Help for Households: ACS pledges support by helping customers save

Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) is supporting the launch of the government’s new Help for Households campaign, which highlights the important role of 47,000+ local shops in helping customers to save and manage their money during the cost of living crisis.

The new campaign was announced on Friday (22) in 10 Downing Street by prime minister Boris Johnson and new cost of living tsar David Buttress. Senior UK business leaders and representatives, including ACS chief executive James Lowman, were also present at the event.

The campaign brings together new promotions and deals aimed at saving customers money with the continuation of successful support schemes which businesses are already running and want to promote under the Help for Households campaign to raise awareness. 

The Help for Households retail campaign aims to provide deals for families over four distinct periods –the summer holidays, back to school, Autumn pressures and Christmas retail – with deals secured and hosted on the government’s new Help for Households website so that people can find them easily in one place. 

“We’re facing incredibly tough global economic headwinds and families across the country are feeling the pinch. That’s why this government is providing an unprecedented £37bn worth of support to help households through the storm. Both the public and private sector have a role to play here – and that’s why it’s great to see so many leading UK businesses are now coming forward to offer new deals and discounts that will provide much needed respite at the checkout,” Johnson said.

“This won’t solve the issue overnight but it’s yet another weapon in our arsenal as we fight back against scourge of rising prices and inflation”.

Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said that the UK’s 47,000 local shops play an incredibly important role in helping consumers to manage their money, save on fuel and other travel costs, and reduce food waste. 

“We strongly welcome the new Help for Households campaign, and are committed to working with the cost of living tsar David Buttress to highlight how convenience stores are supporting both customers and colleagues during this challenging time for everyone. Many convenience store retailers are providing significant staff discounts and other benefits as part of extra support packages for colleagues in store, as well as doing everything they can to keep prices on the shelf in check despite rising costs in just about every area of their businesses,” he said.

Polling of 1000 consumers conducted by Yonder in May 2022 (commissioned by ACS) shows that 65 percent of consumers agree that walking to your local shop saves money on fuel as you don’t have to travel as far. While 61 percent of consumers agree that local shops allow people to use a range of services in one place, saving on trips, 53 percent of consumers agree that local shops allow people to manage food waste. ACS survey further shows that 47 percent of consumers agree that buying little and often helps them to manage their money.

As part of the campaign, ACS is urging convenience stores to promote the benefits of the government’s Healthy Start scheme, which provides a prepaid card that can be used at local shops to buy milk, infant formula and fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables. Any store that sells eligible products and accepts Mastercard payments is automatically able to take part in the scheme.