Retail clubs, set up by wholesalers who often also run their own symbol or fascia groups, have been around for quite a long time. Sugro was one of the first with its Sweet Break club, begun as long as 30 years ago (it now has over 2000 members); Parfetts launched Go Local in 2012.
Retail clubs were always a good idea for many reasons, not least because they benefited both the supplier and the retailer.
To begin with, they obviously helped the wholesaler move more product, and generated extra regular orders in addition to those from their symbol group members.
Importantly, clubs trained the shy shopkeeper in dealing with the wholesaler on a subcontractual level, readying them for the big leap to symbol status, and many symbols and fascia groups contain former club members who came in from the cold, so to speak.
Retail clubs also helped independents to weather commercial storms. Tesco Metro opened its first site in 1992 and Tesco Express started a couple of years later, while Sainsbury Local opened its original branch – in Hammersmith – in 1998, and these were a direct threat to standalone stores because of their massive local footprint and their relatively low prices. When the multiples began their neighbourhood invasion, retail clubs were able to give independents a little bit of ammunition to fight back with.
Store owners who preferred to use cash and carries as they wished rather than sign up to a symbol contract found that Retail Clubs carried fewer conditions that formal agreements (although they didn’t get some of the benefits, like financial help with shop refits and so on), but still gave them great and regular promotions, POS materials, margin and EPoS, among many other perks, while belonging to a looser confederation.
Retail clubs forever?
Over time the benefits of retail clubs have become more sophisticated than just cut-price outers and shop posters. They now offer support, advice and even fascias – still without having to sign up to symbol status, and no joining fees or monthly fees. Indies can have access to promo skus with no, or minimum, compulsory spend, and – again – the promotions, which are regular and sophisticated to tie in with calendar events and other consumer spending highlights, can make a big difference to a retailer’s bottom line, not least by increasing impulse footfall and then getting customers to buy more once they are in-store, adding to average basket spend.
Nothing goes in a straight line, and the onward march of symbol and fascia is still slowed down by store owners whose outlook is resolutely independent. Some folks just do not want to belong to any club that would have them as a member (perhaps this is an essential or characteristic part of the independent mentality!) and maybe for this reason retail clubs are thriving as an adjunct to symbols and fascias. If you can resign from the club at any time (like Netflix) then it still feels like freedom rather than marriage.
Among the many now available, Unitas runs an umbrella retail club that is available for adoption by its wholesaler members for their customers, and their “Everyday Value” literature and promotional materials are widely used, offers category guides and the facility for store owners to print their own POS using club templates. It also features a profit-on-return calculator.
“We know it’s a tough environment out there and you’re under pressure to deliver cheap deals to rival the supermarkets and the discounters,” says the buying group. “This is why the Unitas Wholesale Retail Club provides retailers with a great range of bestselling products at competitive prices to keep your customers coming back for more.
“Our promotions run every three weeks and are packed full of leading grocery, impulse, licensed and non-food brands, all offering great margins. We’ll provide you with attention-grabbing point of sale materials, including window posters and personalised leaflets for your customers, designed to drive footfall and grow your sales.”
Local retail clubs such as those run by Dee Bee Wholesale (Hull and Grimsby), Khanjra (Blackburn) and United Wholesale Grocers Limited’s (whose Shop Local retail club is available to stores of any turnover or size, and offering a free fascia) are examples of Unitas members partaking of the parent organisation facilities.
Parfetts runs its Go Local retail club and says that with two formats to choose from, it provides a promotional solution for every format of independent convenience store. It also promises promotions of hard hitting, key lines to drive footfall and sales to your store: “Go Local Plus promotions are ideal for retailers who wish to compete in today’s demanding convenience market, but are restricted by store size,” says Parfetts.
“Go Local is an entry-level retail promotion, highlighting core range, everyday products at competitive prices. Go Local is available to all convenience retailers, providing promotional prices to entice customers and drive footfall. With over 900 Stores, across the North and Midlands, Go Local delivers great prices to the consumer, whilst giving local Independent Retailers the opportunity to compete (and often beat) supermarket prices!”
Each promotion is at least four weeks long and is extended at key times of the year and Parfetts reports that sales have grown every year since the club began in 2001, and now exceed £20 million per year.
Go Local is supported by a dedicated team of Retail Development Advisors, who can advise on all aspects of convenience retailing, from merchandising and category management to licencing and planning.
Booker has a stable of symbol groups in Londis, Premier, Budgens and Family Shopper. But it also has a retail club, Shop Locally (motto: “Great value, local service”), which promises not just deals that change every four weeks but also Every Day Low Prices (EDLPs) locked down for three promotion periods, as well as a range of materials such as shelf-edge and stack cards, promo-pricing at POS and window posters.
So if you don’t feel like committing to a long-term symbol(ic) relationship, and haven’t given them a try yet, retail clubs might just give you an extra edge that could turn into greater profits without any upfront costs.
Sugro Retail Club
Sugro Retail Club is a scheme that allows the independent retailer to compete effectively in a highly challenging marketplace with deep-cut promotional pricing on the biggest and best brands in the industry! They already have over 2,000 retailers, enjoying real benefits by participating!
No fees or marketing costs
Point of Sale kits
No contract term the retailer can pull out at anytime
Merchandising
Retailers will partake of 17 promotions per year and will receive a brochure containing promotions on the biggest brands at the very best promotional prices. This brochure can also be used by Retailers to place Retail Club orders.
Each promotion the retailer receives the following POS kit:
A4 Window Poster for each featured product
Shelf Talker for each featured product.
All delivered to their door by their Sugro Wholesaler
The Bestway way
Bestway’s retail club, Xtra Local, launched back in 2005, offers customers member deals running over a monthly promotional period and promotions across key branded products covering licensed and general grocery, soft drinks and confectionery. Promotional activity is backed by many key suppliers including Mondelez, Nestlé, Walkers, Heinz, Carlsberg, Molson Coors, Heineken plus many top suppliers within the industry. It offers posters, flyers and shelf-talkers among many other aids and materials
Asian Trader talked to Kenton Burchell, Trading Director at Bestway Wholesale, to find out how it operates independent of and alongside its best-one symbol group offering
Please describe your offer and how your retail club operates
Retailers are required to commit to the following:
Minimum £1,000 spend on non-tobacco products, wholesale
POS available and can be used to advertise the strong ‘Wow’ and ‘Must Feature’ lines
Promotions each month - these are fantastic shopper offers
Place a pre-sell for every promotion which will include stock of ‘Wow Deal’ and ‘Must Feature’ products
What are the essential elements of a good retail club?
The ability for independents that prefer to shop at a cash and carry the opportunity to run effective promotions, and not be tied into a fascia, allowing them to retain their independence. Retail clubs run by wholesalers offer the best of both worlds for independents offering a wider range of support, advice, and even fascias.
Kenton Burchell
As part of a retail club, independents can reap the benefits of a symbol without the associated costs, allowing them to offer their shoppers strong promotions while benefiting from everything from exclusive discounts to point of sale material.
For many independents, the relatively low cost of joining a retail club compared with becoming a symbol is a big attraction. Many retailers are wary of being tied into symbol agreements, having to comply with minimum orders for their store and finding hidden joining or costly monthly fees.
In summary: promotions, rewards and rebates, free POS and communications tools, help and advice and digital tools are all big attractions for retail clubs.
What are the advantages of your club over competing schemes, or its unique characteristics?
Access to both 4 weekly promotions and cash and carry deals
Business support advisors/and help
No joining fees
Low minimum order value
Personalise consumer leaflets/free POS kits
What support and POS do you provide?
Personalised customer leaflets for promotional offers – 4 weekly
Store POS kits
B2B website
Retailer sales support and retailer support through depot teams
How do you structure and decide your offers and promotions?
Promotions follow the same structure as we offer Symbol group customers, based on a calendar of themes specially designed to drive footfall and optimise sales all year round.
How often do they run or with what frequency?
Every 4 weeks – all year
Do you provide special promotions (calendar-related, etc.)?
At Bestway we have special promotions for Mother’s Day, Summer Sports including Football, Tennis etc., Halloween, Bonfire Night, and Christmas etc.
Wiltshire Police have arrested five people and seized more than £55,000 worth of illicit vapes, tobacco and alcohol following a series of warrants in the Broadgreen area of Swindon.
In a joint operation HMRC and Trading Standards, officers executed four warrants in Manchester Road at three stores and a property on Tuesday as part of the force’s ongoing Clear Hold Build work within Broadgreen.
The raids led to the seizure of thousands of pounds worth of illegal vapes which breached the legal capacity limit and “were for sale directly next to the counters.” Officers also seized illicit tobacco and alcohol.
Some vapes were advertised as containing more than 15,000 puffs – well in excess of the 600 puff limit for disposable vapes.
Five men were arrested on suspicion of breaching section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994. They have been taken into custody for questioning.
“This was a highly successful morning involving excellent multi-agency work,” Sergeant Winter, of the Swindon Central South Neighbourhood Team, said.
“Community intelligence is vital to enable us to conduct operations like this. If you have any concerns around activity going on in your community then please report it to us.”
As industry leaders is cash handling, Volumatic has long supported the use of cash and the importance of maintaining access to cash for both consumers and businesses. The company recognises the importance of the new set of rules created by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) two months ago, to safeguard access to cash for businesses and consumers across the UK.
Since introduction, the new rules are intended to ensure that individuals and businesses who rely on cash can continue to access it and the outcome has already sparked the creation of 15 new banking hubs across the UK, including one in Scotland, with many more to follow.
These hubs provide shared spaces for consumers to access basic services, such as depositing and withdrawing cash, and are being embraced by businesses keen to support the use of cash, who have been struggling in recent years due to the flurry of bank closures across the UK.
With this in mind, Volumatic welcomes the increase in banking hubs and other facilities but recommends businesses go one step further to make things even easier.
“We have known for some time that more and more people are using cash again on a daily basis and so it’s great that access to cash is being protected by the FCA, something that we and others in the industry have been campaigning for, for a long time,” said Volumatic’s Sales & Marketing Director Mike Severs. “Both businesses and consumers need to have easy and local access to cash, and these new rules ensure cash usage continues to rise and will encourage more businesses to realise that cash is still an important and valid payment method.”
With time being of the essence for most businesses, making a journey to the nearest bank, banking hub or Post Office isn’t always possible on a daily basis, plus there is the obvious security risk to both the money and the individual taking it to consider.
Volumatic offers integration with the G4S CASH360 integration
Volumatic’s partnership with G4S, announced back in April 2024, means every business dealing in cash anywhere in the UK can have access to a fully managed solution. This will be especially relevant to those who currently have to walk or travel a distance to a bank or PO to deposit their cash.
Severs adds: “Although having more banking facilities is fantastic news, Volumatic can help businesses even more by bringing the bank to them through an investment in technology like the CCi that can offer integration with the G4S CASH360 solution. Together, we make daily cash processing faster, safer, and more secure and the combination of solutions will save businesses time and money for years to come, making it a truly worthwhile investment.“
Volumatic offers a range of cash handling solutions, with their most advanced device being the CounterCache intelligent (CCi). This all-in-one solution validates, counts and stores cash securely at POS, with UK banks currently processing over 2.5 million CCi pouches each year. When coupled with the upgraded CashView Enterprise cash management software and its suite of intelligent apps, the Volumatic CCi can offer a full end-to-end cash management solution – and now goes one step further.
It does this by providing web service integration with other third-party applications such as the CASH360 cash management system, provided by the foremost UK provider of cash security, G4S Cash Solutions (UK).
“Ultimately, only time will tell how successful the FCA’s new rules will prove. In the short amount of time the new legislation has been in place, the signs are already looking good, and coupled with the new technology we offer, it is a good thing for businesses and consumers alike in the ongoing fight for access to cash and more efficient cash processing,” concludes Severs.
Retail technology company Jisp has launched an NPD service as part of its new Direct to Retailer business unit.
The new NPD service will allow brands to launch or trial new products in a guaranteed number of convenience store locations, with on the ground review of execution by Jisp’s retail growth manager team, and performance data and insights deliverable through its scanning technology and back-office systems.
Brands will also be able to draw on retailer and consumer feedback on the product and its performance thanks to Jisp’s significant resource in user communication, with over 1,000 retailers and more than 100,000 registered shoppers.
Brands can set the parameters of the NPD activity delivered through Jisp’s new service, selecting the duration of the campaign, the number of stores to launch into and even the geographic spread or demographic make-up of the stores included.
Product merchandising and promotional execution in store is monitored by the Jisp RGM team and full reporting is available to help brands better understand the success of their new product and shape future promotional strategy.
This robust data and insight set means that Jisp can not only provide a reliable view of what is selling in stores, but through its scanning technology can also indicate who is buying the product, when, where and why.
Alex Rimmer
“As part of our recent strategic review and restructure, we identified five key pillars of growth, or business units through which to drive new business,” said Alex Rimmer, director of marketing & communication at Jisp.
“Our existing core business already provided us the means to develop new services efficiently and through discussions with major brands, retailers, wholesalers and industry authorities, we identified a need for guaranteed implementation and execution of NPD in the convenience sector.”
Compliance is further assured using Jisp’s Scan & Save scanning technology along with a retailer reward scheme which pays stores for their participation and commitment to the process.
With 1,000 stores already registered with Jisp, the company is in talks with other businesses about opening the new NPD service to their stores given the benefits of securing NPD and reward for execution.
“This is a Win-Win for the sector,” added Alex Rimmer. “Brands can create a bespoke NPD launch campaign with a guarantee that their product will be instore, on shelf and correctly merchandised and promoted, receiving actionable data and insight to shape future strategy. Retailers secure access to NPD, support in merchandising it and reward for taking part, while customers find more local touch points where NPD from their favourite brands are available.”
With this new service promising to be such a valuable asset to the market, retailers and brands are encouraged to contact Jisp to capitalise on the opportunities.
Tesco is slashing the price of more than 222 own-brand and branded products in its Express convenience stores.
Essentials including milk, bread, pasta and coffee are included in the lines which have been reduced in price by an average of more than 10 per cent at Tesco Express stores. The retail giant has made more than 2,800 price cuts across stores in recent months. With 2,048 of convenience stores at the end of the 2023-24 financial year, Tesco aims to benefit hundreds of thousands of customers from the cheaper deals.
The firm said the move comes in the wake of more than 2,800 price cuts made by the chain across its stores in recent months. From Wednesday, customers will pay £1.45 for a four-pint bottle of milk at their local Tesco Express store (down from £1.55) and a Tesco Toastie White Thick White Loaf is also 10p cheaper at 75p.
There are even bigger savings on Tesco Chicken Breast Portions (300g), which have dropped in price by 25p to just £2.25 and a 200g jar of Tesco Gold Instant Coffee now also costs 25p less at just £2.25. Among the branded products with price cuts are Warburtons White Sliced Sandwich Rolls, with the price of a six-pack cut by 10p to just £1.20 and Domestos Original Bleach 750ml, which is now just £1.19 in Express stores after an 11p price cut.
Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said, “Today’s round of price cuts on more than 200 lines in our Express stores underlines our commitment to offering great value to Tesco customers.
"Whether you are picking up coffee and milk for the office or a loaf of bread and a tin of soup on the way home, our Express stores offer both convenience and great value.”
This comes a week after One Stop, the convenience store chain owned by Tesco, has reported a surge in sales to nearly £1.3bn during its latest financial year. The Walsall-based company posted a revenue of £1.29bn for the 12 months to 24 February, 2024, an increase from the previous year's £1.17bn. Over the course of the year, the number of stores directly operated by One Stop increased from 712 to 733, while its franchised locations also grew from 291 to 317.
1. One in five people who have successfully quit smoking in England currently vape, with an estimated 2.2 million individuals using e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool.
2. The increase in vaping among ex-smokers is largely driven by the use of e-cigarettes in quit attempts, with a rise in vaping uptake among people who had previously quit smoking for many years before taking up vaping.
3. While vaping may be a less harmful option compared to smoking, there are concerns about the potential long-term implications of vaping on relapse risk and nicotine addiction. Further research is needed to assess the impact of vaping on smoking cessation outcomes.
ABOUT one in five people who have stopped smoking for more than a year in England currently vape, equivalent to 2.2 million people, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.
The study, published in the journal BMC Medicine and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that this increased prevalence was largely driven by greater use of e-cigarettes in attempts to quit smoking.
However, the researchers also found a rise in vaping uptake among people who had already stopped smoking, with an estimated one in 10 ex-smokers who vape having quit smoking prior to 2011, when e-cigarettes started to become popular. Some of those smokers had quit for many years before taking up vaping.
The study looked at survey data collected between October 2013 and May 2024 from 54,251 adults (18 and over) in England who reported they had stopped smoking or had tried to stop smoking.
“The general increase in vaping among ex-smokers is in line with what we might expect, given the increasing use of e-cigarettes in quit attempts. NHS guidance is that people should not rush to stop vaping after quitting smoking, but to reduce gradually to minimise the risk of relapse,” lead author Dr Sarah Jackson, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, said.
“Previous studies have shown that a substantial proportion of people who quit smoking with the support of an e-cigarette continue to vape for many months or years after their successful quit attempt.
“However, it is a concern to see an increase in vaping among people who had previously abstained from nicotine for many years. If people in this group might otherwise have relapsed to smoking, vaping is the much less harmful option, but if relapse would not have occurred, they are exposing themselves to more risk than not smoking or vaping.”
For the study, researchers used data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, an ongoing survey that interviews a different representative sample of adults in England each month.
The team found that one in 50 people in England who had quit smoking more than a year earlier reported vaping in 2013, rising steadily to one in 10 by the end of 2017. This figure remained stable for several years and then increased sharply from 2021, when disposable e-cigarettes became popular, reaching one in five in 2024 (estimated as 2.2 million people).
The researchers found, at the same time, an increase in the use of e-cigarettes in quit attempts. In 2013, e-cigarettes were used in 27 per cent of quit attempts, while in 2024 they were used in 41 per cent of them.
Senior author Professor Lion Shahab, of UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care, said: “The implications of these findings are currently unclear. Vaping long term may increase ex-smokers’ relapse risk due to its behavioural similarity to smoking and through maintaining (or reigniting) nicotine addiction. Alternatively, it might reduce the risk of relapse, allowing people to satisfy nicotine cravings through e-cigarettes instead of seeking out uniquely harmful cigarettes. Further longitudinal studies are needed to assess which of these options is more likely.”