Retail Times Winter 2022

First Merchant Processing (Ireland) D.A.C trading as AIB Merchant Services is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland

Welcome

What a night we had in Galway on 12th November for the 24th AIBMS Retail Excellence Awards. We celebrated the very best of Irish Retail in the company of our ‘Master of Craic’ Hector and gave out 22 awards over the course of the night. It’s been 3 years since we have been able to meet in this way and it was obvious from early on that this one was going to be special. There were awards across various categories from Supplier of the Year awarded to Johnston Shopfitters, to new awards like Sustainable Retail of the Year awarded to the Smyth Furey Eurospar Group. There was a special emphasis on the ‘people’ awards this year with a big increase in the number of entries in this category. The Manager of the Year was scooped by Brian Amond of Specsavers in Kilkenny.

Barry Whelan of Excel Recruitment and Michelle McBride from Butlers Chocolates judged the people awards and were blown away by the quality of the entrants.

Of course, there can only be one winner of the overall National Retailer of the Year, and this went to Anthony Gallagher and the team in Petstop in Douglas, Cork. Petstop have been ‘knocking on the door’ for a while now and have been continuously making improvements and building their business – they are worthy winners.

This edition of Retail Times is packed full of images from this year’s awards (page 8) so take a look and get inspired, we would love to see you enter next year.

It seems like many of our members and partners have been celebrating milestones this year. Among them Johnston Shopfitters are 75 years in business and Golden Discs have weathered various storms and turned 60 (page 26). Congratulations to Stephen, DP and the team on the brands longevity, your stores look great.

As we close off the year, I am left reflecting on another remarkable year for our industry. Little did we know that 2022 would be just as demanding as the previous 2 years, but for different reasons, with the war in Ukraine leading to an energy crisis, inflation and cost pressures. Though once again, retailers have responded positively, providing value and service to customers, whilst employing great people who deliver an outstanding service.

Having chaired Retail Excellence for the past 4 years, it gives me great pleasure to pass on the reins to Jean McCabe at Willow. Jean is a fantastic award-winning retailer and a member of the Retail Excellence board for 4 years. Jean will be joined by new board member recruits, Conor Mc Donald, McCabe’s Pharmacy and Fiona Matthews, MD Applegreen Ireland.

Finally, we are facing into an uncertain 2023, but I remain convinced that Irish retail will adapt and prosper. Kind

whole or in part without the permission of the publisher is prohibited. © Ashville Media Group 2022

Regards,

Sector Updates

Peachylean Opens First Pop Up Store

Women’s leggings brand Peachylean has opened its first pop up shop in Dundrum ahead of the festive season. The Irish-owned business, which sells comfortable leggings, also focuses on women’s physical and mental wellbeing. Its founder and CEO Sharon Keegan set up the venture to provide women with an immersive lifestyle space. The pop up shop opened its doors in November on Level 3 of Dundrum Shopping Centre. The outlet, which will be open for three months, will also host talks and yoga sessions in its new location.

Carrolls Irish Gifts Opens 19th Store in Galway

Irish-owned retailer Carrolls Irish Gifts are delighted to announce the opening of their new store in Galway. The new store at 23 High Street, which opened late October, is the retailer’s 19th location to open in Ireland.  This is the second Carrolls store to open in Galway, with their first on Williamsgate street opening last November. The two stores have created 45 jobs in the local area. The retailer, which is celebrating 40 years in business this year, is dedicated to welcoming visitors from all over the world and introducing them to their range of authentic products.  The brand-new 1,200 sq ft retail shop in Galway is open to both locals and visitors, and it is filled with 75% of Irish-sourced goods. Peter Hyland, CEO of Carrolls Irish Gifts commented on the new store opening:  “We are so pleased to welcome colleagues and customers in the Galway community to our new store. It’s great to see how Carrolls Irish Gifts have expanded over the last 40 years. We’ve really come a long way since the first store was opened in 1982 in Dundrum village, to now having 19 stores across the nation. Opening our 19th store really reflects the hard work and ambition of our team here at Carrolls. We aspire to excellence and pride ourselves on quality customer service. We are proud to continue expanding in Ireland and investing in Irish retail. ”

Frasers Group Opens New Stores in Cork & Newbridge

Frasers Group plc has opened the doors to Frasers Newbridge, a dynamic 30,000 sq ft retail destination in Ireland. Designed as an aspirational place to explore and shop, Frasers Newbridge boasts a range of beauty, fashion, lifestyle, premium and contemporary accessories and childrens-wear. David Epstein, Managing Director, Luxury & Premium for Frasers Group comments: “Our ambitious elevation and expansion plans for Frasers demonstrates the scale of our strategy and dedication to the brands future, as we continue to invest and enhance our presence across the UK & Europe. Frasers Newbridge opens as a modern and engaging retail space, which we’re excited to open in Ireland,” he said.

Retail Excellence Hosts Retail Forum on Cork City Centre

Dunnes Stores Agrees To Let Former Penneys Unit in

Dundrum Town Centre

Dunnes Stores has signed a 12year lease and will pay a rent of €2.07 million per year following the expiry of an agreed rent-free period which market sources estimate to be in the region of 24 months. The new store comprises 40,000 sq ft of retail space and a further 14,000 sq ft of back-of-house space.

Nike Unite

Coming To Blanchardstown Shopping Centre

Ireland’s first Nike Unite store is set to open at Blanchardstown Centre next Spring, offering community focused in-store experiences. The Nike Unite community centre concept is focused on helping local people connect with sport and will feature an in-store community wall highlighting local partnerships, landmarks and Dublin athletes. The Nike Unite store will extend to 10,300 sq ft on Level One of the centre, close to UK luxury fashion retailer, Flannels, which is set to open a new 43,000 sq ft department store in December.

Uniphar Agrees To Acquire McCauley Health

Healthcare company Uniphar has announced a deal to buy Dublin headquartered McCauley Pharmacy Group. The deal for McCauley adds 37 retail pharmacies to the Uniphar group, which it said will complement its growing footprint of symbol group members. Tony McEntee, CEO of McCauley Pharmacy Group, said that with Uniphar’s strong track record in this sector, the future of the McCauley business is in very safe hands. “We extend our thanks to all McCauley staff who have played such a critical role in the transformation of the business over the past number of years and, in particular, for their hard work and tireless commitment throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.

Retail Excellence were delighted to host Minister for Retail, Damien English in Cork City Centre with over 70 local members in attendance. A progressive discussion was had around local security and rising energy costs. Minister English took a walking tour of Cork to assess the state of retail sector in the city and met with Cork City Council. This was the 4th occasion this year Retail Excellence have hosted Minister English. Previous member meetings were held in Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. Speaking at the event, the minister also responded to queries relating to the soaring energy costs businesses are facing. He said the €1.25bn temporary Business Energy Support Scheme announced in the budget – due to expire in February – would be extended if required. However, he added they were taking the issue month by month. The event, held in The Dean hotel, was also addressed by retail consultant Matthew Brown who spoke of the changing trends globally since the onset of the pandemic. Despite the rise in online shopping in recent decades, which surged further during the pandemic, Mr Brown said physical retail stores were still the future.

Ger Rabitte, CEO of Uniphar PLC

Estée Lauder to

Gymshark Opens First Flagship Store on Regent Street

buy fashion

label Tom Ford in $2.8 billion deal

Estée Lauder has agreed to buy US fashion label Tom Ford for $2.8 billion, its biggest deal yet, adding a line of beauty products and clothing to the Clinique brand owner’s portfolio. The deal is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Estée Lauder, including taking control of Ordinary skincare brand owner Deciem last year for about $1 billion.

Gymshark Opens 18,000 sq ft store at 165 Regent Street to house its first ever flagship store. The store features a sweat room, a Joe & the Juice and a hub to host podcasts, panels, Sunday brunch clubs and more. The company is now valued at over $1.3 billion following stellar sales, highly successful trading and brand enhancement during the pandemic, and the acquisition of around a fifth of the business by General Atlantic.

Next Buys Made.com

Next has swooped to seize control of Made. com for £3.4m, after the online furniture retailer crashed into administration, leading to hundreds of job losses. Next confirmed that it had bought the Made.com brand, domain names and intellectual property out of administration, following a major fall from grace by the furniture retailer. When it floated in the summer of 2021, Made.com had been worth £775m.

Tom Ford

EXCELLENCE A NIGHT OF

Celebrating an evening to remember, Retail Excellence Ireland chose the best and brightest retail stars of 2022, at their annual AIB Merchant Services Retail Excellence Ireland Awards

Retail Excellence Ireland, the largest representative body for the retail industry in the country, has announced the winners of the 22 categories at the AIBMS Retail Excellence Ireland Awards 2022. The glittering awards ceremony was hosted in the Galmont Hotel in Galway on November 12th, attended by over 500 retail industry delegates. Established by Retail Excellence in 1997, the awards evening is the biggest event in the Irish retail industry calendar. It aims to promote best practice and encourage high standards in the sector. Among the winners, Petstop in Douglas, Co. Cork took the coveted title of National Retailer of the Year, with Faerly named Small Online Retailer of the Year, EZ Living Interiors named Medium Online Retailer of the Year and Golden Discs taking the trophy for Large Online Retailer of the Year. Ennis in Co. Clare was named as Ireland’s Friendliest Place (so start planning your 2023 staycation now).

Speaking on the night, Duncan Graham, Managing Director of Retail Excellence Ireland, commended the shortlist of retailers, all of whom impressed. Choosing the winners, he added, was no easy task. “The judging panel has been so impressed by the high standard of retailers across the country; it was extraordinarily difficult to whittle our shortlists down to just ten winners. We are proud to acknowledge the best and brightest in the industry as we do each year.”

2022 WINNERS

National Retailer of the Year

Petstop Douglas Pet Store of the Year

Petstop Douglas Food Store of the Year

Donnybrook Fair Dundrum Fashion & Footwear Store of the Year

Fabiani Longford Café & Restaurant of the Year

Insomnia Thurles

Jewellery & Gift Store of the Year

Rocks Jewellers Stillorgan Electronic & Tech Store of the Year

Three Ireland Dún Laoghaire Optician of the Year Wild Atlantic Optician Kilrush

Garden Store of the Year Arboretum Kilquade Pharmacy & Health Store of the Year

CH Tralee

Home Interiors Store of the Year

Diamond Furniture Supplier of the Year

Johnston Shopfitters

Rising Star of the Year

Adèle Cranney - Kilkenny Group Emerging Manager of the Year

Lisa Power - Hickeys Pharmacy Manager of the Year

Brian Amond - Specsavers Digital Campaign of the Year

McSport

Small Online Retailer of the Year

Faerly

Medium Online Retailer of the Year

EZ Living Interiors

Large Online Retailer of the Year

Golden Discs

Ireland’s Friendliest Place Ennis

Sustainable Retailer of the Year

Furey Smyth Group Retail Employer of the Year Meaghers Pharmacy

PETSTOP DOUGLAS, CORK National Retailer of the Year Pet Store of the Year

When it comes to caring for your furry friends, Petstop Ireland takes the crown. The Cork-based store takes the National Retailer of the Year title. “Petstop Ireland is quite simply a world-class retailer – their stores get better and better every year,” commented judge Matthew Brown, Managing Director, Echochamber. “It combines bold retail design with merchandising so immaculate it looks like a work of art. The new Douglas store consistently elevates – every gondola end is a curated storytelling display, highlighting new ranges or services, such as the new in-store personalisation (a highlight).”

“We are stunned and delighted to be named as National Retailer of the Year in the AIBMS Retail Excellence Ireland Awards,” Anthony Gallagher, Director, Petstop Douglas, said when presented with the award. “Our team has put a huge amount of work into making our store what it is today, and it is hugely exciting to see it off in such a meaningful way. At Petstop, we work tirelessly to offer our customers the very best retail experience, and we will continue to innovate so that we can keep up this high standard.”

DONNYBROOK FAIR DUNDRUM, DUBLIN

Food Store of the Year

Donnybrook Fair’s new flagship in Dundrum has been described as a, “wonderful, world-class foodhall, which elevates Dublin’s already vibrant food scene,” according to the judges of the Retail Excellence Awards. “Gorgeous architecture, design by Millimetre Design and branding by Household alongside beautiful visual merchandising and a curated, high-quality food offer bring the design to life,” they added.

the company was elated to win. “We are delighted to win such a prestigious award. This is testament to the hard work and expertise of the Donnybrook Fair and Musgrave teams. We pride ourselves in offering a curated range of high-quality, authentic fresh food and beverage. We offer a real culinary experience expertly delivered by our butchers, bakers, fishmongers and sommeliers. We are passionate about food and delivering the best culinary experience, every day,” he added.

FABIANI LONGFORD Fashion & Footwear Store of the Year

“Just superb! Fabiani is a perfect example of how a small, independent business can be truly world class,” said judge Matthew Brown of the retailers deserved win. “Since Fabiani’s first awards entry in 2017, to winning previously in 2021, founder and director Louise Brennan has gone from strength to strength, not only weathering the pandemic, but also in expanding and extending the store’s footprint and range.”

Starting life in 2011 as a shoe store, Fabiani has evolved into a one-stop retail outlet with everything a customer could want under one roof. This includes a coffee shop with outside dining, beauty studio, as well as a curated fashion range containing some of the world’s top designer brands.

“We are so thrilled to have won,” said Louise on the night. “Both the Fabiani team and our customers are elated - it has brought a real buzz both to the shop and Longford. It’s a great way to kick off the festive period.”

Dermot O’Connell, Head of Donnybrook Fair said

INSOMNIA COFFEE THURLES

Café & Restaurant of the Year

According to the judging panel, Insomnia Coffee Company, “always impresses at the awards each year.” Their comments highlighted, in particular, the new Thurles location featuring Insomnia’s comfortable and stylish interior design with lots of experiences for the customer to enjoy, from a children’s play area, new digital menus and digital personalisation. This is alongside storytelling elements such as the coffee wall and local art celebrating Thurles as the home of GAA.

“We were absolutely over the moon when Insomnia Thurles was announced as the winner,” said Insomnia Marketing Executive Denise Howard. “We believe personalisation is key to our customers in-store experience. Insomnia is a meeting point for friends, family or two strangers having a kind word over coffee. We live to make every visit to our stores a memorable one.”

ROCKS JEWELLERS STILLORGAN, DUBLIN

Jewellery & Gift Store of the Year

“Rocks Jewellers newly refurbished, extended and redesigned boutique in Stillorgan, redefines the traditional jewellery boutique,” according to the 2022 judges panel. With its stylish and sophisticated interiors designed by Innovare and built by Johnstons Shopfitters, it’s not just the eye-catching exterior that leaves a lasting impression. “The retailers storytelling and visual merchandising really elevates, with its focus on expert and personal service, complete with digitally-enabled customisation,” added Matthew Brown.

“When our name was announced, we were thrilled for the entire team at Rocks. Particularly as there was a massive effort made on everyone’s part to bring to life the retail environment we have created,” said Robert Rock, Director of Rocks Jewellers, following their big win.

THREE IRELAND DUBLIN

Electronic & Tech Store of the Year

Three’s stylish new format, designed by Checkland Kindleysides and built by Johnston Shopfitters, redefines the mobile phone shop “as a boutique tech store, packed with curated products all with a lifestyle-edge,” according to the judges. “Divided into four key zones: Home, Work, Feel Good and Music, the fashion-style displays showcase a gallery of inspirational new tech, from headphones and turntables to robot vacuum cleaners and pet cameras. World class innovation,” added Matthew Brown.

“We were Incredibly proud and absolutely thrilled to win,“ said Patrick O’Reilly, Interim Head of Retail Sales. “We’re proud of everyone who has been involved at Three. It took a day or two for that winning feeling to sink in, and it has given everyone in Three a cause for a true celebration,” he added.

WILD ATLANTIC LIVING, OPTICIANS & GIFTS

Optician of the Year

“I first discovered Wild Atlantic Living in last year’s awards and was blown away by the quirky, magical creativity of this independent store, which sits in the heart of Kilrush on the beautiful Wild Atlantic Way,” explained judge Matthew Brown. Founded by Julie Neylon, a trained optometrist, this optical store added a gift store during the pandemic. “With huge creative input from Jamie Mulqueen and team, the store is buzzing with ideas and stories, and is always a joy and delight to visit,” he added.

“I feel truly honoured and humbled to have won this prestigious award – especially to win it two years in a row,” founder Julie said. “It brings a much-needed pep in the teams’ step. It’s wonderful for all our staff to get the recognition they deserve for the blood, sweat and tears that has gone into getting the business where it is today.“

ARBORETUM KILQUADE

Garden Store of the Year

Arboretum Garden Centre is best known for its glorious ten-acre flagship in Leighlinbridge in Co. Carlow, but its second store in Kilquade is just as impressive. According to the judges’ comments, “Arboretum is a perfect example of inspiring, independent retail and a standout garden centre. The five-acre Kilquade site is set around a collection of inspirational gardens. Its horticulture offer is superb, with plant displays bursting with colour and texture. Merchandising is world-class at every turn, and every vista is an instagrammable moment,” explained judge Matthew. “Brilliant as always.”

“I feel honoured and grateful to be part of the superb Arboretum Kilquade team, who have worked so hard on all elements within the judging process,” says Arboretum Operations Manager, Barry Gardner. “The entire business was over the moon when we were announced as Garden Store of the Year 2022. It’s a milestone in retailing excellence for the Kilquade team, which will only help push us to the next level. Roll on 2023!”

CH CHEMISTS, TRALEE Pharmacy & Health Store of the Year

CH Chemists is a family business founded in 1968 by Patricia Chute and Fionàn Harty, now run by their children, Peter and Claire. It has a unique focus, which reflects the interests and specialties of its owners; Patricia a beautician, Claire an ophthalmic optician, and Peter and Fionàn as pharmacists. CH undertook a major rebrand and refurbishment just before the pandemic, with superb design from Dalziel & Pow, which greatly impressed the judges. “This is the modern and creative face of independent retail,” they said.

The CH team were delighted to win, and accepted the award on behalf of their hard-working staff. “We were thrilled to accept this award on behalf of all the team and a have a further celebration planned over Christmas,” says Peter Harty, Managing Director CH Tralee, emphasising the importance of being a local and family business. “We’re blessed to work with a great team of people – from Kevin, our Store Manager, to Elaine (Operations), and the many unsung heroes at CH who endeavour to look after our customers to the best of their ability.”

DIAMOND FURNITURE DUBLIN Home Interiors Store of the Year

As the driving force behind Diamond Furniture, Managing Director William Diamond completely redesigned the exterior store and in-store experience. In particular, inside is all about storytelling, with various ranges and customisation options, a digitally-enabled Design Bar alongside a hospitality bar. Judges called it a, “fabulous space, bursting with ideas.”

“It’s a thrill to win,” said William who focused on his customers first and foremost, before the stores’ external transformation. “I hope the reason we stood out from some of the other entries was our passion and commitment. We spent much of the past year transforming our store and improving the customer experience.”

Anthony Ryans

Keeping it in the Family

Managing Director of Galway family Drapery Anthony Ryans discusses the retailers highs of the year and hopes for the festive season

The family drapery was founded in 1909 when Anthony Ryan and his wife Katherine set up a family drapery store on Shop Street. From small beginnings, the company established a firm trading position in the heart of Galway. There are four stores in the group including Anthony Ryans on Shop Street, Anthony Ryans Homestore, Remus Uomo and La Femme Lingerie Rooms and Plus Size Boutique. Current Managing Director Anthony Ryan is among the fourth generation of the Ryan family to work in the business, along with his sons Anthony J Ryan and Joseph Ryan. The Galway

retailer prides itself on providing quality products and excellent service to all its customers, and he says trade for 2022 has been much improved post-Covid. “Trade for 2022 has been buoyant with levels exceeding pre-Covid numbers,” he says, with customers returning to more ‘normal’ levels of purchases, after some areas settling down after a hike in sales. “The return of normal living has seen the return of more traditional trends. Clothing divisions are performing really well with the return of occasions while homewares, which experienced a boom during Covid, has settled into its traditional trading

pattern. In terms of trade, I have yet to see a bad Christmas!” he says when asked of his hopes for festive trading. He says Black Friday discounts can be hit-and-miss making the Christmas period not as profitable as it could be. “Customers are shopping earlier. Unfortunately, for some retailers, Black Friday discounting has spread into the whole month of November. This is regrettable as it only steals margins from what should be a very profitable trading period. Difficulties caused by supply chain problems and Brexit have largely settled down. Employee retention and recruitment is however the major challenge facing the retail sector,” he explains of the challenges this year. “The lack of talent and the upward pressure on wage costs is by far the greatest challenge facing the retail sector in 2023, and there are a lot of uncertainties and unknown variables ahead in 2023. Inflation, cost of living increases, recession in the UK and international political uncertainty make planning difficult. However, I am optimistic for the year provided we can retain talent and provide excellent customer service in 2023.”

www.anthonyryans.com

With two interior design and furniture stores located in Ballybofey and Letterkenny, a huge selection of brands to choose from and delivery all across Ireland, Foy & Company strive to provide their customers with a unique experience. With its mix of brands across all departments, offering products to suit every taste and interior choice, they have created gallery-style room settings so customers can visualise their new furniture in their home. For over 25 years, Foy & Company have also led the way in residential and commercial interior design, with five interior design consultants and colour consultants in-store. They also believe in giving back to the community, and frequently team up with local and national organisations to donate funds and help create awareness. “We have had a good year in both stores so far in 2022, and we are looking forward to an even better 2023,” says Director David Foy. He explains their festive marketing campaigns are hoping not only to get customers in-store, but to emphasise the importance of shopping in the locality generally. “The Christmas period is a very important time of trade for all retailers, and we’re hoping to have a very good Christmas period. Our Christmas Marketing Campaigns are underway and we feel that this Christmas, shopping in Donegal will be spent locally. There is a huge emphasis in Donegal on supporting local businesses and retailers, which will benefit both our Letterkenny and Ballybofey stores,” he adds. When speaking of challenges of the previous 12 months, he says, luckily, they weren’t hit too badly in terms of staffing or supply issues. “Thankfully, we have not been effected by staffing shortages. The vast majority of supply chain pressures have also been relieved and are moving closer to normality.” It is, he says, difficult for any retailer to predict the coming year, but they remain cautiously optimistic. “Customers are always our main priority at Foy & Company and the team works hard to provide outstanding customer service to all of our customers. Hopefully, inflation will level off and give the general public some relief. There are mixed predictions for next year however, we are hoping for a good year.”

No Place like Home

Foy & Company is a familyowned business in County Donegal. Established in 1981, they are one of Ireland’s leading interior shopping experiences. After solid trading in 2022, they are looking forward to an even better 2023

Foy & Company

Putting Pets First

The last 12 months has been one of ups-and-downs for the retail sector, but when it comes to pet produce, Darren says Maxi Zoo has had plenty to celebrate. “2022 has been a fantastic year for everyone here in Maxi Zoo Ireland, beginning with the integration of Equipet into the Maxi Zoo Family. We have enjoyed the challenge, meeting our great new team members and new customers,” he says. “Adding state of the art Maxi Zoo Grooming Salons to our network has also been a highlight, and we also launched our new webshop, which will help us reach more customers throughout the country.”

Christmas this year will be an interesting one for Maxi Zoo, he explains, as pet owners don’t forget about their furry companions during the festive season when it comes to gifting. In fact, it can be the opposite. “We find pet owners like to spoil their pets at Christmas and also the pets of their friends through gifting. Our teams are also excited about Christmas as they get to share the joy of pet ownership as part of the family unit with customers,” he says.

“We will also run our Shelter Wishes campaign this year, which gives back to animal charities around Ireland, allowing them to get some much needed support and products for the pets in their care. Last but not least, our new pricing campaign (Maxi Value, good for your pet, good for your pocket) will help customers doing their shopping in more challenging circumstances,” he adds of two other initiatives designed with both the pet and customer in mind.

Staff shortages and stock issues are a challenge, he adds, but says the fantastic team haven’t missed a beat. “We have found that our teams have been fantastic in dealing with the complexities of business in 2022. Their resilience has shone

through in many ways, making themselves available for customers, dealing with lack of deliveries at times and finding new ways to ensure that the customer get the solutions they are searching for. Our store network has been an incredible factor in helping us to overcome these challenges, with team members gladly helping out neighbouring stores with stock and also shifts,” Darren continues.

2023 will be another exciting year for Maxi Zoo, as they look forward to opening new stores, refreshing existing stores, adding new products and state of the art services for customers. This will be alongside helping team members to progress on their journey in retail.

“We feel the strengths found during 2022 will stand to us and our teams.”

www.maxizoo.ie

Maxi Zoo, Ireland’s largest pet retailer, has had one of their most memorable years yet. Sales Director Darren Spoonley talks highlights, challenges and reveals plans for an exciting 2023

Maxi Zoo

Greenes Shoes

Best Foot Forward

Hetherington, Manager at Greenes Shoes, on challenging trading, festive footwear and cautious optimism for 2023

In business since 1939, Greenes Shoes is a 100% Irish owned and operated company based in Donegal. They have seven stores across Ireland, located in Falcarragh, Letterkenny, Galway and Limerick, selling a large range of footwear for women, men and children.

Trading, Maria says, has been good overall, with some challenging obstacles added to the mix. “2022 has thrown up some obstacles, but we have definitely seen growth in yearon-year sales, similar to pre-Covid levels. We had planned for higher growth but with all the external factors, we are happy to be where we are,” she explains.

As with many retailers, staff shortages has been one such pressing issue, but it’s been manageable thanks to an excellent team and understanding customers. “We are very lucky to have great teams already on board that have gone above and beyond to help us get through this period. Most of our customers are aware of the problems retail has had, and have been very patient as a result.”

“Delayed stock has been another challenge for us,” Maria continues. “On the plus side, it has allowed sales of other items before the delivery of new stock. However, there were some key deliveries we were expecting earlier in the season

to increase sales, and these didn’t land. Hopefully next season the supply chain setbacks will be resolved, as it’s not something that we plan to allow for in 2023.”

Maria says she’s already noticed changes in customer shopping habits and is hopeful Christmas party nights will give (sparkly) shoe sales a boost.

“We definitely noticed Christmas shoppers out early this year – this has really helped our sales this quarter. And with our Black Friday bargains and high level of customer service instore and online, we are hoping this continues right up to our Christmas sale event. We also want to monopolise on the festive party season and sell as many dressy heels as we can!”

“We are preparing more cautiously for the upcoming months,” she adds of Greenes Shoes’ plans for next year. We are expecting a slow start to the season. But we’re optimistic for a good summer weather-wise in 2023 – this should help with our sales and expected targets for the first half of the year.”

“We are looking forward to continuing to grow the Greenes Shoes brand, as well as our reputation of selling good shoes.”

www.greenesshoes.com

Maria

“Despite the challenges of the last few years, we found this year to be a positive one overall. While there has been global raw material shortages affecting all areas of industry, due to diligent in-house planning, we are delighted to have had very few stock issues,” explains Aideen. “This is likely as a result of all our quality Irish products being manufactured in our factory in Celbridge, then distributed to our seven Colourtrend Paint & Wallpaper stores based in Celbridge, Newbridge, Waterford, Mullingar, MRCB, Swords and Dundalk.”

There were celebrations in August, as Colourtrend passed an exciting milestone – the 10th anniversary of its Swords store. It has become a, “Mecca of interior design in the area with our highly skilled team, premium range of paints and wallpaper, and everything you would need to complete your home décor projects,” Aideen says. “It has been a pleasure to work within the Swords community and surrounding areas, which has allowed the store to be such a success.”

Their success continued with the launch of a new Colourtrend interior wall finish, Surface Protect, the first paint of its kind in the Irish market, alongside their new Curator paint brand.

As a retailer, Colourtrend has had difficulties throughout the year, but they are one of many who says their staff base has been key to weathering storms. ”We have a good base of staff that have been with us long term, it has meant we have been lucky to

Kaleidoscope of Colour

feel stable despite staff retention challenges,” Aideen continues. “It also means new employees get the benefit of experience and training from our very experienced staff.”

Moving to the festive period, Aideen says Christmas is traditionally a time people love spending at home with family and friends and this year, “that time at home will be more important than ever. People will be gathering together and home is the heart of this. For us, I think this will mean a spend in interior design and freshening up your home,” she adds.

“With the struggles of the property market currently in Ireland and the amount of time people have spent at home in the last few years, it has really solidified how important home is. People want to make it a place you can do everything, from working and enjoying family life, but also a haven to relax and unwind. We are very optimistic for next year, as we know people love their homes and will continue to be a loyal Colourtrend and Curator customer.” www.colourtrend.ie

The last 12 months have been full of exciting milestones for Colourtrend thanks to both loyal staff and customers, says Aideen Brennan, Head of Retail

Aideen

Brennan, Head of Retail, Colourtrend

Steady Supplies

2019

In 2019, the world of supply chain was a relatively constant process for retailers as it has been for many years. Shipping lead times were predictable: UK, 2-3 days, mainland Europe, 5-7 days, Far East, 35-45 days. The real concern for retailers in 2019 was the pending impact of Brexit in relation to UK suppliers and e-commerce exports to UK customers. In many cases, there was a lack of knowledge in relation to customs documentation and requirements. There was also the additional associated costs of customs entries, administration, and management that would erode already tight margins.

2020 - 2022

In March 2020, the Global pandemic disrupted and forever changed supply chains. With retailers in a seemingly endless cycle of opening, closing, and reopening, consumers flocked to online shopping. China implemented a zeroCovid policy which meant factories, and ports were shut down with little or no notice. This meant catastrophic disruption to supply chains. The costs of shipping drastically increased. In early 2020, A.S.K provided clients with container rates from the main ports in China for c $1900. By October 2020, rates had increased to $18000 in some cases. Continuous factory and port closures in the Far East throughout 2021 and into 2022 compounded already costly and unpredictable supply chains. Delays of product from UK suppliers due to Brexit were also exasperated by unavailability of trucks and drivers. Some e-commerce businesses had disruptions to UK customers due to customs in the UK returning product due to lack of clarity in relation to dutiable product. Non-essential retailers opened for business again in March 2022. Thankfully pent up demand allowed for high levels of footfall to stores. A return to a level of ‘normality’ was welcomed by the retail sector. Shipping rates from the Far East have reduced substantially, c $2000 per 40 container to Dublin. China are still actively following a zeroCovid policy and there are still occasional closures of factories and port facilities which have obvious delay implications to supply chains. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,energy costs have increased dramatically and the cost of living crisis is now very real with inflation currently running at 9% in the eurozone.

Retailers are being hit on costs from every angle. Energy, freight, product, insurance,

Conor McHugh, Managing Director of A.S.K. Supply Chain Consultants looks at the recent trends in supply chains for retailers and recommends how to keep them efficient in 2023

and staff being some of the most costly. Some of the larger retailers have been in a position to absorb some of the additional costs, however the majority have had no option but to pass the costs on to the consumer. Many retailers also have the costs associated with ordering additional stock and, in many cases, storage of this inventory in outsourced warehouse facilities. Bricks and mortar retailers have seen a levelling off of footfall in recent months. E-commerce volumes have also eased since the reopening of non-essential retail. Many e-commerce businesses are looking at introducing a cost to the consumer for returns. The courier and parcel delivery companies have no option but to introduce substantial fuel surcharges on all deliveries and collections. Many e-commerce operations will not be in a position to continuously absorb these costs. In some instances they will increase the product cost whilst offering a ‘no cost’ return policy.

2023-2024

The continuing energy and cost of living crisis will impact severely on all sectors. As the impact of Covid is expected to dissipate, lead times should return to some level of normality. The real threat of a Global Recession is probable. Shipping rates are expected to level off with no indication of the huge increases during Covid. However spending power is expected to drop due to the reduction in disposable income of the general populus.

Having a robust and efficient supply chain is the basis and foundation of a successful retail business. This should include:

• Reviewing your procurement operation including consolidation opportunities, locally and globally. Looking at cost reduction opportunities and timelines. Develop a process for onboarding new vendors.

• Reviewing in full all freight shipments from suppliers globally. Investigate cost differential based on agreed incoterms.

• Reviewing inventory levels. Inventory should be maintained at an optimal level to ensure customers receive products quickly while minimising costs associated with storage space. Companies must balance inventory needs against customer demands, shipping schedules, and cost-related factors. When planning inventory levels, businesses must consider potential fluctuations in demand and production time.

• Reviewing current storage and warehousing requirements. Should you manage all local logistics activities or outsource to a third party logistics provider? Look at your fixed versus flexible cost model.

Although the list above details some common shortcomings, every business experiences unique supply chain shortages. Regardless of the reason behind low profits or supply chain issues, your team needs to explore solutions to boost sales and reduce costs.

What It Takes To Be The Best Retail Employer

Ross O’Neill, Managing Director of Workbly, on how employers can retain star talent in retail

The biggest disruption in retail came with the internet and the launch of Amazon in the 1990s. Since then, the volume and speed of change has turned the industry upside down. The recent pandemic brought with it a whole new dimension of change. The employer-employee relationship is now at the fore in ways never seen before. The ‘great resignation’, for example, is a global phenomenon which has impacted all sectors. The retail and hospitality sectors in particular have suffered, with many employees having left the industries. As a result, they are now not available or perhaps, not interested, in this type of work. According to our surveys, the following challenges have emerged for retail employers:

• Retention of good talent is an issue

• Everyone is recruiting from a smaller pool when it comes to candidates

• 50% of retail employees who join, leave inside first year, due to mismatched expectations

• Longer-term employees are ‘carrying the can’ for the new untrained entrants

• Productivity is a challenge and companies often find themselves having to hire more people at higher cost

• Standards have dropped, leading to a culture of ‘it’ll do’

• Customer experience levels are affected

• Managers often get promoted because they are good at the operational day-job, but leading requires different skills

As an industry body, Retail Excellence Ireland is keen to bring more attention to these difficulties and help resolve these critical industry issues. This year, it launched the inaugural Best Retail Employer of the Year award, to add to its well-established portfolio of awards. While all other awards are judged by a panel of external retail experts, the Best Retail Employer award is voted on by employees, in a confidential survey administered by us at Workbly. The surveys, completed anonymously by thousands of employees in Ireland, highlighted some very interesting trends when it comes to highlighting the best attributes of retail employers. In short, what makes them stand out from the crowd.

What makes a stand out retail employer?

In the best-performing stores, managers show empathy and concern for their people. They treat them as individuals and personalise their way of dealing with each one, being as flexible as they can. For example, a carer with dependants at home will have different needs than a college student. In those high-scoring stores, employees also felt appreciated and recognised for their work. It’s no surprise that front-line leaders play a big role in engaging employees. After all, it is the managers that work closely with teams on a day-to-day basis. Training is also a pivotal point when it comes to engaging and attracting talent in retail. And training doesn’t always have to mean investing with an external service provider, for example. There is so much that can be done with a coaching culture or practical buddy system. Short, snappy training sessions on quiet Tuesday mornings can have enormous and wide-reaching impact. The bottom line is, engagement with employees has to be a top priority for everyone. If you focus on what it takes to enable your teams to upskill, progress and be sure to look after their wellbeing, they’ll love you for it. And in return, they’ll be more productive, save you cost, increase your sales and give your customers a better experience.

Make common sense your common practice.

Ross O’Neill, Managing Director, Workbly

Retail Times meets Alan Gormley, Co-Founder and CEO of Shopbox AI

Shopbox AI: CLOSING THE ONLINE GAP

What motivated you to start Shopbox AI?

I’ve been working in the artificial intelligence industry for 25 years. In this time I saw that the technology gap between very large online retail corporations such as Amazon and everyone else was getting wider. There was no “trickle down” effect. My motivation in setting up Shopbox AI was to close the gap.

What are the major challenges faced by online retailers? How does Shopbox help fix them?

The cost of customer acquisition, and in particular the “cycle of reacquisition” is very high. In everyday terms, shoppers use Google to find you, check out your prices, then disappear. You pay Google to bring in customers, then you have to pay Google again to get them back. What Shopbox does is to keep shoppers engaged while in your online store, and keep them coming back. Across all sectors we see about five times longer spent on a site with Shopbox, which shows us how deeply we can affect how customers engage.

What kind of retailers benefit most from Shopbox?

Literally any retailer that is targeting discretionary spend. Everything from stationary (e.g. Eason) to fine food and wine (Kerrigans), domestic appliances (Kean’s of Claremorris) to interior design (TileStyle). We also have business-to-business customers such as ABC School Supplies.

Alan Gormley, Co-Founder

What kind of results can your customers expect?

They see results within 2-3 days, with no implementation effort. Typically a 300% uplift in conversion rates and an AOV increase upwards of 10%, and sometimes as much as +40%. It’s all driven by mimicking the service and curation a skilled store assistant can provide, rather than waiting until checkout to convert sales.

There are also intangible benefits. Shopbox runs itself. There’s no IT maintenance overhead, so staff are free to get on with other things.

Tell us about your experience working with Retail Excellence Excellent! We worked with REI through the pandemic. They got involved immediately as they saw the value

for members. This has not only introduced us to many fantastic retailers in Ireland; it’s also helped us on our own learning journey.

Any plans for the future?

We are in four countries and are expanding. We’re also hugely invested in customer success, talking to customers every three to four weeks. As we expand our international footprint, we’ll be importing lots of ideas and innovations that can be used by retailers across Ireland.

Plus, we have a comprehensive roadmap for product development. First, we’re constantly looking for new ways to help keep shoppers in-store. Second, we’re working on integrations with other technologies like CRM and email automation. And third, we’re working closely with retail consultants and e-commerce agencies. This broad community plays a vital role in helping retailers to cut through the online hubbub. And this is another way in which REI is helping us to identify the right people to connect with.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? MEET WITH ALAN

360 0 CUSTOMER INSIGHTS

TellUsFirst allows your customers to leave feedback direct to your business, giving you the opportunity to rectify any negative comments before they escalate. TellUsFirst can gives you the power to gather this insightful feedback from multiple customer touchpoints. Built by Customer Experience Experts – Customer Perceptions, this is our own platform, developed in-house by our dedicated team.

The Power of TellUsFirst

With instant feedback in your hands, we can give your business both the metrics and customer comments to analyse your customers’ experience at all touchpoints. This can be used for all businesses to gather valuable insights across the Retail sector. Use TellUsFirst in your stores, or online shopping channels to give your customers an outlet to air their feedback and potentially avoid them going direct to online review platforms before you get a chance to resolve their issues.

Channels

Customers can leave feedback through a variety of ways such as:

1. In Store - through posters, POS, receipts, kiosks etc.

2. Online – use on any pages of your website.

3. Email – install in your email CRM via HTML code.

4. Loyalty App – embed into your existing customer loyalty apps.

5. Packaging – ask customers for feedback on your products via the product packaging.

Gathering important customer feedback from all touchpoints gives you a full 360-view of performance across all channels, leaving you with the power to analyse your businesses strengths and areas for attention.

How it Works

Regardless of what channel a customer chooses to leave feedback from, the process could not be any simpler. A customer simply scans a QR code, clicks on a link, or presses a button and they start the feedback process. We take metrics on how satisfied the customer was, NPS score, written feedback (optional), and any other customised questions you would like to ask them.

Dashboards

The feedback is recorded live, and you have access to the reporting dashboards at the touch of a button. These dashboards are interactive and can drill down to any level of detail you require, giving you usable, actionable, useful insights immediately.

Success Story

Our clients range across all sectors from Retail, FMCG, Hospitality, Financial, Professional Services and much more. The platform can gather feedback across multiple business channels regardless of how you interact with your customers. One of our clients (100 stores) has already hit 100,000 customers feedbacks and improved their Net Promoter Score by 14 points since beginning to use TellUsFirst. It has become

an integral part of their Customer Experience Strategy and the main tool used to recognise and reward their staff members. Another client in the Hospitality industry has been using TellUsFirst in their visitor experience centre for just less than 6 months and has already gathered over 13,000 customer feedback clicks in this time. One of the reasons our platform is so successful is we have designed it with the customer in mind. We understand that customers want quick and easy ways to leave feedback and TellUsFirst allows them to do exactly that. From scanning the QR code, or clicking on a link, the average time it takes to leave feedback is less than 2 minutes. This is hugely important in the fast-paced customer environment we operate in.

More Than Just a Platform

TellUsFirst is designed and developed by a group of IT and Customer Experience Experts. We understand what is important to both you and your customers in a customer feedback platform. We offer friendly support and advice, via email, phone or in-person, to help you get the most from your customer feedback.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TELLUSFIRST OR ARRANGE A CHAT, PLEASE CONTACT US ON info@tellusfi rst.com or +35342 9333033.

TellUsFirst’s innovative customer feedback platform now allows you to gather feedback from your customers, not just in store, but from all touchpoints

60 years in business Golden Discs

Golden Discs has reached a milestone diamond anniversary and is celebrating 60 years on Irish shores. Golden Discs was set up in 1962 on Dublin’s Tara Street by Jack Fitzgerald and Tom Rogers, who were aware of the growing demand for recordings from US artists. These were unavailable in Ireland at the time. Golden Discs first started out as the Trans-Atlantic Record Agency (TARA) – they changed their name in 1966 with the opening of their first store outside the city centre, in Ireland’s first shopping mall in Stillorgan. This store was added to their city portfolio: Tara Street, Liffey Street, Duke Street and Grafton Street. Through the 70s and 80s, Golden Discs had a hand in all facets of the music business from ticket sales and charts to cassette exclusives to VHS movie rental, and quickly grew its reach nationwide. The introduction of CDs and DVDs in the 80s and 90s provided more varied media formats for the Irish consumer. The company went on to open over 100 stores in high streets and shopping centres including five in Northern Ireland to meet this demand. The late noughties spelled big changes with the widespread adoption of the internet. Free music was now available to anyone with an internet modem, and this had a huge impact on music retailers around the world. Golden Discs went through a punishing period culminating in an examinership and restructuring in 2009. After all this, Golden Discs became the last music store chain in Ireland. The customer base grew in the following years, allowing the brand to expand their stores and create an enormously successful website which serves music fans all over the globe. In 2022, Golden Discs is still going strong and operates twenty-one stores as Ireland’s largest music chain. Founder Jack Fitzgerald, says he never foresaw the company’s success all those years ago. “I would never have thought that from our

humble beginnings in Tara Street we would turn into a business that would still be going strong sixty years later, having employed tens of thousands of staff and served millions of customers. I am exceedingly proud to have served the Irish public and been a part of the Irish music landscape for so long.” Co-founder Stephen Fitzgerald echoes this and says it’s the staff and loyal customers who make up the success. “The company’s superpower is our incredible staff who have an unrivalled product knowledge and passion for their stores and their customers,” he added. “Our amazing staff and loyal customers, many who have been shopping with us for decades, are the reason why Golden Discs remains Ireland’s largest music chain sixty years after we first opened our doors.”

Golden Discs were thrilled to open their new city centre flagship store in Dublin’s Stephen’s Green Centre on Saturday October 22nd. Needing more space for the everexpanding categories of vinyl and merchandise, they relocated to a much bigger unit in the centre. This larger space will allow Golden Discs to offer a more extensive range of vinyl, with 50% of the new space dedicated to entertainment-related products. They were also recently crowned Large Online Retailer of the Year at the AIBMS Retail Excellence Awards, beating off fierce competition to take the coveted title.

Founders, Jack Fitzgerald and Tom Rogers

New Employment Legislation

A new raft of legislation is currently working its way through the Irish legislative system. It is important for all employers to be aware of these new acts and the responsibilities they bring. While not providing a full legal guide to every aspect of each, this simply introduces the key new provisions of these laws to assist Retail Excellence members in planning and preparing for these changes

Auto-Enrolment Pensions

From January 1st 2024, the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Bill makes it mandatory for employers to commence paying employee pensions. We provided the details of this in a previous Retail Times article but, to summarise, where employees earn more than €20,000 per annum contributions will start at 1.5% of earnings and will incrementally rise to a maximum of 6% in 2034. Employees will be automatically enrolled in this scheme if they are aged between 23 and 60 years, earn more than €20,000 p/a (across all of their employments) and are not currently in an occupational pension scheme. They can opt-out of the scheme if they wish.

Predictable and Transparent Working Conditions

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

From January 1st 2023 employees will be legally entitled to Sick Pay for the first time. Employees with 13 weeks service are entitled to 3 days next year, rising incrementally to 10 days in 2026. This entitlement translates to a payment of 70% of a day’s wages (capped at €110 per day) when an employee is ill and provides a medical cert for their time out of work. The Government are due to publish more comprehensive guidelines on the operation of the scheme between now and the end of the year.

This law stems from an EU Directive which was supposed to be adopted into domestic law by EU member states by August 2022. The aim is to provide protections for employees from erratic and unpredictable working conditions to help them plan personally and financially. On an EU wide basis, a key target of this legislation was zero-hour contracts, which are not widely used in Ireland. There are other key areas where this legislation will affect employer/employee relations:

• Probation periods will be referenced in legislation for the first time. Such periods will likely be limited to 6 months and employers will lose the right to extend a probation period.

• If employee shifts are cancelled at short notice, the employee will still be entitled to compensation

• An employee may not be required to work a shift pattern outside of their normal hours (a limit on any demand for full 24/7 flexibility)

Tommy Smyth, Tom Smyth & Associates

Gender Pay Gap Reporting

Employers with more than 250 employees will currently be working on their first Gender Pay Gap report, which is based on a payroll snapshot taken in June and published in December. Smaller employers will have their turn in upcoming years as the threshold of employee numbers reduces. Watch this space as Christmas approaches and larger organisations publish their reports.

Right to Request Remote Working

As a result of Covid, the concept of remote working was accelerated when we were placed in lockdown. The Government have been quick to capitalise on this change and enacted legislation to give employees the right to request remote working. Every employer will need to prepare a remote working policy. This will be unique to each employer as some industries are more suitable to remote work than others. Once placed on a legislative footing, employers will need to develop a more formal process for application and approval/rejection as well as detailed polices regarding insurance, Health & Safety, GDPR and monitoring productivity.

National Minimum Wage Increase

From January 1st 2023 the National Minimum Wage moves from €10.50 to €11.30. This is in line with the first planned move towards a living wage that Government announced earlier this year. Employers can expect similar levels of increases over the next few years and we move towards a living wage rather than a minimum wage economy.

Work Life Balance Bill

This law, once enacted, is designed to allow employees more family friendly working arrangements through a range of measures:

• Breastfeeding and lactation entitlements are being extended until a child is 2 years of age from the current age of 6 months. Employers will need to provide extra rest breaks for an employee to either feed their baby or express milk.

• Employees will be allowed 5 days per annum to care for children or others who live with them.

• Parents /guardians of children under the age of 12 will be able to seek flexible working conditions from their employer and the employer will have to make every reasonable effort to accommodate the employee.

Updated Protected Disclosures

The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 is an update to existing legislation and means that, from January 2023, private sector employers with more than 250 employees will need to update their existing policies to establish formal reporting channels and procedures. The new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner also commences from January 1st and Ombudsman Ger Deering, founding director of NERA, will be the first to assume the Commissioner role.

GETTING AHEAD ONLINE

As the chosen e-commerce partner to many of Ireland’s best loved retailers, StudioForty9 have a unique bird’seye view of the retail landscape. As strategic consultants, they use this position to pinpoint trends in the industry faster than anyone. This year a challenge faced by all retailers is, “having successfully established our e-commerce presence, how do we evolve beyond being functionally transactional, to grow in what is now a highly competitive online retail environment?”

Ger’s advice to retailers is simple: “One of the most important sales tools in-store is visual merchandising. Good retailers tend to be excellent at this, producing eyecatching window displays, grouping related products together in stories and edits to inspire and entice customers. Placing high-margin, high-value, or most desirable merchandise at eye-level. Window dressing needs to carefully balance stock availability, value, and reasons to “come in”. We are now seeing a trend where retailers recognise that this behaviour is even more important to put into practice online.” But merchandising online can seem quite different, he says, so identifying opportunities for online merchandising and developing techniques is important.

Your Homepage is your Window Display

Previously viewed as an intro page to showcase seasonal imagery and a stepping stone to the product, retailers are seeing their homepage offers the same opportunity as a window display, and it needs to work hard to inspire visitors to come in, and convert.“Tactics that can work here include embellishing your seasonal campaigns and product lifestyle imagery with banners communicating USPs such as ‘Fast Delivery’. You should showcase product suggestions immediately,” Ger suggests. “Keep everything fresh and timely. Ensure that you are showing off the best of your seasonal product stories, such as ‘Winter Warmers’’, and showcasing edits. This captures your customers’ interest.”

StudioForty9 Founder, Ger Keohane, advises retailers to look to their strengths by focusing on merchandising for a successful 2023

Ger Keohane, StudioForty9 Founder,

Category Landing Pages

Creating landing pages for categories allows your customers to better ‘wayfind’ through your online store, and enhances their journey. Ger says, “It’s the same principle as store wayfinding: using aisles, zones and mannequins to showcase stories and looks. Signposting is even more important online. Customers crave direction. Demonstrate the products in action via imagery and assist customers in finding what they are looking for with obvious subcategories: “For Him”, “For Her”, “Gifting”. Essentially, you are giving more context to your products and helping customers find their way in an intuitive, enjoyable manner.”

Product Recommendations

And what can you do for product pages? “Retailers are investing in apps that can put the right products in front of their customers while browsing,” Ger shares. “AI tools are becoming popular to deliver product selections that align with customer’s tastes and styles based on behaviour during their visit to the store.” Another strategy, often neglected, is basic manual cross-selling or bundling. It can take a little effort to set this up, but customers will reward you with their share-of-wallet by adding your clear recommendations to the cart.  “Furthermore, it’s crucial to use your customers’ decisions along their journey to offer more opportunities to convert at later stages,” the StudioForty9 founder emphasises. “For example, if your customer buys a cat bowl, chances are they need cat food. Try your best to understand your customer journeys, and identify what the next best step might be when they arrive at a particular juncture. Never leave your customer at the end of a virtual cul-de-sac. Give them direction on where they can go next.  These seemingly minor interventions help customers navigate the wide variety of choices offered online: make it easy for them, curate your offering, give direction and be as genuinely helpful as you would be in store and you’ll see the results!”

FOR SUPPORT WITH BRINGING YOUR ONLINE STORE TO THE NEXT LEVEL, CONTACT STUDIOFORTY9: EMAIL: ger@studioforty9.com

ONLINE UPDATE

Primark site crashes following click-andcollect launch

The launch of Primark’s click-andcollect trial has been credited with knocking the retailer’s site offline in mid-November, when customers were met with a ‘502 Bad Gateway’ error message. The error message indicated that the owner of the website experienced issues due to an unusually high number of visitors trying to access the platform at the same time. Primark launched its new click and collect service which allows customers to shop online across baby, kids and decorative nursery products and toys, before collecting their items in their nominated store on their chosen day. The service is available in 25 stores across the North West of England, South and West Yorkshire and North Wales.

SCARP

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR RETAILERS?

With many retailers facing an unprecedented number of challenges and financial difficulties because of global economic challenges, Ian Barrett, KPMG, explains the importance of exploring restructuring options to ensure future survival, and ultimately avoid liquidation

Anew rescue process, exclusively for small and micro companies was introduced in December 2021 called the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (SCARP). SCARP was introduced to provide a quicker and more affordable restructuring option for small and micro businesses in Ireland who face insolvency. SCARP is based on the key components of the examinership process but is quicker and more streamlined, as Ian Barrett, Managing Director, Restructuring, KMPG explains.

Purpose of SCARP

SCARP provides a rescue mechanism for small and micro companies, allowing them to restructure their debts by agreeing a rescue plan with their creditors, which is implemented by a Process Advisor (independent insolvency practitioner). With the difficulties faced by small and micro companies within retail, SCARP can help them to trade and avoid closure.

Who is eligible?

Insolvent but viable small and micro companies which have turnover of less

than €12m, less than 50 employees and a balance sheet of less than €6m (two out of these three criteria must be met), can avail of the process by appointing a Process Advisor.

Requirements for a successful SCARP

• Viable business

• Properly structured and well thought out rescue plan

• Accurate and up-to-date financial information

• Careful advanced planning to include assessment of any required investment to ensure the viability of the business and fund the rescue plan

• Realistic business plan (with detailed financial projections), which would be implemented after a successful exit from SCARP

Tax compliance essential

For retailers with warehoused tax debt / tax arrears, tax compliance will also be key to a successful exit from SCARP. The Revenue Commissioners can opt out of a proposed rescue plan. Companies that do not clear their warehoused tax liabilities in full before the expiry of tax warehousing (30th April 2023) will need to apply

for a Phased Payment Arrangement (PPA). Warehoused tax debt would not constitute non-compliance however, failing to apply for a PPA would be viewed as non-compliance, making it harder to obtain Revenue support for a rescue plan.

Realistic option for businesses Examinership (another corporate rescue process) has previously been seen as prohibitively expensive for SMEs. SCARP is 70-day process, with minimal court involvement, making it a more affordable option.

Since SCARP legislation was enacted in December 2021 to 10 October 2022, there have been 11 appointments of Process Advisors, 6 of which were made during August 2022, which shows interest in the process has increased. Out of the 11 appointments, 7 have been successful, two were unsuccessful and two are ongoing. While this is an encouraging start to a relatively new process, it also shows that SCARP is a realistic option for small and micro businesses across the retail sector to restructure their debts and secure their future throughout these uncertain times.

Ian Barrett, Managing Director, Restructuring, KMPG

Talk or action?

WASTED IN-STORE

The commercial sector, which refers to food wholesale, retail and service, accounts for 17% of food waste in European countries. Within developed countries, the commercial sector has been identified with some of the best potential for food waste reduction. The EPA has found that food retail accounts for 23% overall commercial food wastage with approximately two-thirds of all food waste being avoidable.

Of the total waste, vegetables (11%), bread (9%), meat (8%) and potatoes (7%) make up the largest avoidable food waste fractions. Total food waste was compared with the number of covers (people served) to generate sectoral benchmarks. The food waste benchmark is highest for hotels (0.383 kg/cover). Full-service restaurants produce less waste than hotels (0.263 kg/cover), and quick-service restaurants produce less waste again (0.155 kg/cover).

Retail stores were separated into

two categories, depending on whether or not ready-to-eat, prepared-in-store food (referred to in this document as “serve-over”) was sold. The results of the waste composition analyses for food retail show that, of the food wasted, vegetables (21%), fruit (16%), bread (13%) and meat (11%) are the primary constituents. Overall, the fresh produce section of food retail (“fruit and veg”) is the largest source of waste.

Other sources, such as chilled food, food from the deli (where present) and food from the bakery, were also major waste sources. It is apparent that foods with a higher level of perishability are wasted in larger quantities than foods with longer shelf-lives.

The total food waste recorded was compared with the size of the store and scaled up for a year, to create a food retail waste benchmark (in kg/ m2/year). The level of food waste generated by food retail businesses with serve-over is higher (23 kg/m2/ year) than that for businesses with only conventional retail offerings (19

kg/m2/year). The results show that offering serve-over foods increases the level of food waste in a food retail business.

The serve-over section of food retail should be an area of focus for food waste prevention in the food service sector. Food from serve-over is processed and managed by staff to a much greater degree than conventional retail products, offering much more control and potential for intervention at an individual business level.

However, in some of the businesses assessed by the EPA, staff noted that, by producing ready-made food in store, many of their short-dated or perishable food products can be redirected or incorporated into these meals. This is also the case for certain food products with damaged packaging or other small faults. If the management of food within the serve-over sections of food retail was improved, there would be the potential to reuse food from elsewhere in businesses, thereby reducing overall food waste.

Serve Over

“Serve-over” is an industry term for food that is served to customers over a counter. It includes the sale of food from butcher counters and deli counters and the sale of heated, ready-made meals. Offering serve-over food means that retailers are involved in the cooking and preparation of food, ready for direct consumption. It does not include in-store bakeries.

Food waste is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences

Source: Reducing Commercial Food Waste in Ireland. Sarah Broderick and Colum Gibson

New offer

Exclusive offer to members of Retail Excellence

• A rated insurer

• Quick quote turnaround

• Best in class cover

• Competitive premiums

• Exceptional service

• Claims service at all stages – we stay involved

Positive developments

There is cause for optimism in the awards attributed to Liability claims since 2020 with

• Both the PIAB and the courts must adhere to the new Personal injury guidelines published in March 2021

• Personal Injury claims awards down by 42% since 2020

• Average awards for Public/ Products and Employers Liability have decreased significantly.

• Claims have fallen significantly since the start of Covid 19

• These positive developments should translate into lower premiums and more competition amongst Insurers

Benefits to Retail Excellence members

• We know what Insurers are looking for and how best to present a client’s risk details

• A quick and easy quote process – no forms to complete, we make it simple

• 72- hour quote turnaround (subject to having the information)

• All documentation issued with 48 hours

• Best in class cover

• Best in class service –experts in Retail

Orbital Insurance Brokers

Orbital Insurance Brokers is a new, dynamic and forwardthinking Insurance broker with a focus on providing quality cover at fair and reasonable premiums

Retail Excellence are delighted to announce a strategic partnership with Orbital Insurance Brokers to bring choice and competition to all members for their Insurance needs. This has been a strategic aim of Retail Excellence over the last number of years, to bring more competition to the market and lower costs for our members. The Insurance broker market has witnessed significant changes over the past five years with consolidation and a large number of brokers being bought and absorbed by larger groups. Chris Hamilton and Wayne Kwan decided to set up a new broker to bring fresh choice and new competition to a market that is dwindling. “With over 40 years combined experience in the Insurance sector, we know the day-to-day challenges retailers face with Insurance costs and availability being a major factor. We are delighted to announce a partnership with an A-rated Insurer and Retail Excellence offering members the best cover at a fair premium. Contact us and we’ll take care of the rest.”

Orbital Insurance Broker – Retail Team

Contact: Chris Hamilton, Managing Director Mobile: 086 0412761

E-mail: chamilton@orbitalinsurance.ie

Contact: Wayne Kwan, Head of Sales Mobile: 083 2021240

E-mail: wkwan@orbitalinsurance.ie

Duncan Graham, Retail Excellence, Aine Kenna, NBS Underwriting, Chris Hamilton & Wayne Kwan, Orbital Insurance Brokers

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E-COMMERCE. IT’S BE FAST OR BE LAST. AND WE DON’T DO LAST.

Address Capture GeoDirectory

Dara Keogh

+353 (0) 1 705 7005 Software www.geodirectory.ie info@geodirectory.ie

Sociolocal SocioLocal Nicole Stevenson +353 (0) 1 240 2580 www.sociolocal.ie nicole@sociolocal.ie

Audit, Tax, Advisory KPMG

Niall Savage +353 (0) 1 700 4141 & Consulting Services www.kpmg.ie niall.savage@kpmg.ie

Audit, Tax, Advisory Grant Thornton

Damian Gleeson +353 (0) 61 607 993 & Consulting Services www.grantthornton.ie damian.gleeson@ie.gt.com

AV & Digital In-Store Quest Systems

Damien Stout +353 (0) 1 419 9199 Services www.questsystems.ie Damien.stout@questsystems.ie

Branding, Store Design, Bradley Brand and Design

Andrew Bradley +353 (0) 86 258 4368 E-Commerce www.bradleybrand.ie andrew@bradleybrand.ie

Branding & Retail Design TAP Creative

Niamh Higgins +353 (0) 1 541 4664 www.tapcreative.ie niamh@tapcreative.ie

Branding & Signage 3Rock

Patrice Murphy  +353 (0) 1 457 0188 Solutions www.3rock.ie patrice@3rock.ie

Broadcast Media Sky Media Ireland Gareth Genockey +353 (0) 86 012 9812 www.skymedia.ie gareth.genockey@sky.ie

Business Training, Action Coach Business Coaching Paul Fagan +353 (0) 1 891 6220 Coaching & Mentoring www.actioncoachireland.com ireland@actioncoach.com

Cash Handling Solutions Glory David O’Meara +353 (0) 1 467 0542  www.glory-global.com david.omeara@glory-global.com

Cash Logistics Services GSLS Paul Cahill +353 (0) 87 133 6000 www.gsls.ie pcahill@gsls.ie

Consumer Market Customer Perceptions & Optimum Results Emma Harte +353 (0) 42 93 39911 Research & Training www.customerperceptions.ie emma.harte@customerperceptions.ie

Contract Cleaning Cleaning Contractors Turlough O’Brien +353 (0) 1 296 3036 www.cleaningcontractors.ie turlough@cleaningcontractors.ie

Creative & Print Services

The Smart Group

Tom Ryan  +353 (0) 86 780 1626 www.thesmartgroup.ie tom@thesmartgroup.ie

CX Solutions SAP Kevin Purcell +353 (0) 87 434 8508 www.sap.com kevin.purcell01@sap.com

Digital Marketing Agency Core Optimisation Caroline Dunlea +353 (0) 86 086 2840 www.coreoptimisation.com caroline@coreoptimisation.com

Digital Marketing Agency Wolfgang Digital Brendan Almack +353 (0) 1 663 8020 www.wolfgangdigital.com brendan@wolfgangdigital.com

Digital Signage Screenvend Louise Doherty +353 (0) 85 878 9757 www.navi.ie louisedoherty@navi.ie

Digital Signage Focal Media Maurice Muldoon +353 (0) 1 2934040 www.focalmedia.com maurice@focalmedia.com

Digital Signage Stacked Keith Hanley +353 (0)86 145 1903 www.stacked.ie keith.hanley@stacked.ie

Domain Name Registration IE

Registration Services +353 (0) 1 236 5400 www.iedr.ie registrations@iedr.ie

Ecommerce AI Technology Shopbox AI Alan Gormley +353 (0) 87 264 3122 www.shopbox.ai alan.gormley@shopbox.ai

Ecommerce Agency StudioForty9 Ger Keohane +353 (0) 21 239 2349 www.studioforty9.com ger@studioforty9.com

Ecommerce Agency Ireland Website Design Nick Butler +353 (0) 51 325 567 www.irelandwebsitedesign.com nick@irelandwebsitedesign.com

Ecommerce Advisory Services BDO Conor Mac Manus +353 (0) 1 470 0535 www.bdo.ie conor.macmanus@bdo.ie

Star Category Of Company Company

Account Manager Contact Information

Account Manager Contact Information

Ecommerce Content Styla

Electronic Security Solutions Convergint

Lee McDermott

+44 (0) 79 5800 3481 Management System www.styla.com lee@styla.com

Stephen Carbery +353 (0) 1 836 5538 www.convergint.com stephen.carbery@convergint.com

Employee Workforce Timepoint

Colin Ryan +353 (0) 1 406 7610 Management Solutions www.timepoint.ie colin@timepoint.ie

Energy Advisory Service Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland Sara Norris +353 (0) 1 808 2121 www.seai.ie sara.norris@seai.ie

Energy Services Exemplar Energy Jonathan Fitzpatrick +353 (0) 87 276 8778 www.exemplarenergy.ie jonathan@exemplarenergy.ie

Energy Services Pinergy Colm Foley +353 (0) 1 524 2825 www.pinergy.ie colm@pinergy.ie

EPOS Solutions K3 Retail Mark Bryans +353 (0) 1 820 8321 www.k3retail.ie mark.bryans@k3btg.com

EPOS Solutions Positive Systems Solutions Damien O’Driscoll +353 (0) 1 6296058 www.pss.ie damien@pss.ie

EPOS Solutions Retail Integration Patrick Heslin +353 (0) 1 429 6800 www.retail-int.com patrick@retail-int.com

EPOS Solutions CBE

Oliver Sheridan 0818 373 000 www.cbe.ie oliversheridan@cbe.ie

EPOS Solutions Eirpoint

Niall Cannon +353 (0) 65 686 8880 www.eirpoint.ie ncannon@eirpoint.com

Footfall Counting, Digital Detectag Retail Services

John Dempsey +353 (0) 86 243 7100 Signage & Loss Prevention www.retailservices.ie john.dempsey@retailservices.ie

Gift voucher and

FromMe2You Gift Card

John Wall +353 (0) 87 666 6795 Gift Card Solutions www.me2you.ie John.wall@me2you.ie

Global Payments & Foreign Corpay

Finian Brett +353 (0) 87 666 6795 Exchange Risk Management www.corpay.com fbrett@afex.com

Graphic Design, Printing, Sooner Than Later

Mark Finney +353 (0) 1 284 4777 Delivery www.soonerthanlater.com mark@soonerthanlater.com

Hotel, Conference Venue Crowne Plaza Blanchardstown Carol Byrne +353 (0) 86 201 8997 www.cpireland.crowneplaza.com carol.byrne@crowneplazadublin.ie

HR Consultant

Tommy Smyth +353 (0) 21 463 4154 www.tsaconsultants.ie tommy@tsaconsultants.ie

Tom Smyth & Associates

Human Resources Solution Strandum Ltd Brendan Carney +353 (0) 1 899 1900 www.strandum.com bcarney@strandum.com

Insurance

Patrick Carey +353 (0) 86 815 4193 www.fbd.ie Patrick.Carey@FBD.ie

FBD Insurance

Insurance Orbital Insurance Brokers

Chris Hamilton +353 (0) 86 041 2761 www.oib.ie chamilton@oib.ie

Instalments Mastercard

Aimee McLaughlin www.mastercard.com Aimee.McLaughlin@mastercard.com

IT Domain and Blacknight

IT Services Objectivity

Michele Neylon

+353 (0) 59 918 3072 Hosting Services www.blacknigh.com michele@blacknight.com

Tony Rothwell   +44 (0) 779 502 3225 www.objectivity.co.uk trothwell@objectivity.co.uk

IT Solutions & Security Radius Technologies

Label Solutions

Jerry Buckley 1890 592500 www.radius.ie jerryb@radius.ie

IMS Labels

Licence Exempt Music Provider Image Sound

Steven Burke

+353 (0) 1 295 4544 www.imslabels.ie steven.burke@ims.ie

+44 (0) 1 246 572 997 www.imagesound.com service@imagesound.co.uk

Phil Randle

Star Category Of Company Company

Legal Advisory Sherwin O’Riordan

Logistics

Logistics

+353 (0) 1 663 2000 www.sor-solicitors.ie jsherwin@sor.ie

James Sherwin

DHL Express

Ciara Hynes

+353 (0) 86 197 0085 www.dhl.ie Ciara.hynes@dhl.com

DPD Patrick O’Loughlin +353 (0) 906 420 500 www.dpd.ie sales@dpd.ie

Mystery Shopping, Crest Mystery Shopping Ireland Michele Cawley +353 (0) 86 814 5004 Store Assessments www.crestireland.com michele@crestireland.com

Payment Solutions AIB Merchant Services Mark Patterson +353 (0) 86 189 3681 www.aibms.com Mark.Patterson@aibms.com

Payroll Services Paycheck Plus Niall Clarke +353 (0) 1 4198 92100 www.paycheckplus.ie nclarke@paycheckplus.ie

Personal Wealth Management Davy Group Kevin Doherty +353 (0) 1 614 8778 www.davy.ie kevin.doherty@davy.ie

Personalised Retail Packaging Barry Packaging

Eamonn Barry +353 (0) 87 263 9487 www.barrypackaging.com eamonn@barrypackaging.com

Personalised Retail Packaging Delpac Charlie Curran +353 (0) 66 947 9298 www.delpac.ie charlie@delpac.ie

Personalised Retail Packaging JJ O’Toole

Vicki O’Toole +353 (0) 61 229 333 www.jjotoole.ie info@jjotoole.ie

Print and Design Kingdom Printers

Recruitment

David Keane +353 (0) 66 712 1136 www.kingdomprinters.net dave@kingdomprinters.net

Excel Recruitment Barry Whelan +353 (0) 1 814 8747 www.excelrecruitment.ie barry@excelrecruitment.com

Recruitment Teamworx Denise Brady +353 (0) 45 898037 www.teamworx.ie denise@teamworx.ie

Retail Lighting Specialists

Pro-Light Design & Technology

Paul Hanlon

+353 (0) 1 2962607 www.pro-light.ie Paul.Hanlon@pro-light.ie

Retail Shopper Insights VisionR

Shane O’Sullivan +353 (0) 85 119 8040 & Analytics www.visionr.com shane.osullivan@visionr.com

Risk Management Solutions Seachange Paul Cummins +353 (0) 87 052 24 95 www.seachange.ie paul.cummins@seachange-intl.com

Shopfitting and Retail Design DDC Group

Ashley Gardiner +353 (0) 1 401 3050 www.ddcshopfit.ie ashley@ddcshopfit.ie

Shopfitting and Retail Design Johnston Shopfitters

+353 (0) 86 244 0714 www.johnston-shopfitters.com sbrennan@johnston-shopfitters.com Andrew Johnston +353 (0) 1 419 0419 ajohnston@johnston-shopfitters.com

Shopfitting and Retail Design Store Design

ShaneBrennan

+353 (0) 1 413 1350 www.storedesign.ie d.mckeever@storedesign.ie

Declan McKeever

Ger Halloran +353 (0) 86 235 3515 Matting Provider www.footfall.ie ger@footfall.ie

Specialist Entrance Footfall

Stocktaking Service Stocktaking.ie

+353 (0) 86 389 9542 www.stocktaking.ie sharonk@stocktaking.ie

Stocktaking Service TakeStock

Sharon Kelly

Bernard Brown +353 (0) 1 77 55 242 www.wecount.ie bernard.brown@wecount.ie

Video Production Another Avenue

Sharyn Mitchell

+353 (0) 1 660 1588 and Graphic Design www.anotheravenue.com sharyn@anotheravenue.com

Star Category Of Company Company

Account Manager Contact Information