Press Releases

The Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has criticised the West Australian Government for secretly introducing new legal tobacco display regulations for retailers, which must be implemented at their own cost, under the cloak of darkness and with absolutely no consultation with industry.Deputy Premier and Minister for Health Roger Cook has repeatedly refused to engage with the AACS, the peak body for the convenience industry in Australia whose members are most affected, despite the signage changes apparently took effect on Monday.The changes, part of the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Regulations 2019, require all retail price boards to be reduced from 1 square metre to an A4 sheet size, while new graphic images have been prescribed for health warnings which must appear next to the price boards.Retailers, at their own cost, are being forced to make these changes in an incredibly short timeframe or risk non-compliance with legal tobacco retailing rules.AACS…

As NSW voters prepare to head to the polls, the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) has urged Liberal and Labor to take heed of the potential vote influencing significance of giving small business a fairer go when it comes to competing with the major grocery chains. Recent independent research by SMR Global, and commissioned by the AACS, investigated the attitudes and opinions of consumers of voting age on a range of key issues affecting the convenience industry in NSW and Australia. The research covered areas including the legalisation of e-cigarettes, the illicit trade of tobacco and permitting convenience stores to sell packaged alcohol, and the findings are compelling – especially in terms of the potential for these issues to influence people’s votes. Some key take-outs from the research include: • 48% of all Australians (smokers and non-smokers) feel strongly enough about the legalisation of e-cigarettes for it to influence…

Cocaine-laced wine was once a popular “nerve tonic”. Now drug-infused drinks are making a comeback. Some marijuana-infused beverages promise to ease pain. Others advertise the buzz of alcohol without the calories or the hangover. Take Ontario-based Tilray. It bills its cocktails as a “healthy and delicious way to enjoy the benefits of smoke-free cannabis”. Investors should be prepared for lows, as well as highs. Tilray’s shares have more than halved since their September high. But big drinks companies are staying focused. The legal cannabis market could grow worldwide from $US12 billion in 2018 to $US166 billion by 2025. Last year, beer brewer AB InBev entered a $US100 million ($141 million) joint venture with Tilray, Constellation took a stake in Canopy Growth and Molson Coors signed a joint venture with cannabis producer Hexo. Lagunitas, owned by Heineken, launched Hi-Fi Hops — containing a “smidge of California sun-grown cannabis in every sip”.…

There’s already been a fair bit written about the legalisation of marijuana – namely in the US and increasingly around the globe – and the massive boost it will be for ad spends. According to a 2018 study by Arcview Market Research and its research partner BDS Analytics, global spending on legal cannabis – be it recreational or medicinal – will hit a staggering $US57 billion by 2027. Now a new study has shown the impact weed smoking has on the sales of junk food. In results that will probably surprise absolutely no one, a study by The University of Connecticut has proven the correlation between smoking marijuana and users who “go on an epic junk-food binge, consuming mass quantities of chips, cookies, and whatever other high-calorie, salt-or-sugar-laden snacks they can get”. In good news for Macca’s, Burger Kings and 7-Elevens everywhere, the study by Michelle Baggio, assistant professor of economics, has proven a link between the legalisation…

Slow charging is the biggest technical barrier to the mass adoption of electric vehicles.Charging an electric vehicle battery in less than 10 minutes could be a reality by year’s end. That’s the hope of GBatteries, one of several companies devoted to radically improving charging rates.Fast charging is a useful feature for smartphones. But for EVs it’s a necessary goal if they are to be viable in large quantities on our roads. Motorists are anxious enough queuing up at a service station for petrol, but with loads of EVs around, if a refill takes four to 12 hours, queues would last for days. Even being third in line at a Tesla supercharger station for a 30-minute re-juice would be prohibitive.GBatteries is backed by some big investors such as Airbus Ventures, Initialized Capital, SV Angel and Y Combinator.GBatteries COO and co-founder Tim Sherstyuk says slow charging is the biggest technical barrier to…

Chapel street in Prahran, where many of the shops are left vacant in a street which was once thriving.Every major city in Australia has the equivalent of Melbourne’s Chapel Street – a famous inner-city strip shopping centre that is struggling and where the landlords are demanding what are now uneconomic rents, forcing long standing retailers to close down.By forcing closures, the landlords are destroying the value in the street as a shopping destination. Often the landlords are families that have owned the property for a long time and have not grasped that the game has changed.On the surface the closed shops are sign that the retail sector is struggling as illustrated by this week’s economic data. The landlords have experienced downturns before, so they hang on hoping for a change. But look deeper and we are seeing a fundamental change in the habits of the next generation.Inner city areas like…