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February brings 3.5% uplift to sales
The latest sales data from S4labour has revealed that hospitality sales were up 3.5% overall in February, compared to the same month last year.
This uplift was driven by sales in London, which saw an increase of 8.5% overall. Outside of the capital, overall sales were up 2.3% year-on-year.
Wet-led sites across the country saw a decline of 0.2%, however, dry-led sites were up 5.6%.
Chief Growth Officer at S4labour, Richard Hartley, commented: “This year being a leap year meant that there was an additional day of trading in February, which has played its part in the year-on-year increase, though it is not entirely responsible for the uplift.”
ACS Survey reports on retailers’ holiday management confidence
In November last year, the results of the national ACS were announced, revealing that 71.5% of retailers reported that they feel “very confident” when it comes to managing their employees’ holiday.
The survey, comprised of feedback from over 1100 convenience retailers, found that more than two thirds of respondents ranked their confidence in managing holidays highly.
Another 17.0% of retailers expressed being “fairly confident”, underscoring a strong overall sense of assurance.
In contrast, only 4.2% of respondents said they were “not at all confident”, 1.5% said they were “not very confident”, and 5.9% selected “don’t know”.
Garry Craft, Managing Director of Convenience Stores at S4labour, commented: “These survey results are good, but it’s our goal to make even more retailers feel confident in the accuracy and compliance of their holiday management. We’ve found that a big part of this assurance comes from retailers knowing that the data they are giving to accountants or payroll software is correct to begin with. Some of the challenges that we’ve seen are retailers who are still calculating holiday on historic accrual rules, as well as those who do not have enough data to manage 52-week averages. Some are paying their employees based on expected hours, rather than actual hours worked, and are not working through complexities such as maternity and paternity rules.”
With wage increases coming into effect from April 1st, now is the time for retailers to get ahead on cost management by using the right tools to scrutinise every aspect of their spending, which includes holiday management.
S4labour provide rota, people and payroll management tools to convenience and forecourt operators, supporting the likes of Rav Garcha, PriceWatch, Gardner Garages and Midland Motor Fuels. The team will be attending The National Convenience Show from April 29th – May 1st to speak directly to retailers about how they can help them to manage their costs and grow profits.
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Importance of navigating cost management in the retail Industry
In April, the NLW (National Living Wage) will increase by 9.8% with an actual increase of around 11.5% to retailer’s annual labour spend when the increases to younger worker’s pay are taken into account. Without effective cost management efforts in place, this increase will have a big impact on retailer’s bottom lines.
Finding the right tools to save time and money is crucial, and S4labour are here to help.
Why is investing in cost management tools so important?
The ACS Local Shop Report for 2023 revealed that only 29% of retailers are investing in technology that can help drive efficiencies and better cost management in their stores.
These numbers indicate that over 70% of businesses are not saving time and money by optimising their workforce and operational efficiency using tech, despite labour being the second biggest cost.
With S4labour, businesses can streamline their people management, from H.R., to rota creation and through to payroll, which handles holiday pay and actual hours worked through our time and attendance system.
Effectively managing costs with the help of technology will not only reduce spending, but it will also allow retailers to focus on growing profits by getting more out of each hour worked.
Hear from leading independent retailers already using S4labour:
Rav Garcha, Nisa retailer: “It’s an affordable and efficient technology solution that is driving us further, and it is allowing us to invest in people.”
Ian Lewis, SPAR retailer: “It really has changed the way we work, and certainly saved on costs.”
Guy Warner, Upton on Severn, together with Morrisons: “In terms of efficiencies, it has driven costs down managerially. It is helping us manage our labour, control our labour costs and it is taking managerial time out of the process.”
How will S4labour work for your business?
S4labour’s tools provide visibility and control of rota cost before the money has been spent. Unexpected costs, such as NI, pension and holiday pay are included in a fully-costed rota, as well as accurate time and attendance, so there are no surprises in payroll.
Planning and scheduling teams is made simple, with rotas in one place that can be shared with staff on the employee app. There’s no more multiple versions and time-consuming rota-writing processes. Holiday accrual and requests are also managed from this single platform, saving you time on admin and allowing you to focus on activities that drive profitability.
Ahead of the NLW increase in April, finding ways to better manage and therefore reduce labour-related costs will be a gamechanger.
For more information, or to talk to one of our experts, please contact us:
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