West Midlands accountants urge charities & retailers to “bag” the opportunity…
Top 40 accountants, Bishop Fleming – which has an office in Worcester – are urging charities and retailers to join forces to benefit from the new rules on charging for carrier bags.
With a team serving more than 300 charities, Bishop Fleming are urging those clients – and major retailers – to share the opportunity created by the new law that demands a 5p charge for bags to be donated to “good causes”.
According to Joe Scaife, head of Bishop Fleming’s charity team: “Charities should be grasping this opportunity to talk to the retailers who have declared that they will support charities in their area. Many retailers have not yet decided who they will distribute the money to, so get in early and let them know about your charitable activities and objectives as soon as possible.”
“The big national retailers might be tempted to just nominate a national charity to be the recipient of those charges: but this could be a lost marketing opportunity. As a retailer, why miss out on the chance to interact with your customers by asking their views on which charities they would like to support. Customers should participate in this as it is their money!”
The firm’s managing partner, Matthew Lee, also points out the potential for smaller retailers to benefit from the bag-charge change.
“In Wales and Scotland, the bag-charge rule applies to all retailers. In England, the new ruling only applies to large retailers – giving smaller retailers a window of opportunity.
“It’s likely that the ruling in England will be expanded to those smaller retailers: until that happens, they have a competitive edge if they make the most of it by promoting their ‘free-bags’ offering. – and investing in having their business name printed on those bags”, said Mr Lee.
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