AFTER a bleak winter of poor economic news and consumers cutting back on every area of spending the independent retail sector should be looking for ways to re-evaluate the link between cost and profits according to Dougie Stoddart, sales director of commercial refrigeration manufacturer and convenience store specialist Hubbard Products.
Mr Stoddart believes that in the economic downturn retailer emphasis should be turning to enhancing operational performance and driving profits through improving efficiency and forcing out waste whilst improving the overall cost control environment creating a cost culture; and most importantly managing capital costs.
He says: 'Whilst the independent retail sector is showing modest signs of resilience, with total sales growing by 0.1% annually in February, the global decline in business and consumer confidence produces the ideal situation for retailers to drive down the capital cost of their operation whilst delivering long-term running cost reductions.
The challenge is to drive profits through the focused reduction of costs without harming the long-term wellbeing of the business'.
Focus on energy efficiency
Hubbard Products believe that it is the ideal time for independents and especially the forecourt and convenience retailers to turn their focus onto overall energy efficiency.
Dougie Stoddart continues: 'The mantra has to be more, much more, for less. Consumers want to spend less or if they can't spend less they want more for every pound they do spend. That in turn means that food products, especially chilled products need to be presented in absolutely pristine condition. Spoilage or out of date stock that won't sell as a result of poor presentation is literally money down the drain for retailers'.
Heat recovery
Hubbard is addressing the issues of reducing retailers cost base in a variety of ways, all of which bring conceptual refrigeration thinking within the reach of every retailer, large or small, starting with its award winning Econ-O-Mate heat recovery module.
Econ-O-Mate captures heat produced as part of the normal refrigeration and air conditioning process, which would normally be discarded as a waste product, and uses it as a cheap and plentiful supplementary water-heating source.
Heating water to in excess of 50°C, the compact unit can be specified as an option on new Hubbard refrigeration systems up to 7.5hp or retro-fitted to other Hubbard and other manufacturers' systems up to the same hp. The hot water produced by the unit can be combined with existing water heating circuits and reduces the overall day-to-day energy costs of buildings.
Reductions in cost base can also be delivered through smaller footprints freeing up valuable back-of-store storage space and better designed more efficient commercial refrigeration.
Says Dougie Stoddart: 'Our reputation has been built on delivering high quality and engineering innovation delivering long-term value for money through low maintenance and running costs.
This reflects our customers' attitudes to commercial cooling equipment. Most people understand that cutting corners in the quality and specification of a pack system, for example, will inevitably lead to greater down time through component failure, higher maintenance costs and higher energy bills as equipment has to run at higher duties for longer, to deliver effective refrigeration.
'Whilst central government's attention is currently diverted onto solving the wider economic problems, no retailer should be lulled into thinking that environmental issues have gone away.
That's a very costly and short-sighted view to take. Issues of noise and energy efficiency are still very high on our list in developing products for the future, addressing these issues in retrospect can be an extremely expensive approach, it's far more cost effective to design these elements in to the initial specification.
And, one ray of light in the economic gloom is that the current Sterling exchange rate against both the Dollar and the Euro make UK manufactured cooling systems very good value for money.'