ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) is encouraging retailers to take advantage of its dedicated platform to allow them to train their staff on Assured Advice.
The platform, which has been developed by online learning company Bolt, will allow any ACS member to sign up to the Assured Advice scheme and benefit from both the assurance of the guides and industry leading training modules for staff members.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has today commenced its formal inquiry into the Tesco / Booker merger. More information on the inquiry can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-opens-tescobooker-merger-investigation.
An influential committee of Scottish MSPs has acknowledged that convenience retailers do not have the space to facilitate a Deposit Return Scheme.
The report (available here) by the Environmental Sub Group in the Scottish Parliament has identified that one of the central barriers to a deposit return scheme is the “lack of space for DRS collection facilities in smaller shops or independent retailers”.
Andy Higginson, Chairman of Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, has been appointed as President of GroceryAid, the grocery industry charity, by its Board of Trustees effective from 1st July 2017.
GroceryAid has also appointed a Vice President with Charles Wilson, Chief Executive Booker Ltd, taking up this post.
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for Scunthorpe Nic Dakin has visited One Stop franchisee Pete Mann ahead of the Election.
Pete Mann has been an independent retailer for almost two decades and become a One Stop franchisee 18 months ago.
The visit included discussions on deposit return schemes, the National Living Wage, local policing and retail crime.
One Stop retailers Rob and Lindsey Kilday have hosted store visits from their Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs) ahead of the General Election.
PPC Peter Cuthbertson and Baroness Neville-Rolfe attended from the Conservative Party. Green Party candidate Matthew Snedker and Liberal Democrat candidate Anne-Marie Curry also visited the convenience store at different times on the day.
There is now less than a week to go until the Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Regulations and Tobacco Products Directive’s sell through period ends. From 20th May 2017, retailers must ensure that all their stock is compliant with the new regulations.
From 20th May, retailers must ensure that they only sell:
ACS has welcomed a commitment from the Conservative manifesto published today on business rates, meaning that all major parties in England and Wales have now pledged to reform the business rates system.
Property costs are among the largest costs faced by retailers and one-in-three retailers are paying increased rates since the revaluation. Additionally, only 39 out of 326 local authorities have provided discretionary rate relief to local businesses using powers contained in the Localism Act.
The key commitments made by the major parties are below.
The Labour Party have published their manifesto commitments ahead of the General Election on June 8th.
Some of the key policies announced in the document (which is available in full here: http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/manifesto2017) include:
The National Cyber Security Centre has issued guidance on the recent ransomware attacks on businesses.
There are two main pieces of guidance available, one for organisations and one for private individuals and SMEs which are applicable regardless of the age of the software being used. The full guidance is available here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/ransomware-latest-ncsc-guidance
