It’s a scene that typically plays out across the country every time temperatures soar. A supermarket chiller fails at 7am. By the time the fault has been logged, a contractor found and an engineer assigned to the job, several hours have passed. When the engineer turns up to the supermarket, it’s already 3pm. That’s more than enough of a delay for:
- Perishable stock to spoil or melt
- Sales to be seriously impacted
- Customer experience to spiral downwards
Rather than focusing on providing the very best service, the in-store team are preoccupied with the fallout from failing equipment. Customers inconvenienced by the issue may also resent the poor experience and take their business elsewhere.
Lost revenue is gone for good
In retail, every minute a site isn’t trading to its full potential means lost revenue that can’t be clawed back. The outdated model of reactive maintenance basically means retailers wait for things to go wrong. Then, when something actually breaks, there’s an inefficient scramble to put things right as soon as possible. In fact, our research shows store managers spend up to 30% of time chasing maintenance. The inevitable downtime quietly drains margins, which are already notoriously tight. So, when it comes to ensuring seamless, resilient retail operations, ‘always-on’ beats ‘reactive’ every time.
Reactive maintenance costs more than the repair
It’s now late afternoon. Finally the chiller is working again. The engineer packs up, prepares the invoice and goes on their way. But as outlined above, the figure on the bill isn’t the full story. In effect it’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to financial losses associated with broken fridges. The true cost is much higher and should account for:
- Trade lost while the fault was fixed.
- Store managers chasing contractors instead of running the shop floor – the job they’re actually paid to do.
- Stock that has spoiled and is unsellable.
Difficult time for retail
Such incidents can have a devastating impact, particularly at this difficult time for the retail industry. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has noted that additional employment costs imposed by the Government will cost the industry an extra £6.5billion. The organisation’s Chief Executive, Helen Dickinson said: “The impact of rising employment costs cannot be ignored. Retail has long been the UK’s main job creator, but that is becoming harder to sustain.”
A BRC survey in February 2026 found 69% of Chief Financial Officers in the sector are ‘pessimistic’ or ‘very pessimistic’. Low consumer confidence was a contributory factor, with 77% of respondents noting ‘falling demand’ among their concerns.
Losses multiply quickly
The supermarket chiller scenario relates to one individual outlet. However, during an extended period of extremely warm summer weather in 2026, several UK chains experienced refrigeration issues across multiple sides nationwide. In such a situation, the volume of losses can multiply extremely quickly. Given retail’s very real challenges, it is foolhardy to make do with reactive maintenance. But what options do organisations have?
Always-on is the answer
Remote monitoring via a Building Management System (BMS) offers a reliable way to detect issues before store colleagues realise something is amiss and a breakdown follows. Mitie BMS customers can also benefit from a suite of complementary solutions, including:
- Aria platform – facilitates job tracking and resolution
- Esme AI chatbot – natural language service requests and issue reporting
- Ava voice agent – automated customer services using AI-powered voice
- Barry email bot – responds to customer emails and supporting job resolution
Let’s say a chiller fails to maintain the same low temperature over time. With a BMS it will be flagged for investigation. In the case of Mitie customers, the follow-up may be conducted by our refrigeration specialists, Forest. Similarly, if equipment begins to use too much power, an alert means the anomaly can be checked and preventative action taken.
Depending on the issue and level of service, fixes can even be made remotely. This avoids the inconvenience of an engineer attending the shop floor, along with the carbon emissions associated with a physical call-out. So, there are multiple benefits for retail organisations and their customers.
The ‘always-on’ system works extremely well – and we know from experience. In fact, Mitie monitors around 180,000 retail assets from our Technical Services Operations Centre. Any work that requires a call-out is referred to our expert team of 1,000 engineers, who cover every UK postcode. This predictive, condition-based approach means fewer breakdowns, faster fixes and, in our experience, up to a 15% saving on maintenance costs.
Drive loyalty, experience and spend
Of course, customers should never sense the complexity of what’s going on behind the scenes. All they should see is a store that’s open, stocked and trading seamlessly each time they visit. That’s what drives loyalty, positive experiences and spend. And tills ringing is what retail is all about.