In a statement read to employees, James Murdoch said that the recent phone-hacking scandal that had engulfed the paper had left it needing to take “decisive action”.

“This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World.  Colin Myler will edit the final edition of the paper.

“In addition, I have decided that all of the News of the World’s revenue this weekend will go to good causes,” he added.

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One of the big recurring themes from the big companies is that, even in times of recession, people want to buy brands that they trust. It’s true that they may look to downtrade on certain non-essential product lines, and might even do away with some luxuries altogether, but we repeatedly hear that shoppers love the big name brands that dominate the shelves.

A survey reported in the Daily Mail last week backs up this thinking. Mothers, it claims, trust only 18 big name brands.

Names like Heinz, Bisto, Cadbury and Walkers Crisps all made the list – proving their value to both shoppers and the retailers that sell them.

The survey was conducted by www.MumPoll.com – a collective of 10,000 market researchers, trained journalists, creative PR professionals and mothers that offers the opinions of mothers to those who need them. This means that brands like Vaseline, Sudocrem and Calpol make the list, meaning that the results may not be the most unbiased you’ll see – I believe that if teenage boys (who make up quite a large proportion of some convenience stores’ shoppers) were surveyed then the results would differ greatly!

What they do reveal, however, is that big brands are widely regarded. Mothers are still the main shoppers in families – and even doing top-up shops, most members of any family will try and buy the brand that is used regularly at home or that is most famous and widely regarded.

Shoppers love the big brands – so even when you think they’re looking for cheaper alternatives sometimes, don’t forget about them.

It’s always interesting visiting Pro Retail. It offers a great opportunity to talk to suppliers and retailers and get a real feel for how business has been and is currently going out on the shop floor.

This year’s event will be no different. Returning once more to the International Centre in Telford, Pro Retail 2011 – now in its 27^th year – brings together almost 200 suppliers, including huge companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé and Cadbury, with hundreds of retailers eager to learn about the latest innovations and get their hands on some cracking deals.

I know that taking time out of the store isn’t easy for retailers, but I think that most retailers find that the costs in terms of time off is more than worth it with the deals that can be found at the event itself, and the information and relationships that you garner.

If you leave the event having discovered a brand new product line that would be perfect for the on-the-go customers that visit your store, or a storage solution that offers you three valuable extra feet of shelving, or having heard shopping expert Mary Portas give her views on the independent retail sector, then surely that’s a day well spent?

Now more than ever retailers need to be thinking of ways to improve their offerings – and making your business better doesn’t have to be something that you just do from behind the counter or on the shop floor.

Pro Retail takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 10-11, at the International Centre in Telford. Registration for the event can be done at www.pro-retail.co.uk.

betterRetailing.com will be in attendance along with our sister titles Retail Express and Retail Newsagent. Come and say hello to us on stand C36

It’s always interesting to hear the latest findings from Him!, as they can give some real insights into the convenience sector and provide a great basis for discussions – both positive and negative, in some cases.

One of the most shocking things that Tom said was related to some of the most recent research that they have done around the public’s perceptions of how engaged with their local communities that their local stores are.

In broad headline form, nearly twice as many shoppers think supermarkets are more engaged with their communities than local shops (supermarkets 55 per cent / independents 29 per cent).

We hear time and time again that one of the key advantages that small convenience retailers have over their multiple competitors is the relationship that they’re able to build with customers. But if these same customers don’t think that they can engage with their local stores, something somewhere is being missed – by either the public or by independent retailers.

Tom Fender put it thus: “If you don’t tell people you’re local, they won’t notice and might forget it. It is a missed opportunity which convenience stores aren’t taking advantage of – they don’t think they are as relevant in their communities as they are.”

Supermarkets and multiple stores have wonderful PR departments who are paid to make it look like a local supermarket is more ingrained into the local community than it actually is.

Put simply: larger stores might not be better at engaging with the community, but they are generally much, much better at shouting about it.

There are some good examples of local stores that shout about what they do (Fishers of Gerrard’s Cross being a great one) but there are just as many that could be doing more.

Do you give money to local charities? Do you raise money for good causes in your area? Do you sponsor a sports team? Even simple things such as finding out the age and heritage of your shop – as long as you’re shouting about it and telling your customers about it, it can only be a good thing.

We know that being engaged with customers is what small retailers do best. The question is: why do the customers not know this?

Get shouting.

The last few years have seen the big supermarkets selling eggs for £1, on impossible-to-compete-with multi-buy deals and at prices that are, in many cases, less than indies and c-stores can get them from their own wholesaler from.

The temptation to buy them from the supermarkets to put them on your own shelves had been difficult to fight, but from speaking to retailers last year I know that many had simply accepted defeat where eggs are concerned, and instead chosen to focus on the raft of impulse products – Malteaster Bunny, Cadbury Crème Egg, Aero Lamb etc – that are ideal for the smaller store.

A story broke yesterday that proved that it’s not just the smaller convenience retailers suffering – across the High Street, even household names are fighting loss-leading sales by names like Tesco.

Staff at GAME were allegedly told to buy new consoles from a local Tesco store and stock them on their own shelves. The cost was simply too good to ignore, it seems.

When a leading computer game seller such as Game – at last count it is part of a group that owns 1,367 stores worldwide and in 2009 had a net income of £85.4million – has to sink to that level, it’s obvious that what Tesco is doing is painful to everyone on the High Street.

Of course I’m not advocating that any independent retailer does a similar thing, merely highlighting a story that you might not be aware of that might make c-store owners aware that they have allies in the suffering shadows of the multiple retailers.

A recent article in the Independent talks about the march of the machines – 15,000 of the automated tills will be in use by the end of 2011, double what was on show two years ago.

The key points from the article aside from the depressing inevitability of it all, are the seeming hypocrisy of the general public – while a third of people presented with the machines will use them, a survey showed that 73 per cent said that self-service tills were the worst thing about supermarkets – and the fact that although they may appear to be quicker, they might not actually be so.

The concept of ‘wait-warping’ proposed by Lee Holman of IHL refers to the fact that because the customers are involved through the entire process, it feels like it takes less time.

Customers want to be involved in the purchasing process. They want to do more than simply showing you the goods, handing over a fiver, collecting their change and walking out.
While an advocate of technology on the whole for smaller stores – I wouldn’t be posting on a website like this were I not – I think there’s one area that even the most advanced of smaller retailers can win by not investing in new machinery.

You can attract people back to your store by being something different. Talk to your customers. Be cheery. Help them with their queries. Be more than just a glorified machine.

The debate has continued to rumble on behind the scenes, both in Scotland and south of the border. Today, The Guardian revealed some incredible figures about the Government’s proposed rises.

According to their research (full details of which can be seen here) only ONE deal, among thousands sold by supermarkets over the last three months, would have had its price altered.

This is based on the figures proposed by James Brokenshire earlier this year, which would see a minimum price of around 40p for a can of lager and just over £2 for a bottle of wine.

It proves once more what everyone was saying – that this price limit is ultimately pointless and will benefit no-one at all. Minimum prices have been proposed north of the border of 45p, and there has been talk of a 50p limit here being the only way that any feasible difference can ever be made.

Aside from the conjecture over whether minimum pricing is a good or bad thing for small retailers (and I know a large majority would see a price-rise as a good thing, as it could level out the playing field), what this research helps to prove is that the current proposals are nothing more than the tiniest of pebbles being dropped in the biggest of oceans.

So why shouldn’t cigarettes try and piggyback on the cachet that certain places have?

This article explains how Camel has started printing the names of 10 ‘cool’ places across the USA on special packs of its cigarettes.

The names of ten places including Williamsburg, Seattle and Austin – all places that are renowned for their music, fashion and culture – feature on packs available now.

Protests are rife – as much about the flowery language used by the PR people promoting the move as they are about the hijacking of the names of well-loved and respected places to sell a product that many people dislike (if this blog serves one purpose I hope it’s that you understand some of the jargon I have to break down before writing about it in Retail Express!).

But what would you think if cigarette manufacturers in the UK were to adopt such measures? As a last hurrah before the shutters come down (if, indeed, they do…) could we see an equally ‘cool’ brand in the UK (or maybe Camel would use it as a bid to increase the overall distribution here) adopting this sort of display?

I can see customers clamouring to grab Shoreditch, Glastonbury or Manchester cigarettes, for example.

Maybe there’s an idea in here – it’s another embodiment of the ‘think global, act local’ motto.

His presence as the host of the annual event was widely praised by those present. Simon Digby, customer business development manager for convenience & impulse for Heinz, for example, said: “Theo Paphitis was an inspired choice for guest speaker – a true entrepreneurial retailer who had a resonance with everyone in the room. He brought an energy to the room – one that will inspire retailers to achieve even higher goals.”

It’s easy to get carried away by a great speaker, and it can be difficult to focus on one thing that really strikes you from a great speech. But listening to Theo, and being involved with this website in particular, made one particular passage leap out to me.

Speaking about the importance of the web, and of Twitter (which he is on: twitter.com/TheoPaphitis), Theo was effusive about retailers of all levels getting involved and alerting their customers to their offerings.

“You’d be surprised,” he said, “at how many people within half a mile of your store want to know about what you’re doing and want to hear from you.

“Get involved. I have.”

He’s right. There are people who live near your store who want to know what you’re offering. Retailers including Christine Hope, Debbie Corris and Abdul Qadar – among many others – have set up Twitter accounts, and they are able to communicate what they’re up to and their views on issues that affect them on both local and national levels. I’m sure they find it valuable. Wahid Hussain of Glasgow Newsbuster has recently set up a Facebook page to promote his offers to his local community.

Social networking, and using the web to promote what you do, is something that is only going to get more popular. It doesn’t take long, and the value can be immense.

Get involved. Theo is. The people behind this website have. Why don’t you?

The arguments from health secretary Nicola Sturgeon – who wanted to impose a 45p minimum price per unit on alcohol – were strong, but ultimately fruitless as MSPs voted 76-49.

Most of the big hitters in the industry are happy. Simon Litherland, managing director of Diageo Great Britain, said, for example: “As we have previously stated, we firmly believed minimum pricing was not an effective solution in tackling alcohol misuse. The debate has clearly moved on and now we can look forward to working collectively with other stakeholders in Scotland and the UK to support targeted interventions which can make a real difference to dealing with the problem of alcohol misuse.”

SABMiller also welcomed the decision, citing research that said that a move to 45p-per-unit would only see heavy drinkers reducing their intake by one pint a week.

But what are these other interventions that Simon Litherland mentions? We’ve heard that minimum pricing would be ineffective – but also that the Supermarkets would be the only winners where shops were concerned, at the expense of smaller convenience stores and independent retailers.

What can be done about what is undoubtedly a problem – without hurting smaller retailers?

What relevance, you may think, does it have to me if a big company is planning to cut a certain percentage of its carbon emissions or fuel it uses? Why should I care about what massive, multinational companies are up to behind the scenes – as long as the products they make are still bought by my customers?

The simple answer – beyond the obvious wider goal of keeping the planet an inhabitable place for future generations and ensuring that those people in other countries are treated fairly now – is that if they care, then you probably should as well. You can bet your life that moves like this, whilst aimed at the greater good, will ultimately save money as well. Where big companies lead, smaller companies can follow.

The most recent company to announce its lofty intentions is PepsiCo, makers of Walkers, Quaker, Tropicana and Copella. The company has announced that it is cutting its carbon emissions and water usage across the farming of its core crops by 50 per cent over the next five years.

The technical aspects behind how they will do it – with new i-crop precision farming technology – are worth a look:

The thinking behind the introduction of new technology was explained by Richard Perkins of the WWF. “The food industry is starting to recognise that in order to fully embed sustainability and biodiversity in its business practices, a large part of the focus must be on the agricultural supply chain,” he said.

“The focus of the business on improving its key environmental impacts, such as greenhouse gas emissions – in the field and on the farm – is most welcome.”

It’s not just environmentalists who should welcome such a move. Retailers should take inspiration from this sort of move – how can you do your little bit for the environment? What can you do with your own supply chain to make things smoother and save you money? And what effect can this sort of move have on your overall store costs?

Charity begins at home. But it can be inspired by moves from far and wide.

Read more at Pepsico’s website here.

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The company, makers of brands including Benson & Hedges, Mayfair and Silk Cut, has produced the report, headlined ‘Tobacco Smuggling: A UK Challenge’, to highlight the cost to retailers of illegally produced and smuggled cigarettes and roll your own tobacco.

The impact on retailers across the country, caused primarily by increasing taxes and the relaxation of UK border control, is huge, according to figures from JTI’s own surveys, related in the report.

Up to 24 per cent of all cigarettes consumed in the north of England are non-UK duty paid, according to the JTI Pack Swap survey, with the figure around 20 per cent in London, 19 per cent in the north east and 18 per cent in the north west of the country.

Speaking at the launch of the report, JTI head of communications Jeremy Blackburn said that “legitimate retailers need to protect their businesses from criminals that steal customers and profit from them on a daily basis” and urged retailers to get in touch with Customs if they had any problems with illegal tobacco in their area.

The report can be found here.