Larger forecourts in Northern Ireland will now be eligible for Covid-19 business rates relief after the assembly confirmed the support measures would be extended from shops up to 300sqm to 500sqm

“We are extremely pleased that following constructive discussions, the Northern Ireland assembly has confirmed that their COVID-19 business rates relief, originally limited to forecourt shops up to 300 m2 of selling space, has now been extended to forecourts with a shop area up to 500 m2,” said Brian Madderson, Chairman of the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA).

Originally, the larger food stores would have benefited from only four months of rates relief, but the PRA argued with the Northern Ireland Land & Property Services (L&PS) that the cut-off should be set at 500 m2 and Conor Murphy, Finance Minister, finally approved the recommendation.

The PRA claimed the initial proposal was ‘ill-thought-out’ as it would have penalised many, often family owned and run, petrol station operators in stark contrast to the mainland where the Treasury had directed from the outset that the full rates relief be applied to all essential food and convenience stores regardless of size.

Madderson continued, “In Northern Ireland, many forecourt shops offer great food-to-go services and are much larger than in other parts of the UK because they have been playing a key role in serving the community due to the relatively late arrival of national supermarkets.

“As a result, these large local facilities will now deservedly benefit from this significant extension to business rates relief. We are much encouraged that Land & Property Services took on board our views and revised their initial proposal in a way that will ensure that all forecourt shops are treated fairly.”

The post PRA welcomes rates relief for Northern Ireland Forecourts first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

As a result of the pandemic, the retailer expects losses of £70-75 million before the end of August.

Commenting on the news, Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said:

“Whilst we don’t have the detail of the impact for WH Smith stores locally, it is very concerning that we have another major high street retailer cutting jobs as a result of the pandemic. Over the past few weeks I have visited over a dozen villages, towns and cities in Northern Ireland, speaking to local retailers who have told me of just how bad the situation is with dozens of businesses facing likely closure.

“We need to be very clear. It is no longer a high streets crisis; it is a high streets emergency and requires immediate action from the Executive,” Mr Roberts continued. 

“In my meeting with the deputy First Minister this week I outlined the need for the Executive to immediately establish a High Street Recovery Taskforce to bring a together government departments, councils and business to co-ordinate policy and agree an action plan. I will also be meeting with the First Minister on Friday to discuss this emergency further.

“We need Governments in Belfast and London to agree a ‘Marshall Plan’ of stimulus and recovery for our high streets, villages, towns and cities before irreversible damage is done to our local economy.”

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The teams and service users of Marie Curie NI and Cancer Fund for Children have had to overcome huge obstacles to keep vital services operating as best they can, while all fundraising events were cancelled in the face of the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

Now, their first official fundraising event in five months will take place throughout August with SPAR and EUROSPAR NI and their Pick Me Up Picnic initiative.

The Pick Me Up Picnic encourages friends and families to get together in a safe way, at home or in a local park anytime throughout August, pack up for a socially distanced picnic and donate towards the charities that make a difference to families across Northern Ireland affected by cancer, life-limiting and terminal illnesses, and who have been adversely affected during the lockdown and pandemic.

The teams at SPAR and EUROSPAR NI have also put together an activity pack that can be downloaded for a suggested donation of £3, all of which goes to the charities. It is full of recipes and games for those taking part, as well as information on fundraising for the charities.

Bronagh Henderson, Brand Marketing Manager at Henderson Group, which owns the SPAR and EUROSPAR brands in Northern Ireland says it is also their first charity partner campaign since March and they’re excited to get back supporting both organisations.

“Both our Blooming Great Tea Party for Marie Curie and the Community Coffee Morning for Cancer Fund for Children were cancelled this year, which are two of our flagship events for our partners and bring in significant funds for them. As soon as lockdown restrictions were eased in Northern Ireland, we knew we wanted to invite our shoppers and communities to get together to help us help our partners get back up and running again.”

ORMO and Irwin’s Bakery are sponsoring the Pick Me Up Picnic, while suppliers to the brands’ enjoy local bakery range are donating 10p of every product across the range purchased from 01 August – 20 September 2020.

Bronagh continued: “Daily Bake, Holmes Bakery and Graham’s, our local suppliers that produce our delicious enjoy local bakery range of cupcakes, traybakes and muffins are all on board in joining SPAR by co-funding a 10p donation from the purchase of every product in the range going towards the charities.”

SPAR’s Executive Chef Carl Johannesson has also produced an Ultimate Sandwich using an ORMO Floury Bap and local products that will be available for those enjoying a picnic to recreate at home from their activity packs, while the Marie Curie Hospice in Belfast will hold a picnic in the gardens to say thank you to staff and nurses for their relentless dedication as front line key workers.

Anne Hannan, Marie Curie Partnerships Manager added: “The past months have been challenging with most fundraising events being cancelled so support from SPAR NI just gives everyone at Marie Curie a pick me up.  We are delighted to be benefiting from the Picnic fundraiser in August and money raised will allow Marie Curie to provide care and support to people and their families living with a terminal illness right across Northern Ireland.”

Alex Murdock, Cancer Fund for Children Corporate Fundraiser finished: “Cancer, and how it affects children and their families, will not stop during the coronavirus crisis and with the support of our Corporate Partner EUROSPAR NI, their wonderful customers and our local communities, we will continue to be here for families during the worst, as well as the best of times. We are thrilled to be working alongside EUROSPAR, SPAR and Marie Curie for the ‘Pick Me Up Picnic’ this August and looking forward to helping ‘Pick Up’ Northern Ireland as we look to brighter times ahead while also raising some vital funds to ensure children don’t have to face cancer alone.”

To find out more about being part of the Pick Me Up Picnic and to download an activity pack visit spar-ni.co.uk/picnic or eurosparni.co.uk/picnic.

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Some believe that one of these shifts will see customers choosing to buy healthier options, as a result of enclothed cognition. This refers to the effect of our clothes on how we think and act, in which we automatically align our behaviours with the behaviours we associate with our clothing.

In this case, the physical sensation of wearing a mask is likely to act as a constant reminder to consumers that they are living through a global pandemic, in which their health is at risk until a solution has been found. As a result, shopping baskets are expected to reflect the anxiety they feel around their health, seeing a rise in the purchasing of items that will promote their health.

This rise in healthier shopping is undoubtedly good news for the nation, especially with the government’s recently announced plans to tackle obesity by discouraging the buying of unhealthy foods. In response to this, Ubamarket, a white-label app pioneering in retail technology, recently conducted nationally representative research which found:

• 10% of Brits – 4,683,000 people – don’t know how to cook a good/healthy meal from scratch
• 8% of Brits – 3,770,000 people – say the majority of their main meals are microwave meals
• 7% of Brits – 3,162,000 people – eat more takeout food than home-cooked food

Now, with the rise in healthy food shopping, there is sure to be an increasing number of people to be shopping for ingredients to cook their meals at home. One way in which supermarkets can help to streamline the process and help Brits revitalise their health and diets, is through the integration of technology into supermarkets. Features such as exclusive access to personalised deals, automatic loyalty points and aisle sat-nav is sure to help to promote a healthier lifestyle, as well as helping to build consumer confidence for those unsure about home cooking.

Founder of Ubamarket, Will Broome, comments on how technology can help Brits revitalise their supermarket shop:

“The legislation of mask-wearing in stores will help to protect retail workers and customers, and it is encouraging to see that this may cause a rise in healthy food shopping. As people move away from unhealthier options, it is likely that there will be an increasing number of people looking to cook nutritous dishes from home. This shift in consumer behaviour will undoubtedly have effects on the retail sector, and one way of helping retailers adapt to this is the integration of technology.” 

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The stores are made up of fresh food products and are completely cashier-less; they are able to monitor and track what consumers are buying with a series of cameras that view what they are putting in their baskets. Shoppers must first scan their unique barcode on their Amazon Go app to get into an Amazon Go store and are then charged by the items they’re carrying as they leave the store. The innovation means there is no need for cash transactions or payments, as their account will automatically be billed after receiving an email receipt.

While this initiative appears to complete the in-store experience and shows how businesses are transitioning to a new age of retail, there are still concerns in regard to the implications of this technology. In a measure to compete with this style of e-commerce and to adapt to the new retail climate, a number of shops and supermarkets have begun looking to improve the consumer experience for those looking to shop in-store, with many opting to implement retail technology.

Having been used across a variety of supermarkets in the UK, such as EURO Spar and Budgens, the implementation of white-label app Ubamarket has shown the benefit of how in-build technology can assist the sector to streamline the consumer experience. By using the Ubamarket app, supermarkets are able to offer exclusive access to personalised deals and automatic loyalty point collection, aisle sat-nav, in-app payments, and facial recognition will help to rebuild consumer confidence while reducing their spending and shopping time.

Such has been the success of implementing Ubamarket, retailers using the app experienced the following trends:

• An astonishing 30% uplift in basket size (compared to non-app users)
• 92% customer retention (92% of people who trialled the app continued to use it for future shops)
• 100% loyalty programme uptake from app users, because it is now automatic, whereas 25% forget their loyalty cards
• 300% reduction in queues

Will Broome, CEO and Founder of Ubamarket, comments on how supermarkets can improve the customer in-store experience and how shops can rise to the challenges of e-commerce:

“Amazon’s Go and Fresh initiatives are incredible steps forward that will help the sector evolve, adapting to a new age of retail. They are brilliant news for those consumers that are not yet comfortable with going out to their local supermarkets and grocery stores due to concerns about the pandemic. However, there are still concerns regarding these initiatives, especially when it comes to the employment of those working in the sector.

“In order to adapt to the shifts in the retail sector as well as consumer behaviour, it is important that retailers focus on improving the consumer in-store experience. Retail tech offers an all-encompassing solution; in Ubamarket’s case in the form of a simple app; which can put consumers in control, eliminating time-consuming queues and checkouts, as well as removing confusion about where products are and whether they are in stock. In a tech-supported store, customers can simply check ahead of time which products are in stock, be guided to their exact location with an aisle sat-nav, and then simply scan and pay in-app, rather than having to waste time and risk potentially dangerous exposure in queues or tills. By also offering exclusive access to deals and offers, customers are able to automatically collect loyalty points at their local stores, which enables retailers to monitor consumer behaviour and streamline the customer experience.

If the retailers of the UK can indeed rise to the challenges brought about by e-commerce, we are sure to see the entire sector evolve and develop to reach brand new heights for retailers and consumers alike.”

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