All articles by Jac Roper – Page 25
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A sore point about the competition
I had what I regarded as an odd complaint about Booker Cash and Carry. Alvin Wilkinson, who runs Countdown in Hornsea, near Bridlington in East Yorkshire, shops at Booker and stocks its Happy Shopper brand.
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Just give us the tools and we’ll deliver the goods
This is being written the day after the last bank holiday until Christmas. Patterns always become strange during bank holidays and none more so than that fag-end of summer one. How was it for you?
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: They do say nothing ventured, nothing gained
Many retailers will have been contacted by a new outfit called Channelcom, which is billing itself as the UK’s first advertising management company. Channelcom has been conducting what director Robin Gadsby described to me as a ‘stealth recruitment campaign’, which means the company has written to thousands of retailers to sign them up. The official launch will come later.
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Urban myths: you know they’re not really true!
Superstitions abound on the internet… send this email to five more people and you will have something wondrous happen to you (beauty, riches, fame) in the next five minutes… delete it and your left arm (or something worse) will drop off. Why?
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Full marks for perseverance in a training plan
Lesley Brown from Frankmarsh Stores in Devon is keen to hone up her staffs’ skills and went surfing on the Skillsmartretail.com website to see what tools were available.
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Over the counter? Not in this case
I don’t usually do small ads; however, this one is different. Brian Keirl, from a forecourt store, Hazlegrove Services near Yeovil in Somerset, has emailed the following:
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Footfall – how exactly does it add up?
My anonymous (by request) retailer runs a small CTN in a seaside town, and is a former PayPoint agent. “We had PayPoint for many years and were disillusioned that the bank’s cash handling fee was larger than the commission earned on utility bills and the like, effectively meaning...
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: A recurring refrain – please make it stop
A recurring refrain – please make it stop
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Scam and the city – for once the feds are for real
Scam and the city – for once the feds are for real
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: How about a surcharge on low profit services?
How about a surcharge on low profit services?
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Is your store ‘performing’? Need a licence?
The music industry is in trouble what with ‘free’ downloads and artists sometimes avoiding the middle man and going straight for the ear. Is this why the Performing Rights Society (PRS) is running a campaign to get retailers to pay for a licence to broadcast music?
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Point or zone? More conflicting views roll in
My most recent coverage of the PayPoint saga has prompted another flurry of responses, not all of them negative. It also prompted another email from PayPoint which said: “In addition to the points about service and support already mentioned...
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Stepping up to the challenge: fingerprinting proves a hit
I have to commend Dilip Patel on two counts. One, he takes responsible retailing extremely seriously at his store, and two, he employs Sharon Hill. The store, Dilip’s Multistore, trades in the large village of Shepshed in Leicestershire, near some schools, and consequently operates
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Is this a smoking gun?
Gasp. Old Ethel from round the corner comes in with her usual fag-in-corner-of-mouth and, as we all know there are new rules about this habit.
-
Dear Jac
Dear Jac: Holiday hornets' nests. It must be the time of year
Holidays loom for some, and they bring their own staff rota problems.