The pioneer generation of UK Convenience is now at or beyond retirement age, but their love of independent retail, their skill as merchandisers and their importance community figures, are often manifested in their daughters and sons who have carried on in the trade. Nishi Patel, who runs the Londis Bexley Park store in Dartford, is one such retailer, who actually bought the shops from his father, Kiran, who has been in retail for over four decades.
Nishi, the winner of the Asian Trader Next Gen Award, supported by pladis, says retail is in his blood.
“My parents have always had shops, my uncles had shops. So, I've literally been around shops all my life. It's always been a part of our blood. My dad owned several shops in the 1980s and 1990s. And then he owned two shops before he sold them to me. One shop he's had for over 35 years, Bexley was around 15 years old when he sold it to me,” he says.
The shop is around 2000 square foot, located just off the main roads A2 and M25, and sits at the heart of the community.
“We have got five schools around us. We have got a couple of thousand houses in the back, estate flats and houses. We have got a gym next door, we have got two offices. We have also got a hospital for mentally disabled people, so a lot of staff, nurses, helpers, carers are coming from there,” he tells us of the area.
Despite growing up in shops, Nishi initially took a detour to the US, after graduating in structural management. He lived in Florida for about three years, on and off, working in the construction industry. But then the subprime crisis happened, in 2007, and he came back and started helping his father with the shops and got into retail in that way.
Third generation of shopkeepers, he follows his ‘old school’ father in ensuring a super clean, well lit and well stocked shop, but goes further to keep things fresh and update constantly, to make them a destinations shop.
“I have been bought up by the best mentor in retail. But it hasn't come without some challenges and disagreements,” he says. “My father is very old school when it comes to retailing which isn't such a bad thing as some things never change. The three key areas that has always told me to ensure is always right are super clean shop, well lit and well stocked.”
They took a refit of the store three years ago, with both of them bouncing ideas off each other, and Nishi say the collaboration really shows a bit of them both.
“The lighting was all down to him on what he wanted with a little of my word in his ear about energy efficiency. I feel a well lit store makes your shop look clean, fill up, tidy. So I have spent big money on my lights, getting Halo lights in, which I think visually makes a great impact. They are low emission lights, so again, for energy efficiency, they're great, especially with the energy crisis at the moment.”
He took on the food to go area and made that his babe in store.
“The main difference between us is that I want to bring new and exciting products to our shop to make us a destination shop and a place where people know we do thing differently to any other convenience store in the area.”
Nishi Patel (L) with his father Kiran
He has introduced f’real milkshakes and American sweets and drinks since he took over in October 2020, which flew off the shelves, and is currently in the process of redesigning the food to go area.
“We are going to actually change a lot in the front. We are going to add Tango Ice Blast, and we're going to add fwip to that to that area. Plus, we're going to add two new slushie machines as well,” he explains, adding that they usually update their food to go offer every three to four years to keep pace with the quickly changing category.
Food to go has been quite big for them and they have managed to increase sales over the last few years, even during the pandemic when restrictions affected food to go sales for most stores. Nishi says the refit helped much in this.
“We added different machines, different products, different new lines, we added Rollover, f'real in the last refit. We also added a new hot stand and a new coffee machine that also helped up ourselves in that area,” he says.
“So now what we want to do is try and streamline what we do in a better area. We have actually got rid of a lot of ambient cakes, and we have condensed it down now so we can get the new machines in.”
They have seen sales skyrocketing, like many of the local stores, during the pandemic. While the grocery market data shows that the convenience channel is going through declining sales year on year, albeit from a strong comparator, especially since the restrictions eased, Nishi says the opposite is the case for them.
“We actually increased our turnover after the pandemic. We have stayed up from pre-pandemic to pandemic. And from then we have actually continued to grow. Last year was our best year ever, and we may even have a better year this year than last year,” he says.
Nishi feels the pandemic helped them show customers what they can do in store.
“A lot of customers rather stick to big supermarkets. For us, I think, once they saw how we work, how we sold our products, you know, we didn't inflate our prices by any means, we tried to get premium lines in if we couldn't get cheaper lines in, during the pandemicwe had flour, we had yeast - it seemed at the time we were the only store in Kent with flour and yeast - we had people coming from the coast to come and see what we're doing in store,” he explains.
He stresses that the availability - and the lengths they have gone to keep the shelves stocked, searching high and low for essentials - has made a big difference.
“People would at that point rather come to us because they weren't having to wait outside the supermarket for two hours just to get inside to be told ‘we currently have none of them’, where they can come to us and get into store straightaway within five-ten minutes,” he says.
“We still carried on doing social distancing, and only a certain amount of customers are allowed in the store at any one point. But customers understood. And yeah, we just got a nice influx of new customers, new faces that we never would have had pre-pandemic.”
Nishi says the help from his father during the crisis has been invaluable, opening his eyes to what to do in a crisis and how best to adapt to it.
“For example we could not get egg boxes but we could get eggs from Brakes, we had no clue how we would sell them, so dad went off to Booker and found us reels of plastic bags, so we bagged the eggs and this worked out great,” he says.
He also has to tread a fine line to keep his father safe at the time.
“He's an older gentleman with some underlying health issues. So for me, it was a very fine line of ‘okay, yeah, come but just be careful, wear your mask, don't go on the shop floor too much. If you want to go to a cash and carry, no problem, again, take hand sanitizer.’ So it was hard. It's hard for him to keep away, for one, and it was hard for me not to get a bit of his wisdom and help in certain lines. It was invaluable, but a bit scary as well at the same time,” he adds.
Home delivery is another pandemic trend they seized and got a firm grip of, and Nishi says they wouldn’t have probably done it if it wasn't for the pandemic.
“We joined Uber Eats and Deliveroo and we are still in discussions whether we're going to do Snappy Shopper. It was just another avenue for us to get products to our customers. We found that invaluable,” he says.
They have, in fact, transformed the online delivery platforms as another tool for customer engagement, ensuring loyalty to the store and getting all-important feedback on their ranging.
“We told our customers ‘look, if you need something and you can't see it on it, give us a call, wait five minutes, and we'll stick it online for you.’ So that actually helped grow our database of products to sell and what products to sell online,” he says.
They have a 500-600 lines on both online platforms. “We have got quite a good virtual store on there,” Nishi quips.
They are very active on social media, with Facebook posts and TikTok videos, and combined with delivery platforms, this enables them to promote the store to a much larger customer base.
“I think its two things,” he says. “One it's been fun and it's good for the customer to engage in a different way, rather than being in-store and talking to someone. And I think it's a must, because it makes us unique, in the sense of we get to pump what we're doing in everyday life in the shop into the customers- new product bases, new lines of products that we want to try.
“And it just gives us a bit of a base to help us know what to sell, and what's changing in the ever-changing market, like vapes and stuff like that.”
With disposable vapes surging in popularity, he says it’s the category to beat at the moment, and he is all set to put a vape station in-store in the next weeks.
“We have probably made 5-6 times the amount of turnover on our vapes in the last six months, and it seems to have gone crazy! We never thought we'd hit targets that were hitting now,” he says, adding that vapes have overtaken their beer and wine sales, now standing behind tobacco and fresh fruit and veg among their best-selling categories.
Nishi adds that it’s important to be always in tune with the market. “Like I said, it's ever-changing so quickly that you have to be on top of your game to get new product releases in quickly,” he says.
Apart from trade magazines, he uses his peer group of retailers to pick up new trends and products. “We have got a really great network of retailers on our WhatsApp groups and stuff that helps,” he says. “Sometimes we have asked guys, and if we see one retailer doing it, well, we always feel that we can do it just as good or as better as them.”
As the cost of living crisis impacts shopper behaviour, Nishi feels that retailers might need to find the fine line, as there could be shoppers for products at both ends of the price spectrum.
“We looked at some recent research … during crisis, customers actually want to treat themselves a bit better, bit more. They have got so much going on in their life. They want to treat themselves and actually find some of the higher value lines, which they might not necessarily have bought before,” he explains.
He says he is not going to delist all his high end lines. “I am actually going to try and increase my high end wines, some of the nicer chocolates. Again, why I'm getting Tango, it's an impulse feel good drink. You know, it's not cheap, it's a premium drink,” he adds.
Of course, there will be people who will be trying to scrimp and save, he notes and they have just introduced Jisp vouchers to help customers save a bit of money on their everyday goods.
“So we are looking at both sides of it,” he says. “People will shop to find a better price and a bit of value product. And with that, they might look at actually buying a premium bottle of wine to make themselves feel better as well. So it's trying to find the fine line.”
And, that’s the case with the prices as well, he adds.
“Do we lose our margin and try and appease the customer, or do we put the price up and continue our margin? While we are getting food to go, can we reduce some of our prices across the store to keep us competitive, but still make our margins in other lines across the store,” he asks.
Leading wholesale buying and marketing group Sugro UK has collaborated with Britvic Soft Drinks, a global organisation with 39 much-loved brands sold in over 100 countries, to launch a groundbreaking Fast Food Sample Box.
The sample box is specifically designed for ICS UK LTD customers, giving them a unique opportunity to sample and experience new Fast Food soft drinks offerings firsthand.
The new Fast Food Sample Box offers ICS customers an exclusive opportunity to explore a curated selection of Britvic's best-selling and new product offerings that drives incremental sales. This trial initiative is designed to provide Fast Food retailers with a hands-on experience of market-leading products, helping them identify key opportunities for growth in the Fast-Food soft drinks categories.
Sugro UK's Fast Food Sample Box represents a pioneering approach to boosting customer engagement, providing tailored solutions that meet the evolving demands of today’s consumers. This initiative is the first of its kind in the sector, giving ICS customers exclusive access to products that are proven to drive sales and offering them a competitive edge in their local markets.
Alice Graham, GB Head of Dining Route to Market Wholesale, "We are delighted to collaborate with both Sugro and ICS with this initiative. The fast-food market has seen double digit growth over the last few years and the growth is set to continue. This initiative with ICS, a leader in fast food wholesale, underscores our commitment to supporting the growth of Britvic brands and advancing our partnerships with fast food establishments.”
Sid Musa, Manager at ICS (UK) added, “At ICS UK LTD, we are thrilled to partner with Sugro UK and Britvic on this industry-first initiative. The Fast-Food Sample Box gives our fast-food customers a unique opportunity to experience top-tier products firsthand, empowering them to make informed decisions that can truly elevate their offerings. We’re confident this exclusive initiative will help our customers stay competitive and drive growth in an ever-evolving market.”
Yulia Petitt, Head of Commercial and Marketing at Sugro UK commented: “We are incredibly excited about the partnership with Britvic delivered with excellence by our member – ICS Ltd. Fast Food sector is a big part of the group commercial strategy, so we see it as a huge opportunity for the group.”
Sugro UK is proudly owned by its 90 plus independent wholesale members, with a combined turnover of over £2.5 billion. The group was recently voted number one across all buying groups in the recent Advantage Group Survey.
British plant-based ready meal maker Allplants has filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators, citing ongoing financial losses, stated recent reports.
Allplants, known as the UK’s largest vegan ready meal brand, has faced mounting losses over recent years. Filing the notice provides the company with a critical window to explore options to avoid liquidation, such as restructuring, refinancing, or negotiating a sale.
According to the founder and CEO Jonathan Petrides, Allplants is working closely with insolvency specialists Interpath Advisory to assess “all possible options for restructuring, refinancing, and ensuring the sustainability of Allplants".
The reports added that while the prospect of a buyer offers some hope, failure to finalise a deal would likely lead to the company’s remaining stock being sold off to pay creditors. The development underscores the challenges faced by plant-based food companies as they navigate a competitive and increasingly crowded market.
Allplants started off as a direct-to-consumer brand in 2016, made its retail debut in November 2022, listing its meals at Planet Organic and several independent stores, as well as online grocer Ocado. It witnessed instant success, selling six million meals within the first three months and becoming the second-most purchased frozen meal brand on the latter platform.
Allplants has raised £67m across several financing rounds from investors including Molten Ventures, Felix Capital, Octopus Ventures, The Craftery, and professional footballers Chris Smalling and Kieran Gibbs.
Allplants’s move to appoint administrators is indicative of the distressed vegan ready meal category in the UK. It was among the categories that have witnessed a drop-off in sales recently, falling by 20 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to Circana data commissioned by the Good Food Institute, which attributed it to cost-of-living pressures that led shoppers to cut back on non-essential and convenience items.
The country’s largest meat-free company, Quorn, posted pre-tax losses of £63m in 2023, a fourfold increase from the £15m it lost the year before. Meatless Farm and VBites also came close to the brink, before being rescued by VFC (now the Vegan Food Group) and owner Heather Mills, respectively.
Entrepreneur and businessperson Stanley Morrice, an influential figure in the retail and wholesale sectors, received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling at Stirling’s winter graduation held today (22).
Stanley, from Fraserburgh, is being recognised for his services to Scottish food, drink and agriculture. He entered the sector as a school leaver. In 1993, he joined Aberdeen-based convenience stores Aberness Foods, which traded as Mace. He rose to become Sales Director, boosting income by 50 per cent and tripling profits, and went on to be Managing Director, successfully leading the business through a strategic sale to supermarket group Somerfield.
Throughout a stellar business career, Stanley has set up, led, managed and sold more than 100 companies, from retail, wholesale and property to coaching and mentoring firms, in the UK and internationally.
An MBA graduate in retailing and wholesaling from the University of Stirling and Chair of the University of Stirling Management School’s International Advisory Board, Stanley was recognised with an MBE in 2022 for his work to support sustainable food and drink production in north-east Scotland.
Collecting his degree along with more than 300 other graduates at Friday morning’s ceremony, Stanley said, “I am deeply honoured to receive this recognition from the University of Stirling, where I completed my MBA in 1998. The University has played a pivotal role in shaping my career, and it has been a privilege to serve as Chair of the International Advisory Board at Stirling Management School since early 2020.
“This honorary degree reflects the University's commitment to cultivating industry partnerships and its dedication to preparing students for success in the business world. I was grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Stirling's mission of fostering innovation and developing future leaders.”
Professor Sir Gerry McCormac, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Stirling, said: “We are delighted to be awarding an Honorary Doctorate to Stanley Morrice, who has been an influential and exemplary figure in business and entrepreneurship, and in his advisory role at the University of Stirling. We know Stanley’s accomplishments, impact and leadership will be an inspiration to those graduating alongside him this week.”
In total, more than 1,000 students will graduate from the University of Stirling this week. Three ceremonies are being held across two days (21 – 22 November) as students celebrate their academic achievements alongside their families, friends and University staff.
British consumers have turned less pessimistic following the government's first budget and the US presidential election and they are showing more appetite for spending in the run-up to Christmas, according to a new survey.
The GfK Consumer Confidence Index, the longest-running measure of British consumer sentiment, rose to -18 in November, its highest since August and up from -21 in October which was its lowest since March.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a deterioration in the confidence indicator to -22. Neil Bellamy, GfK's consumer insights director, said consumers seemed to have moved past their nervousness in the run-up to the 30 October budget and the 4 November US elections.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves announced a big increase in taxes on 30 October but the burden fell mostly on businesses rather than individuals.
Bellamy said it was too soon to say a corner had been turned. "As recent data shows, inflation has yet to be tamed, people are still feeling acute cost-of-living pressures, and it will take time for the UK's new government to deliver on its promise of 'change'," he said.
All five of the five components of the GfK's survey rose this month, led by a gauge of shoppers' willingness to make expensive purchases which rose five point to -16.
The survey was conducted between 30 October and 15 November and was based on the responses of 2,001 people.
GfK’s survey reported modest improvements in consumer measures of their personal finances and the general economic situation over the next 12 months. The figures clash with a separate survey of 1,500 households which showed growing pessimism over job security, according to S&P Intelligence.
“Consumer confidence continues to be variable but ability to spend depends on household circumstance,” Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer and retail at KPMG, said. “Inflation and interest rates having not yet sufficiently fallen and a toughening labour market are all weighing on the minds of many people.”
The government announced a £20 billion rise in employer national insurance contributions at the budget, as part of its promise not to hit “working people” with extra levies. Labour has also cut back on winter fuel payments for all pensioners, and said it will boost pay for public sector workers this year.
British retail sales fell by much more than expected in October, according to official data that added to other signs of a loss of momentum in the economy in the run-up to the first budget of prime minister Keir Starmer's new government.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said sales volumes have fallen by 0.7 per cent in October. A Reuters poll of economists had forecast a monthly fall of 0.3 per cent in sales volumes from September.
The drop was the sharpest since June when sales fell by 1.0 per cent from May. A monthly rise in sales in September was also revised down to 0.1 per cent from a previous estimate of a 0.3 per cent gain.
The ONS said retailers across the board reported that consumers held back on spending ahead of the new government's first tax and spending budget on 30 October.
It also said a possible contributor to the weakness in sales were the school half-term holidays for England and Wales which typically fall within the October data reporting period but did not this year.
Sales of clothing were particularly weak in October, something reflected in previously released figures for the month from the British Retail Consortium, representing the industry, which linked the fall to weather that was warmer than usual.
The ONS said during the 12 months to October, sales volumes rose by 2.4 per cent, slowing from September's 3.2 per cent rise and weaker than the median forecast in the Reuters poll for a 3.4 per cent increase.
Slow start to Golden Quarter
Jacqui Baker, head of retail at RSM UK and chair of ICAEW’s Retail Group, described the figures as a “concerning start to the Golden Quarter” - the busiest period for retailers.
“With half-term falling later this year and relatively mild weather, consumers have put off buying their winter coats and boots. This has made it difficult for retailers to shift stock,” she said. Many shoppers appear to be holding out for Black Friday deals, which Baker predicts will lift sales throughout November.
Baker noted that despite a challenging October, there is hope for a recovery in the months ahead.
“The Budget didn’t deal a huge blow to consumers in the form of tax rises, plus interest rates continue to come down, and the American election is now out of the way, which should help with confidence and create a clear runway for Christmas spending,” she said.
Thomas Pugh, an economist at RSM UK, echoed these concerns, pointing to the timing of the school half-term as a significant factor in October's sales slump. However, he expressed optimism about the longer-term outlook, predicting that retail sales would grow through 2025 as “higher consumer incomes and rising consumer confidence … feed through into higher spending volumes.”
He added: “While headline inflation jumped from 1.7 per cent in September to 2.2 per cent in October, retail prices fell at an accelerated rate. Indeed, retail inflation dropped from -1.3 per cent to -1.6 per cent, meaning lower prices will help a rise in spending feed through into bigger increases in sales volumes.”
Silvia Rindone, EY UK&I Retail Lead, highlighted consumer caution as another key factor behind the October decline.
“The decline in sales volumes can be attributed to a decrease in consumer confidence, influenced by several factors including uncertainty surrounding the Autumn Statement, rising energy bills, and the impending costs of Christmas,” she commented.
EY’s latest Holiday Shopping survey revealed that nearly half of consumers began their festive shopping before November, aiming to spread out holiday expenses.
Rindone warned that retailers face a challenging period ahead, with upcoming labour cost increases, including changes to National Insurance and a minimum wage hike set for April 2025.
“The next few months are critical… Retailers will need to ensure they drive margin this Golden Quarter so that investments can be made in their proposition,” she said.
“As our survey found, shoppers are willing to spend if the price is right and the proposition is strong. Continuing to operate as efficiently as possible while steadily improving the experience for customers will be key. Much like the last few years, the market is getting tougher, and only those able to continually evolve will thrive.”