NEWS | Industry Updates
Smart Retail Solutions celebrates 5th annual gala with immersive industry showcase
Held on Thursday, June 26th at The Steel Yard in London, The Smart Retail Solutions This year’s gala demonstrated to
attendees that the future of retail is happening now across all sectors. Guests were taken on an immersive journey through The Steel Yard’s iconic arches, where each gala partner had created bespoke hubs that brought a different shopper mission to life—from food to go, to transport, to hotel and leisure. These interactive experiences showcased how The Smart Retail Solutions Group is sectors. Attendees then took their seats under the
speech, delivering a channel overview and
preview of never seen before exclusive data from IGD’s Head of Away From Home, Nicola Knight. Following Nicola and to further immerse guests into the tone and feel of the day, an LED performance was brought to life on stage through a striking visual dance act that left guests wowed and ready to begin The Out of Home Summer Gala attendees then continued to network and attend all the partner immersive hubs before embarking on the annual highlight, a sail around The Thames onboard The Dutch Master complete with live music and lunch provided by Kepak. Carl Hunter, automated retail & new business controller at Kepak Group, said this year’s gala proved to be the most successful one yet:
“I’m still receiving feedback from guests
who attended this year’s Gala saying how much they enjoyed it and how great of an opportunity it was, not only to network but to see the best of what this industry can offer. The gala has highlighted the power of collaboration, with each partner that can only be experienced through this unique collective. Being able to bring this to life and provide like-minded colleagues the chance to get hands on with new innovations and equipment plus explore opportunities and discuss tailored solutions which they may need, has been the most rewarding part. We’re already planning what comes next and we encourage anyone serious about the future of retail to be a part of it!” he commented.
Call for rethink on pEPR base fees
The Vending & Automated Retail Association (AVA) has called on the Government’s to rethink its decision to AVA chief executive David Llewellyn said: “From both an environmental and industrial perspective, this move completely undermines the extraordinary progress our sector has made in moving away from single-use plastics”. “Across the UK’s vending and coffee-to- go sector, we’ve seen a huge transition to
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paper-based cups: around 93% of all drinks we serve are now in paper cups — a shift the AVA Census reveals is driven not just by environmental credentials and ease of recycling, but also by consumer preference for higher quality and more sustainable packaging. “At the AVA we are proud to be part of
the Alliance for Fibre-Based Packaging. The Alliance provides an expert voice for which perform critical packaging functions to protect food and other consumer goods, provide consumer safety and hygiene, and today’s lifestyle needs. “It is confusing that those investing
now be penalised, while fossil fuel-derived exactly the wrong signal to send to industry and consumers alike; it ignores real- world recycling rates and risks pushing us backwards, not forwards. “If this policy is left unchanged, it threatens to undo years of hard-won progress: retailers could be forced back towards plastic because manufacturers, the real leaders in sustainable innovation, will be hamstrung. How does that or a plan to reduce plastic waste? “The Government must rethink these fee structures urgently. We should be supporting materials that are actually recycled at scale in the UK, reducing plastic dependency, and championing British industry. The current approach does the exact opposite.”
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