Wholesalers: Minimum Unit Pricing of Alcohol and Trade Sales

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation, Wholesalers: Minimum Unit Pricing of Alcohol and Trade Sales. ACS is a trade association, representing 33,500 local shops across the UK. Our members include the Co-Op, Spar UK, Nisa Retail and thousands of independent retailers.

In Scotland, there are 4,962 convenience stores employing over 37,000 people . Our symbol group retailer members, including Spar UK, Booker and Nisa Retail will also act as wholesalers, selling products, including alcohol, to their branded independent stores. 35% of the convenience sector is made up of symbol group retailers , therefore, ACS has an interest in ensuring that there is clarity around the Minimum Unit Pricing regulations for wholesalers.

We welcome that the Scottish Government are providing clarity that the minimum price per unit does not apply for the purposes of sales to trade. We are committed to working with the Scottish Government on its implementation of the Alcohol (Minimum Price per Unit) (Scotland) Amendment 2019 and its communication of the statutory instrument to wholesalers.