, and could cause fatal accidents, installation and maintenance company Xmo Strata has warned.Xmo Strata boss Steve Martin said he could put a precise figure on the number of signs affected, but ...