NEW RESEARCH VALIDATES RETAILERS’ FEARS OF ILLICIT TRADE AND OTHER NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF PLAIN PACKAGING
MEDIA RELEASE October 1, 2013 New independent research released nine months after the introduction of tobacco plain packaging has validated the concerns of convenience store owners: that their businesses would suffer as a result of illicit trade, increased labour and inventory management costs, and product handling errors. Commenting on the release of The Impact of Plain Packaging on Australia Small Retailers by leading international research company Roy Morgan, commissioned by Philip Morris, Australasian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) CEO Jeff Rogut said the research confirmed what was always obvious to these small businesses. “The research shows that Australian small retailers’ awareness of illicit tobacco is high, and has increased since the introduction of plain packaging. More than four in ten retailers perceive illicit trade is having a negative impact on their business, and a third report having had customers enquire about purchasing illicit tobacco,†Mr Rogut said. To make matters…
Read MoreThe Realities of C-stores & Social Media
Sep 27, 2013 CSNews NATIONAL REPORT — What does the explosion of social media conversations — estimated at more than 10 million and growing — around grocery topics mean for convenience stores? A recent business intelligence study conducted by Black Pearl Intelligence, exclusively in partnership with Convenience Store News reveals the expanding upswing of grocery-related social media conversations. The firm also identified tens of millions of convenience store-related conversations within a span of two years in a recent study focusing specifically on the convenience channel. “The volume and high caliber of convenience store customer conversations within the social media platforms is amazing. Consumers are literally giving the industry a roadmap for product preferences, preferred promotions, when and how they like to frequent convenience stores, as well as a litany of other store experiences,” wrote Bradley Nix, branding and social media expert for Black Pearl Intelligence, a business intelligence firm based…
Read MoreVictoria lags behind on outdoor smoking bans
Rita Panahi September 30, 2013 Herald Sun AS the weather warms up, and vitamin D-deprived Melburnians shed the winter layers to soak up the beautiful spring sunshine, an issue that has long aggravated the majority comes to the fore; why are a misfit minority of smokers allowed to monopolise sought-after alfresco areas in cafes, restaurants and bars? Victoria’s insanely inadequate smoking laws allowing inconsiderate addicts to light up in outdoor dining and drinking areas, including beer gardens, balconies and footpaths, make about as much sense as a screen door on a submarine. Not only do they make the prime open-air spaces practically uninhabitable for those of us who choose not to pump cancer-causing toxins into our bodies but the second-hand smoke often blows into indoor areas, adversely affecting the 87 per cent of us who are not smokers. Just why do we allow this troublesome minority group of recalcitrant junkies…
Read MoreBig W unveils online bookstore
Chris Griffith September 27, 2013 Australian IT Big W has launched an e-bookstore aimed at promoting local authors Source: Supplied DISCOUNT chain Big W has entered the electronic bookstore business with an online offering that focuses on Australian content. The site — ebooks.bigw.com.au — features categories such as “hot Aussie romance”, crime and science fiction through to biographies, education, home & garden, and cooking and food. New releases on its inaugural home page includes Kerry-Anne Walsh’s The Stalking of Julia Gillard, Blanche d’Alpuget’s The Young Lion and Bill Marsh’s Great Australian Outbook School Stories. BIG W says it has entered the e-book downloads market to offer “a bit of homegrown competition to the likes of iTunes and Amazon”. The site is starting off with 300,000 titles and offers downloads to almost any device. In a statement, Big W promises “hundreds of titles each month for as little as 99c or…
Read MoreThe ‘sell-by’ dates on your groceries are useless. Here’s why.
Brad Plumer September 28 Washington Post Pick up a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs and it will probably have a “sell-by” or “best-by” label. But what does that date actually mean? It’s unclear! The date can signify different things in different states. And many items stay fresh long after the expiration date passes. In fact, the whole labeling system is a total mess, argues a new report (pdf) from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic. Date labels are often so inscrutable and differ so widely from state to state that they’re essentially worthless as information. (The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a whole page straining to make sense of the whole muddle.) And, the report argues, those labels may be leading Americans to throw out tons and tons of perfectly good food each year — one reason why the United States rubbishes about 40 percent of…
Read MoreThe science of happiness is just a phone call away
Claire Porter September 29, 2013 news.com.au SCIENTISTS believe they have found the key to happiness, and attaining it may be as simple as picking up the phone. A study out of the US found that gratitude is one of the greatest contributing factors to overall happiness. But how do you define happiness? The researchers defined happiness as a feeling of positive emotion, engagement in their environment, work, friends and family and the feeling that life is meaningful. Another group of researchers from YouTube science channel Soul Pancake decided to expand on the study by testing it for themselves. They put together a group of people and asked them to choose the one person who had the greatest effect on their lives. The participants were then asked to write down the reasons why these people were so important and then pick up the phone and call that person to tell them…
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