A new survey by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has revealed the challenges and changes local stores have been facing since the lockdown measures kicked in.
Two thirds of convenience stores in the ACS Covid-19 Impact Survey witnessed sales increase in the last two months, but the remaining stores have seen a fall. One in four stores have reported significant fall in sales.
With travel restrictions in place, the lockdown has a negative impact on sales for forecourts, city centre stores and those near transport hubs, whereas neighbourhood and rural stores have seen an increase in sales.
Home delivery has been a major change identified by the survey, with 62 percent of stores now providing some form of delivery service. This leads to over 600,000 deliveries a week from convenience stores alone.
More than half of stores (56%) offer ‘card not present’ transactions, enabling volunteers to shop for vulnerable people locally.
Over a third of the stores (37%) have experienced major supply disruptions, and 40 percent of stores reported increase in violence and verbal abuse. The survey also finds that only four percent of retailers have received a loan through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
James Lowman, ACS chief executive, said: “Local shops have done a phenomenal job in adapting their businesses to support their communities during the lockdown. Retailers have introduced social distancing measures to keep customers and colleagues safe on very short notice, and new services like home delivery have ensured that vulnerable people, especially those in rural and isolated areas, can still get essential groceries.
“There are however two sides to the story in our sector. There are thousands of stores that have seen business drop significantly because of where they are, so it’s essential that those businesses take advantage of all of the government support that is available to them.”
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