Stuart Machin

With some significant growth aspirations announced those week by ALDI USA a great article from Dan Butler thats starts to delve into the growth strategies and customer focused initatives that will provide the pathway to growth over the next 5 years, creating opportunities for suppliers that can innovate and meet the #aldi supplier standards with customer focused product solutions #foodanddrink #customerfocused #growthstrategy #privatelabel #ownbrand #groceryretail #retail #ukretail #australianretail #contractmanufacturing Prof. Consulting Group

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Our latest #whitepaper regarding how the future of #confectionery could look with accelerated growth opportunities and changing consumer demand has generated some interesting discussion with current and new clients, I hope you find it insightful #confectionery #sweets #candies #chocolate #snacking #ukretail #australianretail #groceryretail #grocery #privatelabel #ownbrand #growthstrategy #brandstrategy #healthierchoices #innovationleadership Prof. Consulting Group

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Holland & Barrett report strong yearly performance 👏 The British health and wellness group has reported a surge in full-year sales with revenue increasing 11% to £806.1m. The retailer has credited the uplift to a £70m investment in its stores, technology, and new product development, with all geographic divisions delivering growth including locations such as China, Saudi Arabia, and India. Alex Gourlay, Executive Chair of Holland & Barrett, commented: "There has been a clear shift in recent years in public perception of health and wellness, with focus shifting to preventive rather than reactive care, and people increasingly wanting to own and manage their individual health." “To meet this shift, we are transforming the Holland & Barrett business: to deliver health and wellness that is easily accessible to customers in the UK and in our core international markets.” #News #Health #Wellness #Revenue #Sales #Growth #Performance

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Time for political change? Time for retail to back ourselves? Read my thoughts on the next phase of our election strategy in today's article for Retail Week where I call on retailers to come together and share more of the positive stories about how the reach and scale of retail can drive positive change. With the right policies and right relationship with a future government we can achieve so much more!! #BuyIntoRetail🛍️ #BritishRetailConsortium #Retail #UKElection #EverywhereEconomy 

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Strive to have the best data and it will make you look good. Best informed is almost always best full-stop. The data Uncrowd pumps out is that best in class and the pioneer retailers, and now investors and analysts subscribing to it are moving ahead of you and your peers. This empirical, objective, observed data we surface keep on calling it right, way ahead of everyone else. Reading this from Ryan, and I got to the F1 quote about and thought 'that is bang on the money, whoever wrote that is worth following'. Then realised, dear reader, it was me. #data #experienceanalytics #retail

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Reflections from last week’s Retail Technology Show: Energy, innovation, foresight, hindsight, resilience and humility came across in spades as both keynotes and firesides alike talked through their retail journey’s candidly, referencing both their challenges and successes, as they continue to navigate the omnichannel world and deliver for the modern day consumer, alongside embracing the ever growing potential of AI and it’s increasing ability to drive huge efficiencies. United in their thinking, many of the keynotes were keen to explain their thoughts regarding AI being first and foremost an assist, not a threat to, the longstanding principles of great retail. Hints and tips on where to start when integrating AI into a retail business and the continued importance of testing came across loud and clear, coupled with the narrative that it’s introduction will not necessarily remove jobs, but rather the scope of jobs within businesses will change. Dex Hunter-Torricke referenced that for every one job that was displaced by the internet, 2 were actually created, and that in all probability It’s likely to be a similar case with AI, the world simply doesn’t yet know exactly what all the new jobs will look like, wiith many of them still to be created. Numerous amazing live use case examples were put forward for AI from multiple brands and retailers. It was incredible to hear from Melissa Snover about AI’s usage in quality control during the production of Nourished's personalised vitamin stack, alongside her vision for AI’s future capabilities in assisting the NHS with public health. Craig Ash was keen to remind us that UK consumers have become expert at navigating omnichannel. When interacting with product, they simply 'just see the brand', giving far less thought to the channel itself. It was inspiring to hear how expertly Swarovski service their customers at every touch point. And how online merges with in-store to create the ultimate shopping experience. It was standing room only in TikTok Shop’s seminar on social commerce as Maddie Forman eloquently explained the current and future impact the channel offers, alongside plenty of insight into its incredible ability to engage, inspire and convert today’s mobile loving consumer. With plenty of useful tips around content and maximising conversion, there was probably more note taking amongst the audience in this session than any other I sat in! I’ve come away with so many insights from the show (far too many to write about here - the above is just a splattering) but remain more confident than ever that the future remains bright for the retail industry, despite many of the obvious challenges. An industry putting this much energy and effort into sustaining, enhancing, collaborating and ultimately growing its greatness can only achieve brilliant things. Here's to the future of retail! #retail #retailgrowth #omnichannelretail #futureofretail

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Having spent many hours walking the aisle of the UK retailers supporting our clients on their growth strategies, one of the highlights from this updated really caught my eye 12.5% growth in Finest, well above the 5% for food. Just last night delving deeper into the growth of finest, the support inshore within the main fixtures, off location and promotional activity are all clearly supporting the growth of the Tesco premium brand. Valuable insights which signposts growth opportunities into retail export markets for contract manufacturing opportunities helping retailers expand their premium categories which looks to be increasingly focused on great tasting affordable food to differentiate. Some great examples being #condiments, #seafood, #frozenmeals, #bakedgoods #slowcookedmeats #foodandrink #milk #premiumfoods #retail #groceryretail #ukretail #australianretail #contractmanufacturing #responsiblysourced #privatelabel #ownbrand MONIKA KEMP (Née Gajek) Food and Drink Exporters Association (FDEA) Prof. Consulting Group #export

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Here are some interesting stories from the world of retail for Monday, April 29: 📦 Tomorrow it’s the turn of Amazon to report quarterly results and analysts expect the world’s biggest online retailer to have made sales of $142 billion in the first three months of the year. 📈 The FTSE 100 is expected to be boosted as soon as next month when the Chinese online giant SHEIN announces that it has decided to float its shares in London. 👖 Urban Outfitters shoppers will have a new way to shop for secondhand clothes. The retailer is rebranding and restructuring its vintage and secondhand offerings online to make up a new program called Vintage + Remade. 🚚 Walmart has announced Ultra Late-Night Delivery, expanding its delivery hours until midnight. The service is available nationwide for orders placed by 10:30pm. Walmart's delivery will now be available from 6a, to midnight. 👞 Steve Madden’s wholesale woes are expected to be a continued factor in its upcoming first quarter results this week.  Large wholesale accounts are still cautious with their buys in the first quarter, which may affect sales in the period. 🥗 Rising food prices are sending more shoppers to ALDI USA. The German grocer keeps prices low with smaller stores, fewer staffers and a slimmer menu of product choices than bigger supermarkets. 👗 The European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is set to have a big impact on fashion firms, requiring them to monitor and correct their supply chains for the use of forced labor and negative environmental impacts. 🧴 Reinold Geiger, the billionaire owner of L’OCCITANE Group International, is close to making an offer to take the skin-care company private, in a deal that could value it at about $7bn including debt. 🍣 Looking for a bite at your local mall? As US malls race to reinvent themselves, they’re turning to sushi conveyor belts, craft-beer membership clubs and Korean barbecue to replace burgers and fries. 🦊 The day after 33 Foxtrot stores and two Dom's Kitchen & Market locations abruptly closed their doors, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of now-former employees. 📱 Brands on TikTok Shop face increased fees and an uncertain future. Brands are bracing themselves for when social media company will likely roll back benefits even more — all while a threat of an outright US lurks on the horizon. 🥫 Ahead of the release of Kraft Heinz's first-quarter results this Wednesday, new chief executive Carlos Abrams-Rivera talks to the Wall Street Journal about his commitment to making the company's products healthier. 🍕 Domino's is launching a promotion today that rewards customers who tip $3 or more per order with a $3 coupon good for their next order, as long as that order takes place the following week. #retail #retailnews #economy #DailyRetailNews

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New figures reveal that British shoppers spent 📈6.2% more on fast-moving consumer foods (FMCGs) in the first quarter of this year🥫 Morrisons quoted💬 "As the weather, hopefully, improves and we move into an eventful summer that is driven by sporting events such as the Euros and Olympics, we’re optimistic that this will further drive levels of discretionary FMCG and Tech & Durables sales" which is great to hear!🙌 #FMCGnews #datareport #retailnews

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Interesting article from Retail Dive's Daphne Howland on a number of experts weighing on exactly "what" May retail sales suggest for consumer and coming Back to School sales. https://lnkd.in/gGeyFiAs

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Slightly unnerving sharing a giant photo of my face.... Er, please try to ignore that(!) and instead have a look at the article if you're interested in #cocoa #sustainability! It comes with a big caveat: there are many, many people & businesses more specialist than me in this area. This article speaks to the challenge of the breadth of issues we need tackle as a food retailer, and the value of collaboration in doing so. The issues - farmer living incomes, deforestation, child labour - demand it. [If you're not a BusinessGreen member, you can always try their 7 day free trial to access it!] With thanks to our wonderful partners in this space, including The Fairtrade Foundation, Tony's Chocolonely & 3Keel Waitrose & Partners

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"Why the next government helping retail is good for the whole country" 🙌 Check out my opinion piece published by Retail Week on what I think the next government could be doing to support the retail industry and those who work in it. What would you add to the list? #election2024 #supportretail #retailindustry

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Sainsbury’s eyes £1bn retail profit as it hails ‘strongest year of grocery performance’ Sainsbury’s expects strong profit growth in the year ahead as it beat expectations for its 2023/24 financial year. Pre-tax profit for the year to 2 March edged up 1.6% to £701m, topping last year’s figure, as it achieved record grocery market share gains and volume growth that accelerated in every quarter. The UK’s second-biggest grocer said it expects to make up to £1.06bn in underlying operating profit from its retail operations in 2024-25 – up from £966m last year. The group posted a 6.8% rise in retail sales, excluding fuel, driven by a 9.4% jump in its grocery business. Chief executive Simon Roberts said: “We said we’d put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s and that’s what we’ve done. Our food business is firing on all cylinders.” Its general merchandise, which includes Argos, business had a tougher time with sales down 0.5% and clothing sales fell 6.4%. #sainsbury #growth #retail #grocery #profit #sales #business

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Wet Weather Impacts Grocery Sales; Asda Continues To Lose Market Share As Tesco And Sainsbury’s Make Gains Latest Kantar: take-home grocery sales up just 1.0% 4 weeks to 9 June, slowest increase since June 2022 (poor weather, falling inflation), average shopper supermarket visits 16.3 this month – down from 16.4 in June last year. While the drop in grocery price inflation is contributing to slower market growth, it appears to be leading to improved consumer sentiment. Kantar’s data shows the rate now stands at 2.1%, marking the sixteenth consecutive month that it has fallen. In a survey by the firm, 36% of households described their financial position as comfortable in May 2024, a proportion not surpassed since November 2021. Kantar: McKevitt commented: “Cost-of-living crisis: 22% of households say they’re struggling, i.e. unable to cover expenses or are just making ends meet. But positive signs, many don’t need to restrict spending quite so much, ( inflation). Looking at individual retailers, Ocado was the fastest-growing grocer for the fourth month in a row, increasing its sales by 10.7% over the 12 weeks to 9 June – ahead of the total online market, which saw a rise of 4.0%. Lidl increased its market share by 0.4 percentage points to 8.1%, matching its sales growth over the period. Aldi had another disappointing month, with sales up by just 0.8% and its market share slipping to 10.0%. Tesco achieved its highest market share since February 2022, growing 0.6 percentage points to 27.7% after a 4.6% rise in sales. Sainsbury’s saw its sales increase by 4.9%, with its share of the market increasing to 15.2%. Meanwhile, Asda continued its poor run despite the recent roll-out of several initiatives aimed at boosting trade. Its sales fell 4.0%, with its market sliding from 13.7% to 12.8% over the year. As Morrisons celebrates its 125th anniversary, the grocer’s sales rose by 1.1%, but its share edged down to 8.7%. Iceland saw its sales climb 4.4%, and it now holds 2.4% of the market, up from 2.3% a year ago. This marks the first annual market share increase for the frozen-food specialist since March last year. Waitrose welcomed 188,000 new shoppers through its doors over the 12 weeks, a greater increase than any other grocer. Its sales grew by 3.5%, with its market share holding at 4.5%. NamNews Implications: ·       21% of households still struggling with inflation… ·       …although others appear to be less uncomfortable… ·       …all reflected in slightly more willingness to spend. ·       As a result, Tesco & Sainsbury’s appear to be matching consumer needs and are growing share at the expense of Asda and Morrisons. ·       Meanwhile, discounter growth is being diluted by Aldi, resulting in a combined share with Lidl of 18.1%. ·       Much now depends on Asda’s debt management for them to realise their growth ambitions… ·       …and to justify any real shift in supplier strategies. #MarketShares

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The Boston Beer Company in talks to sell itself to Beam Suntory for $>3.5bn As predicted at the beginning of the year, we expect a progressive bounce-back of M&A transactions in the FMCG industry driven by mid-size transactions ($1-6bn EV) on same categories involving mostly US-based assets This transaction would make it the largest M&A transaction in the FMCG industry over the last 9 months. For perspective, FMCG M&A deal value in Q1 2024 were a meager $1.5bn More details in our latest FMCG M&A publications: 𝗙𝗠𝗖𝗚 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀: 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗠&𝗔 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 – 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 & 𝗦𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 https://lnkd.in/edKUDrEG 𝗙𝗠𝗖𝗚 𝗖𝗘𝗢𝘀: 𝗠&𝗔 𝗤𝟭 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗜𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 - 𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 & 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 https://lnkd.in/eER9wNWY 𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀, 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝘀 & 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗠𝗖𝗚 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿: https://lnkd.in/ea4gy65y #CPG #FMCG The Coca-Cola Company Nestlé Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Unilever Mondelēz International AB InBev The HEINEKEN Company Carlsberg Group Molson Coors Beverage Company Asahi Beverages Pernod Ricard Diageo Campari Group Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. Danone https://lnkd.in/eNiEB5pj

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Tesco shoppers may soon notice a high-tech change to product labelling in the fruit and veg aisle,which could help the supermarket giant eliminate millions of pieces of plastic If successful, the small plastic barcode labels, a staple in British supermarkets for years, could be replaced by lasers In a variety of its stores,Tesco,the UK's largest supermarket,has begun a trial of etching barcodes into its avocados using a powerful laser-a move that would replace fruit barcode stickers with a simple, eco-friendly laser etching The lasers remove a thin layer of the product's skin to create the barcode effect,which customers can then scan at any of the supermarket's checkouts Westfalia Fruit,Tesco's avocado supplier, said avocados are perfect for this laser trial due to their thick outer skin A computer programme directs the lasers to inscribe size information onto the avocados, with the process taking just a third of a second Once lasered, the avocados essentially have a tattoo on their skin displaying information for customers and cashiers, such as the size or variety of the fruit Westfalia Fruit has carried out extensive trials to ensure that the quality, shelf life and taste of the popular salad item is not affected by the laser etchings, reports the Manchester Evening News Tesco ,selling nearly 70 million avocados annually with demand for the fruit escalating by 15 per cent in the past year,revealed it will kick off with laser engravings on the humongous avocados, offering the highest visual impact In a ground-breaking trial,the supermarket heavyweight is teaming up with Westfalia Fruit-the UK's top avocado supplier based in Spalding, Lincolnshire If this effort is extended to all its stores,Tesco claimed it could eradicate over 20 million plastic pieces from its twin pack avocados alone,possibly soaring to 25 million across its pre-packed range According to recent sales data, almost one million plastic stickers can be removed from loose extra-large avocados Commenting on the initiative, Lisa Gilbey ,Tesco's avocado buyer, noted: "We're always looking for innovative ways to reduce the environmental impact of our products, and cut down on plastic waste in the home through changes to our packaging" "We're really excited to hear customer feedback on our new laser-etched avocados, avoiding the need for a barcode sticker that can easily be forgotten and left on when recycling through household food waste" Graham Isaac , general manager at Westfalia Fruit, also commented:"(We) continually seeks ways to improve our environmental performance and operate in a responsible manner,by focusing on priorities such as reducing and wherever possible, removing plastic from our packaging to contribute to solving the plastic waste challenge" "We are confident that, with a clear focus and united effort as an industry,we will be able to significantly reduce our waste,use natural resources responsibly and protect the environment and biodiversity for all our futures"

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7 UK supermarkets transforming their store estates this year A focus for many UK supermarkets this year is to refresh, modernise and expand their store estates to improve the shopping experience for customers across the country. With so many grocers planning to update their sites and in a range of different ways, we round up what changes to expect from seven of the UK’s leading supermarkets in the year ahead. #supermarket #transformation #store #customerexperience #expansion #customer #grocery

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