Retail Floors July 08

News
• Eco trading • Responsible retailers
Th e Greenshop Group has opened in Gloucestershire,
A leading group of retail experts got together at the His advice was that non-grocery retailers manage and
cementing its position as one of the country’s longest
Humber International Logistics Convention, at Hull motivate their shop-ﬂ oor staﬀ more, to ensure enhanced
standing eco retailers.
University Business School this week, to discuss the product availability.
Th e Greenshop Group has been selling
credit crunch and its eﬀ ects. on the sector Delegates from a variety of backgrounds attended the
environmentally friendly products for 20-years and
One method to improve things would be to develop event as part of Business Week 2008, during which the
consists of: the Greenshop retail and mail order
an eﬀ ective supply chain, according to the experts. school is also sponsoring and exhibiting at the Yorkshire
business; Auro Paints (one of the UK’s largest suppliers
Ian Stansﬁ eld, distribution director at ASDA, said this International Business Convention.
of natural paints); Rainharvesting Systems Ltd, a
was an ‘interesting moment in time for the retail sector’ as Professor John Mangan, director, Logistics Institute
UK leader in rainharvesting systems; Consolar UK
customers become loyal to their ‘pockets as well as their at Hull University Business School, concluded: ‘Th e
(distributor for solar collectors, heat stores and control
brands’. He added that supply chain eﬃ ciency needs to Humber International Logistics Convention was a
equipment from Consolar in Germany).
be at the core of a retail business to ensure companies can fantastic opportunity to learn about some of the critical
Th ere is also Greenshop Solar, providing businesses
keep their prices low and remain competitive. issues facing retail logistics today and a great chance
and private individuals with solar hot-water systems
Duncan Kendal, head of supply operations at Argos, for networking during Business Week 2008. We saw
and photovoltaic (PV) energy systems, and Holbrook
discussed customer demand, and said shoppers now insist delegates from a vast array of organisations operating
Garage, the ﬁ rst garage in Gloucestershire to sell
on value for time as well as value for money. within or having an interest in the ﬁ eld of retail and
unleaded petrol.
He suggested quality supplier collaboration is needed logistics.’
Every aspect of the building has been designed to
to keep customer promises and respond to demands. Logistics Institute / www.uhli.org
be as environmentally-friendly and eco-eﬃ cient as
Academics, Professor David Grant, from the Logistics
possible and it will be very energy eﬃ cient, making the
Institute, and Professor John Fernie from Heriot-Watt
most of water, solar power and other natural resources.
University, discussed ﬁ ndings from their research into on
It will showcase the latest technologies so that the
shelf availability in the retail sector.
general public can see how the systems work – from
Meanwhile, David Grant said that the grocery sector
recycled rubber, bamboo and FSC (Forest Stewardship
has made great improvements in addressing on-shelf
Council) ﬂ ooring, to green and brown roofs, rainwater
availability, and recommended that supply chains should
harvesting, solar PV and solar thermal systems, log
move towards an approach that is much more customer
boiler and underﬂ oor heating, natural paints, various
focused.
types of insulation, wall materials, window and door
He warned that the poor performance of convenience
ﬁ ttings, low-energy lighting and low-ﬂ ush toilets.
stores also needs to be tackled.
John Fernie demonstrated the nature of supply issues
in non-grocery sectors, with a range of case studies
•Virtual demons including clothing, books and mobile retailers.
Drinks retailers could be aﬀ ected by a new keywords ban
He highlighted the speciﬁ c problems facing fashion
on Google AdWords which could prevent words deemed
retailers, including ‘reverse logistics’ due to the high
oﬀ ensive from being used.
volume of returned items.
Recently, the search giant has stopped pay per click
adverts from showing words it considers unethical,
including the names of drinks like vodka.
Mark Furber, the founder of £2m turnover Search • New service for businesses
Engine Optimisation (SEO) company NetCallidus, said
A new online service has been set up to help businesses companies to begin working collaboratively to share
one way around the ban is to target natural search results
meet the requirements of REACH legislation, when costs leading up to full registration.’
and use SEO to maintain website traﬃ c levels.
registering substances with the European Chemicals Jim Th omas, business development director at
He said: ‘Some people are very unhappy with Google
Agency (ECHA). VEN, the company that created REACH-VEN,
forcing its ethics on the UK like this. Just because a few
REACH-VEN is a simple, cost-eﬀ ective solution that said: ‘Companies that might ﬁ nd it diﬃ cult to make
Americans have a problem showing adverts next to the
helps companies work together to pre-register as part themselves heard in negotiations, particularly relating to
word vodka will aﬀ ect hundreds of UK businesses.
of a Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) the costs of REACH, will ﬁ nd that REACH-VEN oﬀ ers
‘It’s unlikely Google will reverse this decision. So the
Preparation Consortium, in advance of forming a full a cost-eﬀ ective, secure and transparent solution that does
only way for aﬀ ected businesses to ensure they don’t
SIEF. not discriminate in favour of any one company, whether
lose market share is to put in place a Search Engine
By signing up with REACH-VEN businesses will be they are large or small. REACH-VEN follows a very
Optimisation campaign to get natural search results.’
able to ﬁ nd out if the legislation applies to them and, if simple process that will quickly and easily help REACH
NetCallidus is a search engine marketing company,
so, they can begin the process of working together and pre-registrants to access the secure platform and the full
based at Sywell Aerodrome in Northamptonshire.
make contact with other companies intending to register support of the VEN team. REACH-VEN also provides
Mark concluded: ‘Good SEO is not a quick process.
the same substances. a simple solution for pre-registering all of a company’s
Depending on the keywords it can take several months.
Mark Selby from Denehurst Chemical Safety said: substances with ECHA through a bulk upload facility,
But it is a long-term investment in the performance of
‘We know that REACH has important implications for carried out by REACH-VEN on behalf of registrants.
a website. When you switch oﬀ pay per click adverts, the
manufacturers, importers and distributors of chemicals Users of the site can pre-register all of their substances
beneﬁ t disappears immediately. When you switch oﬀ an
accessing the European market, and this solution will in a single streamlined system that will save them both
SEO campaign, it continues to drive traﬃ c.For businesses
help companies in the pre-registration process. Th e time and eﬀ ort.’
that rely on Google traﬃ c and have seen it snatched away,
REACH-VEN platform has many beneﬁ ts in helping Th e service can be accessed at www.reach-ven.eu
SEO is the only way to protect future internet sales.’
10 July 2008 retail ﬂ oors
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