New look for MSYS local shops campaign | Independent News | TalkingRetail.com

The My Shop is Your Shop (MSYS) campaign is to ditch its emphasis on encouraging independent retailers to host community activities and concentrate instead on helping store owners pull in new customers and get their message across to MPs, reports today’s Independent Retail News.

James Bielby, chief executive of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD), which runs the initiative, said:“After last year’s campaign we asked retailers what they most wanted from MSYS and they said that local publicity to attract new custom was their number-one priority.”

MSYS 2011 will see selected stores awarded the My Shop is Your Shop Gold Award for community retailing. Using its parliamentary connections, the FWD will then arrange for MPs to visit these stores to see for themselves how local shops can become a vital hub of the neighbourhoods they serve.

“By showing MPs first hand just how good and important these stores are, we are confident they will take back to Westminster with them a determination to push for regulatory change that favours the independent shop, and of course the wholesalers who supply them,” said Bielby.

“We’ll also make sure these visits are reported in the local media, so the stores get the recognition they deserve.” A free booklet giving retailers tips on how to publicise their stores locally will be available as well.

National Independents Week (29 May to 4 June) will continue to be the focal point of the campaign, with price promotions from MSYS sponsors highlighted in cash and carries. But unlike previous years there will be no consumer vouchers in the national papers. And the programme of MP visits will run throughout the year, not just during NIW.

Bielby added:“We will support any retailers who want to arrange events to celebrate their independence, but we won’t spoonfeed them in a top-down way. Our focus at the centre will be on a much more targeted approach to the people who can make a real difference to the long-term future of this sector of retailing.”

Walk& Shop Day, which promotes the health, environmental and cost-cutting advantages of walking to a local shop as part of MSYS, will take place in September. The campaign also gets a new logo.

For further information, visitwww.fwd.co.uk/msysor telephone 01323 724 952

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