ACS Blog

Today the energy regulator Ofgem published its latest announcement on the price cap that will come into force for domestic consumers in April. The new price cap works out at around £3,280 for a typical household. Of course, with the Government’s energy price guarantee still in place, albeit at a higher level of around £3,000 for a typical household, consumers will be protected from some of the increases that they would otherwise be looking at.

I keep hearing about the link between the cost of living crisis and shop theft and I wrote about this before back in May. We’ve been approached by the media to comment on this apparent link, and it’s something we’re discussing with members as we hear their feedback on trading conditions. I haven’t changed my view, but we’ve got some more information on this that I wanted to share and discuss.

I follow discussions about diversity and inclusion with great interest. This is firstly because I think it’s pretty fundamental that everyone is treated fairly and with respect in any context, yet it’s also depressingly evident that this isn’t always the case and that many people have to contend with barriers and challenges that able-bodied white heterosexual men like me don’t have to think about and are probably still largely unaware of. Anyone in a leadership position should think about these issues and should expect to be challenged to act to promote diversity and inclusion.

It’s not often I see something in our sector that truly makes my jaw drop. I’ve done this job for a while now, and for the most part great convenience retailing is about executing the fundamentals, realising marginal efficiency gains, implementing lots of small innovations and showing respect towards your colleagues and customers. Retailers who do this are inspiring, for sure, but it’s rare that I see something really new.

I was on the TV over the weekend being interviewed about the cost of living crisis and the link to shop theft. The narrative is seductively simple: people are struggling to feed their families so are stealing food and essentials from shops to do this. There’s just one problem: this isn’t what’s happening.

It feels poignant thinking back to what we were doing two years ago. The country was entering its first lockdown and we all had to adjust our way of life for what’s turned out to be two years – on and off.

Back in the Summer I wrote a blog about the problems we were starting to see on staff absences, and how the testing and isolation notifications (the “pingdemic”) we were seeing would cause real problems in the supply chain and stores if not addressed. Sadly, I was proven right to a large extent and we sleepwalked into a Summer that was far harder than it needed to be.

I’ve spent some of this week at the Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester. We’ve produced a podcast with a number of colleagues talking about what we found and what we learned, so have a listen to that.

Right, so I’m assuming you’ve all heard talk about “net zero”, and the ambitions of governments around the world to make the carbon emitted into the atmosphere less than the amount taken out of the atmosphere. I’ll also assume that you’re aware that the implications of global warming are becoming more severe and more urgent, according to each scientific analysis we see published. This all has significant personal implications for you and your family, but the question that we are constantly trying to address is: what can we do as convenience store operators to become net zero operators?

The Prime Minister has announced plans for the full re-opening of the economy and the end of legal restrictions on how people can behave, from 19 July. I leave the debate on whether this is strategically the right decision to the epidemiologists and behavioural scientists, but of course I’d like to see a return to normal as soon as we can. The problem is that the way the government is taking this next step is already looking flawed, and we need to see some changes in their approach right now if we’re going to move forward safely.