4 minute read
COVID-19 UPDATE
NEWS SPECIAL
HALF OF SCOTLAND MOVES DOWN A TIER
SCOTLAND’S FIRST MINISTER ANNOUNCED YESTERDAY THATAROUND HALF OF ALL SCOTTISH LOCAL AUTHORITIES WILL MOVEDOWN A TIER ON FRIDAY.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday that essentially half of all Scotland’s local authorities will move down a Covid-19 restrictions level from 6pm on Friday. The move will see all 11 local authority areas currently in level 4 restrictions moving down to level 3 from 6pm on Friday. The local authority areas are: the City of Glasgow, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Stirling and West Lothian.
Inverclyde, Falkirk and Angus will move down to level 2 although neither Edinburgh nor Midlothian will be moved down a level.
Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders will move from level 2 down to level 1 while all areas currently in level 1 will remain within this tier.
TESCO TRIGGERS MASSIVE RELIEF REPAYMENT WAVE
TESCO’S VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT TO REPAY THE £585M IT RECEIVEDIN BUSINESS RATES RELIEF SPARKS FLOOD OF REPAYMENTS FROMSUPERMARKETS.
Tesco’s decision to repay the £585m rates windfall it received during the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a domino effect with many of the supermarket’s competitors following suit and committing to repaying the relief they received, totalling a figure believed to be in excess of £2bn.
Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl and Whole Foods Market have already confirmed that they will repay in full while others have yet to make a commitment.
Several insiders have commented however that in private conversations, Tesco’s competitors feel they have been “bounced” into the action.
VACCINE DRIVES SPIKE IN SHOPPER CONFIDENCE
The latest IGD Shopper Confidence Index has revealed that shopper confidence has hit the highest level since February as the new coronavirus vaccination programme begins to be rolled out across the UK.
While still relatively low, November’s score of -6 has reversed the recent decline and is the highest recorded level since the beginning of the year. Despite the national lockdown in England and ongoing uncertainty over Brexit, confidence appears to have been boosted by news of the vaccine rollout and earlier than normal Christmas grocery shopping.
Nearly one in five (18%) of shoppers are becoming more focused on quality (+3% vs. Oct) rather than saving money (17%, down by 5% vs. Oct). Fewer expect to be worse off financially in the year ahead (31%, down from 34% last month). However, only 17% expect to be better off.
SPENDING ON ESSENTIALS CONTINUES TO GROW
Despite another challenging month, there were some bright spots in November as consumers spent 4.9% more on essentials with sales in supermarkets increasing by 17.9%, according to the latest data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions.
Consumer spending declined 1.9% in total November as new restrictions took effect, yet festive shopping delivered a welcome boost for some sectors, particularly food and drink. Food and drink specialist stores, including local retailers, grew 54.3%, a 3.6% improvement on the previous month.
A third of shoppers (32%) say they will make an extra effort to support their community this festive season, with almost half (48%) of those planning to buy Christmas gifts and food specifically from small and local shops.
‘Circuit breaker’ restrictions drove a 23.8% decline in fuel spend and the move to online shopping continued with a 97.4% rise as Brits went online to start stocking up for Christmas.
PAYPAL LAUNCHES TOUCH-FREE PAYMENTS WITH IZETTLE
PayPal has launched a new in-store touchfree payment solution using the iZettle PoS app. This is the first time UK retailers can accept PayPal QR code payments via PoS.
Transactions will be available for iZettle merchants at a reduced rate of 1% until 31 May.
“Small businesses need access to commerce tools that help them sell securely and meet their customers wherever they are – in-store, online and in-between.” says Jacob de Geer, Vice President of Small Business Products and iZettle, PayPal.
ALDI EXTENDS DONATIONS
Aldi is extending its festivefood donations programmeto include New Year’s Eve.Since 2018, the discounterhas donated unsold freshand chilled food to charitablecauses on Christmas Eve.For the first time, it will nowinvite charity partners to collectunsold food on New Year’s Eveas well.
BAKKAVOR SEES SENSE
Trade union GMB hascelebrated a “massive victory”as M&S supplier Bakkavorhas agreed to full pay for staffoff work due to coronavirusrelatedabsence and arollout of mass testing at theTilmanstone salads factory.The company has also carriedout a deep clean of the factoryafter two Covid-related deathsamongst workers.
PUB PLEA
The British Beer & PubAssociation has backed callsfor the £2bn of business ratesrelief that supermarkets haverepaid to be repurposed into acomprehensive relief packagefor Britain’s struggling pubsand brewers.
