27 August 2010
Retail Academy relaunched for independents
Dave Waller
The website of the UK's leading retail skills educator, The
Retail Academy, has been relaunched with new skills programmes
designed specifically to help to drive increased footfall for
independent convenience stores, newsagents and rural shops.
Services provided by the Academy have been refreshed to give the
sector a new approach to training based on shop floor how-to skills
development, replacing NVQs and other qualifications.
Alan Toft, who has overseen the relaunch, has been appointed as
the new chairman of The Retail Academy. Alan was Director General
of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors for 16 years.
The Retail Academy will now concentrate on providing skills
programmes and educational CDs. High-quality online e-learning
topics will also be available to larger independent businesses
seeking them. MyKnowledgeMap provides the large archive of
educational materials on retail skills for The Retail Academy.
Empowering retail staff
After consultation with retailers, which revealed widespread
disinterest in NVQs and similar qualifications, The Academy will
help shop owners to empower their staff with practical skills under
the slogan 'Knowledge drives footfall'.
Alan Toft said: "The Academy strategy will embrace advice that
independents can implement immediately in-store. They tell us they
want easy to follow how-to guidance. We appreciate the pressures in
local stores so here comes the relaxed coffee break teach-in."
Alan has assembled a team of independent retailers - Lesley
Brown (Booker), Steve Robinson (Best One), Raj Aggarwal (Londis),
Dennis Williams (Booker), Sunder Sandher (Londis) and Sid Ali (Nisa
Today's) - to work with him as Retail Academy advisors.
The team has already contributed inspirational insights
producing policy leads emphasising the need for developing staff
members and enhancing their focus on community involvement.
As a result, the words 'shop assistant' and 'shop worker' will
be banned for their negative connotations and, instead, staff will
be known as 'Business Development Partners'.
Support from the National Federation of Retail Newsagents
The National Federation of Retail Newsagents is an active
supporter of the Retail Academy. NFRN National Training and Field
Operations Manager, Charles Fleckney, a member of the Retail
Academy board, said:" We welcome these developments. As the market
becomes increasingly competitive, business development is a crucial
activity for independents".
To visit the relaunched Retail Academy website, go to www.retail-academy.org.uk.