Upmarket northern supermarket chain Booths is launching a new website in a bid to attract new customers to its stores.

The website, www.booths-supermarkets.co.uk, is expected to be up and running by the end of April and will include details of the retailer's in-store campaigns, information on its local producers and suppliers, recipe ideas and offers, as well as news and events, job vacancies, store locations and a media section.

However, the site will not have an online shopping facility because this would be moving away from its positioning as a community retailer, said a spokeswoman. "The main purpose of the website is to drive customers into store and provide Booths with an online point of difference," she said. "The nature of our brand is very much around the human touch and our stores are located in communities. We want the website to feel integral to that."

Customers can, however, purchase wine through its websites www.everywine.co.uk and www.booths-wine.co.uk.

The new website will be developed over several phases in the next two years and is the final stage in plans to update and overhaul the brand. It will be promoted on marketing, stationery and lorries.

n Booths has calculated its entire carbon footprint at 1.14kg of carbon per pound spent. Chairman Edwin Booth said the figure would be used by the company as a measure to reduce Booths' impact on the environment and operating costs, and not for PR. Last year, Booths was the first retailer to surpass a Wrap-led agreement to cut carrier bag usage by 25% by the end of 2008.

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