NEWS IN BRIEF
Retail News
Asda news
Aldi recently opened its 500th store and has plenty more
planned for the next two years as they have 34 projects in
the limelight before 2015. Lidl only opened 10 stores in
2013, but that almost doubled to 19 in 2014 and they
already have 19 set for 2015 already.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Asda claim to have removed thousands of tonnes of
carbon from their supply chains and saved their
suppliers £1m. The Sustain and Save Exchange, an
online support tool was launched in 2012 to cut waste
and save energy.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Tesco is offering free ‘health tours’ of its stores in a bid to
help consumers wean themselves off foods high is salt,
fat and sugar. Trialled in 13 stores across England, the
tours aim to educate shoppers about ‘hidden calories’ in
certain foods.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Asda has announced it is rolling defibrillators out to
600 stores which can be used by a member of the
public to deliver an electric shock to the heart when
someone is having a cardiac arrest. The £500,000
investment will go alongside Asda’s commitment to
having CPR-trained staff in every store.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
The Co-operative Group is considering following
Waitrose’s lead by giving its members money off products
via its membership card. Co-op stores are also looking to
become more community focused by getting involved
with community volunteering websites.
http://www.marketingweekco.uk
Waitrose is giving shop staff tablets in a bid to improve
customer service. Waitrose is not the first food reatiler to
give tablets to staff as Morrisons handed these out last
year to replace its paper and pen ordering system as part
of a £310m overhaul of its IT.
http://www.marketingweekco.uk
Spa is expanding its summer ice-cream range to include
new price marked tubs and handheld lines. The lines,
introduces in April will offer shoppers ‘tremendous value
for money’ says UK MD Debbie Robinson.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Asda will increase the number of hybrid tills in its
stores by more than two thirds over the next two
months in a bid to reduce queue times , CEO Andy
Clarke has revealed.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Brand News
Chicago Town is again going head-to-head with
takeaway chain Domino’s in a marketing push. The
brand owner is pitching Chicago Town Takeaway as
consumers’ preferred choice over Domino’s in the
£2m push. Activity includes a TV ad which starts 13th
March and features the strapline “Voted no. 1
versus Domino’s.”
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
E&J Gallo is ramping up its focus on moscato and
lighter styles with three new wines. It is adding a
5.5% abv light-style summer rosé and a ruby
mosacto. The launch will be supported by a £1m
marketing campaign.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Warburtons is taking its crumpets on the road as it
looks to boost sales north of the border. With
household penetration of crumpets at 34.8% in
Scotland compared with 61.8% for the UK, it has
rolled out refurbished ice cream vans to Edinburgh,
Glasgow and Inverclyde to offer consumers toasted
crumpets.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
UB is reformulating Mini Cheddars to make them
“even cheesier”. The new recipe Original Mini
Cheddar will be available next month in new 12-pack
variety bags.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Jagermeister is launching its first UK TV ad campaign
as it looks to build its off-trade presence. The brand
has invested £3m in an Icelandic surfing ad to build
on last autumn’s It Runs Deep outdoor ad campaign.
Targeting their core 18-25 year old male audience ,
the new ad will run across Sky Sports, Channel 4 and
Sky Atlantic for 8 weeks.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Heineken are to roll out four new low and no-alcohol
drinks including two 2.8% abv ciders. Bulmers Five
Fruit Harvest and Bulmers Indian Summer launch
next month, when two additions to the Foster’s
Radler low-alcohol beer brand also roll out a lime &
ginger flavour and a non-alcoholic variant.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
What’s coming up….
March/April
March
March
March
Daily Observances
Weekly Observances
Monthly Observances
National Pancake Day : 4
St. Patrick's Day: 17
Mother’s Day: 30
Meat Free Week: 24-30
British Pie Week: 3-9
National Salt Awareness
Week: 26 March-1st April
National Nutrition Month
National Peanut Month
Veggie Month
April
April
April
Daily Observances
Monthly Observances
Weekly Observances
Good Friday: 18
Easter Sunday: 21
National Herb Day: 26
National Salad Month
National Bread Week: 14-20
April
UK Coffee Week: 21-28
What’s new this week ….
What’s HOT and what’s NOT….
HOT
Sales of lighter cheese are booming, as healthconscious Brits switch from full-fat and half fat options
with ‘healthier’ options up 5.6% in 2014.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
The Happy Egg Company is celebrating the sale of
more than one million boxes of dozen eggs in the US.
The brand is now sold in more than 2,000 outlets,
including Walmart.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
The FSA is to test 4,000 supermarket chickens over the
next 12 months as part of a major new survey to
assess levels of campylobacter contamination in the
UK. The results will be published every three months
and will include retailer names.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
The Scottish seafood sector is to receive £700,000 in
funding from the Scottish government to help improve
its future profitability and sustainability.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
The UK’s organic market returned to growth in 2013
after four years of falling sales, the Soil Association’s
latest annual report has revealed. Total sales of
organic products in the UK increased by 2.8%
compared with 2012, to £1.7bn.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
NOT
Tesco has been worst hit by the slump in sales of
frozen ready meals, the sector at the centre of
the horsemeat scandal. The retailer has suffered
a 14.4% decline, worth £14.2m in lost sales.
Which is almost as much s the rest of the big
four’s combined loss of £15.9m.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk
Morrisons posted a loss before tax of £176m for
the year to 7th February. Turnover fell 2% to
£17.7bn with like for like sales down 2.8%.
http://www.thegrocer.co.uk