21 May 2013
Today is your last chance to book for the SMART (Smarter Management and Responsible Trading) Conference. This full day event, taking place at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole on May 22nd will feature four sessions, each providing essential information and best practice to help convenience store retailers succeed in 2013.
At the conference, we will look at the challenges that retailers face for the upcoming tobacco display ban and the changes that are in progress as part of the Government’s…
Guest Blog: Convenience 2.0 (Jason Pallant, ACRS)
23 April 2013
I recently had the pleasure of participating in the ACS Global Summit and ACS Summit held in Birmingham in April. I was invited to present in a session titled 'Changing Consumer Needs' which, as a consumer researcher working with retailers in the Australian market, was a topic of great interest.
I do not have a heavy background in the convenience sector, although our centre, the Australian Centre for Retail Studies based out of Monash University, has worked closely with the Australian equivalent of the ACS so I had some level of background knowledge, mostly from a shopper insights perspective.
Throughout the four days I spent at the ACS Summits and with the ACS team I learnt a lot about the convenience sector, both in the UK and abroad, and the retail market in general. I thought it worthwhile to share these learnings given that, as discussed below, a key outtake from the sessions was the importance of collaboration and the active sharing of experiences and knowledge.
Therefore, below is a summary of some observations, insights and knowledge I gained as an international observer who is a relative outsider to the convenience sector.
