Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 24 August 2019 | The Grocer | 5Clicks and Mortar: ‘more
thought needed’ on the mixStartups being given a
taste of life on the high
street courtesy of online
giant Amazon have been
finding the going too
tough to handle, The
Grocer has learnt.
In June, Amazon
announced it was
launching 10 tempo-
rary stores in sites across
the UK, in a ‘Clicks and
Mortar’ strategy.
Amazon said the
scheme was aimed at
allowing its third party
retailers to get a toe-
hold in the high street
and gain experience of
traditional retailing.
At any given time the
stores house 10 pop-up
retailers who are given
a two-week residency.
However, though the
pop-ups have been shel-
tered from business rates
and have been paying
rents of just £150 per
week for the high-pro-
file position in cities and
town centres, some have
failed to even make it
through the two weeks.
Emma Jones, founder
of Enterprise Nation,
which is running the
pop-ups on behalf of
Amazon, said the trial
had shown how tough itAmazon-backed
startups finding
life on the high
street hard work
was on the high street.
Far more thought had to
go into how online busi-
ness models could work
together with a high
street presence, she said.
“As part of the pilot, we
are collecting data and
the results will be availa-
ble next year,” she added.
“The early signs
are that the majority
of smaller firms can’t
always sustain even two-
week pop-up durations,
so we’re also looking to
pilot a new concept store
next month where online
retailers don’t have to be
present and can simply
be part of a curated col-
lective of suppliers.”
The revelation comes
as Labour leader Jeremy
Corbyn announced plans
to give local councils
the power to turn shops
that have been empty for
more than a year over to
startups, co-operatives
and community projects.
Jones said: “While we
welcome the sentiment,
we think the Labour
Party should consider
very carefully the high
street and its relation-
ship with online retailers
because it’s a compli-
cated issue.
“While technology is
enabling more and more
people to operate a suc-
cessful online retail
business model, the
challenge of how to help
them make the move to
the offline world of high
street retailing needs
more thought.”Ian QuinnAnalysis pIan Quinn, Lois Vallely
& Adam Leyland
Campaigners expressed
outrage this week after
it emerged there is no
guarantee any of the
£1bn-plus expected to
be raised from the sugar
levy over the next four
years will be spent on
children’s health in
schools.
Whereas money from
the first year of the tax,
introduced in April 2018,
went towards ventures
such as breakfast clubs
and children’s sport
activities, campaigners
are now engaged in a bat-
tle to win the funding
for future years, with no
ring-fencing in place, The
Grocer understands.
There are also accu-
sations money from the
levy intended for school
sports facilities and other
health & wellbeing pro-
jects has been spent on
ordinary school repairs.
The Treasury has fore-
cast a potential income
of £1.37bn over four years
from 2020-24, or more
than £340m per year,
from the levy. And there
is a possibility that figure
could rise if the govern-
ment moves on its threat
to include sugary milk-
based drinks in the scope
of the tax.
However, when
Stratford-upon-Avon MP
Nadhim Zahawi asked a
written question in the
House of Commons to
seek guarantees that the
sugar levy would con-
tinue to be ring-fenced
towards school health
projects in February, the
Treasury said no decision
‘No guarantee’ sugar
levy money will be
spent on kids’ health
would be made until
the next Comprehensive
Spending Review, the
date of which has been
plunged into doubt
because of Brexit.
And a government
School Capital Report
published last month
said the Healthy Pupils
Capital Fund, which
was set up to assess and
administer payouts for
school health & wellbe-
ing projects, was a “one-
year fund” only.
Food and farming
charity Sustain said it
had met recently with
the Treasury, and was
told the Department for
Education was putting
forward its spending
proposals with no guar-
antee they would make
a case for continued
ring-fencing.
“Many of the propos-
als in the government’s
childhood obesity plan
require spending, and
yet, outrageously, they
have made zero com-
mitments to future ring-
fence the one new source
of income they have for
these purposes,” said
Sustain deputy CEO Ben
Reynolds. “With a poten-
tial income of £1.37bn
forecast over the next
four years, this couldgo a long way to ensur-
ing all children in pov-
erty receive a free school
meal, which for many
families struggling with
food price rises after
Brexit could make all the
difference to them get-
ting a healthy, balanced
diet.”
Questions have also
been raised about how
the money raised from
the levy’s first year was
spent in schools.
The government
has admitted that only
£100m spent from the
Healthy Pupils Capital
Fund was used to
improve children’s and
young people’s physical
and mental health.
Stephanie Wood,
CEO of charity School
Food Matters, told The
Grocer this week even
that “although the guid-
ance DfE gave to schools
and local authorities was
really sound, it wasn’t
properly ring-fenced,
which means the money
got spent on patch-
ing holes in roofs and
removing asbestos, and
all sorts of other things
which came under the
‘health’ banner. It really
wasn’t spent in the spirit
of the levy,” she said.
Gavin Partington,
director general of the
BSDA, said: “It was
always clear that the Soft
Drinks Industry Levy
was more of a political
gesture than a coherent
policy to address obesity.
“There is no evi-
dence that it has had any
impact on obesity.”Money from year one was
spent on children’s healthChildhood obesity p