SLR April 2018

SGF CENTENARY

Federation marks 100 years

SLR REWARDS APRIL 2018 | ISSUE 180

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Bruce and Donna Morgan go Dutch

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KERRYFRESH CRASHES

Delivered wholesaler enters administration

WOODLANDS LOCAL

It’s time to make some tough decisions

TOBACCO

A year after EUTPD2 the category is vibrant

GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

SLR’s #ThinkSmart2 conference gives retailers a hint of what’s in store for the convenience industry.

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April 2018

Contents

Contents ISSUE 180

NEWS p4

Bestway’s bargain buy Wholesaler buys retail assets of bankrupt owner of Bargain Booze chain. p5 Kerryfresh crashes Delivered wholesaler enters administration, putting around 300 jobs at risk. p6 Retail crime ACS says annual price of crime is almost £4,000 per convenience store annually. p8 News Extra SGF Centenary The Federation marks 100 years of standing up for local retailers. p20 Product News Walkers celebrates 70 years of making crisps, while McCain tries to get families off the sofa. p22 Off-Trade Guinness tempts the ‘craft-curious’ drinker as Bailey’s launches a vegan-friendly variant. p24 Newstrade Competition watchdog to look at Trinity Mirror’s takeover of Express Newspapers.

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INSIDE BUSINESS p26 Research Digest Retailers get creative in a bid to resurrect Easter sales. p28 SLR Rewards Find out how 2017’s Soft Drinks and Biscuits Retailers of the Year were rewarded for their efforts. p30 Woodlands Local It’s time for some tough decisions at SLR’s store in Falkirk. p34 Hotlines Nestlé launches the first product made with its groundbreaking sugar reduction technology. p54 Under The Counter Some outside the box thinking causes the Auld Yin to move his goalposts in disgust.

FEATURES p36 Gums & Mints These key impulse categories offer fantastic profit opportunities for retailers. p40 Tobacco A year after the introduction of EUTPD2, it looks like the Tobacco category remains a vital one. p46 Water Consumers are buying more water than ever before, but there are still plenty of challenges facing the category. p48 Low Sugar Drinks With the sugar tax in full swing, there’s never been a better time to take a fresh look at Soft Drinks.

COMPETITION p39 Mentos and Smint One lucky reader will win £400 worth of POS and stock courtesy of Perfetti Van Melle.

ON THE COVER p12 #ThinkSmart2 SLR’s new annual technology and data event offers a glimpse into how the future of convenience retailing might look.

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APRIL 2018 | SLR

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News CONSOLIDATION Wholesaler snaps up bust company’s assets

Motor Fuel Group drives up the profit chart Forecourt operator Motor Fuel Group (MFG) has ranked second in a league table of Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing profits, a climb of seven places from last year’s ninth position.

The 19th annual Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100 (published April 2018) ranked companies accord-ing to growth in profits over the last three years of available accounts.

In February, MFG bought rival MRH in a £1.2bn deal which saw it become Britain’s largest forecourt operator by number of sites.

Former Nisa boss joins energy firm Nisa’s former CEO Nick Read has found a new job heading up independent gas and electricity supplier Extra Energy.

Read, who quit the symbol group last September amid buyout talks with the Co-op, took up his new post on April 9.

Under Read, Nisa went from losing £3m one year to making

Bestway snaps up the Conviviality retail business Bestway Wholesale has further strengthened its position within the convenience sector by buying the retail division of bankrupted alcohol wholesaler and Bargain Booze owner Conviviality.

Conviviality Retail operates 769 stores in the UK, mainly run through franchise models. These include Bargain Booze, Select Convenience, Wine Rack and Central Convenience Stores.

The move secures the fate of over 2,300 staff. Another 2,000 jobs were previously saved when Conviviality’s wholesale operation, including its on-trade brands Matthew Clark and Bibendum, was sold to Tennent’s owner C&C Group in a pre-pack administration deal.

Bestway’s boss Zameer Choudrey said: “This deal provides much needed certainty to [Conviviality’s] stores and our priority will be to stabilise the supply of stock into these businesses. These retailers can get back to ‘business as usual’

Zameer Choudrey with the confidence of having the support of the UK’s largest independent wholesaler.”

In January, Bestway bought 180 vehicles from administrators following the collapse of Palmer and Harvey to start its own van sales operation, filling the void left by P&H’s Snacksdirect and Sweetsdirect businesses.

The downfall of Conviviality was swift. The company went from a stock market valuation of £550m to administration in under a month.

On March 9, a profit warning cut

predicted underlying earnings back to £55m from £70m. Five days later the company announced that it had missed a £30m tax bill and was overdue on payments to creditors.

Boss Diana Hunter resigned, then failure to secure £125m from investors to settle debts brought the company crashing down. On March 29 it announced that administrators would be appointed within a fortnight, with PWC brought in on April 4 following the C&C deal. Bestway then moved quickly, reaching an agreement by April 6.

One retail analyst said Conviviality had been brought down by its “unfettered expansion”. GlobalData’s Molly Johnson-Jones commented: “At a time of tough trading conditions when companies need to focus on their best performing core areas, Conviviality took its eye off the ball in search of new growth. Add in the accounting errors and hidden margin erosion and we can see the reasons for its demise.”

over £7m the next. Despite the dramatic turnaround in fortunes,

BUSINESS COSTS Trade association calls for level playing field with England

PAYMENT PLATFORMS

some retailers were unhappy

SRC seeks action as Scotland-only rates surcharge hits £38m

Job losses at Zapper

with the former military man’s handling of the company.

Prior to Nisa, Read had stints at Thomas Cook, Vodafone, Lloyds and Tesco.

Yazoo moves closer to retailers with new hire FrieslandCampina, producer of flavoured milk drink Yazoo, has appointed Wayne Thompson as its new Customer Marketing Manager.

The appointment signals the company’s intent to partner more closely with grocery retailers.

Thompson first joined FrieslandCampina in September 2017 from Sainsbury’s. After spending six months as an account manager, he will now be responsible for developing and implementing the channel, customer and category strategy, and will report into Marketing

A Scotland-only business rates surcharge on medium-sized and larger commercial premises which has cost retailers over £24m since 2016 entered its third year of operation this month (April 1).

The Large Business Rates Supplement in Scotland was doubled to 2.6p in the pound in April 2016 but remained at 1.3p in the pound south of the border. The Scotland-only surcharge is set to raise a further £14m from retailers in the forthcoming 2018-19 financial year.

The surgcharge was described as “damaging perceptions” of Scotland’s competitiveness in last autumn’s Barclay Rates Review,

which called for parity with England to be restored by 2020. In its response to Barclay the Scottish Government said it was aiming for parity, but only by the end of the current parliamentary term in 2021.

David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said business rates were higher in Scotland than down south for 5,128 retail premises due of the surcharge.

“Scottish Ministers should be making every effort to discard policies which hold back the commercial investment we need to become more productive,” he said.

“Instead retailers are forced to pay a higher rates bill, hampering their ability to develop their businesses.”

Zapper has scaled down its field sales operation as it pursues what UK CEO Gerry Hooper described as “a more sustainable sales model”.

The company will now focus on a ‘top down’ approach, pushing its mobile payment and loyalty platform via its “many retail and technology partners” rather than targeting individual retailers.

The restructuring has seen a number of field-based staff leave the business, with some head office support and management roles also affected.

Hooper said the decision to cut jobs was “extremely difficult”.

Director, Will Jones.

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News DELIVERED WHOLESALE P&H repercussions continue

Kerryfresh forced into administration Fresh and chilled supplier Kerryfresh has gone bankrupt, causing widespread disruption for retailers and putting around 300 jobs nationwide at risk.

Administrators Duff and Phelps are trying to sell the business, either as a whole or in parts.

The company’s financial problems are thought to have started when an insurance payment following the collapse of Palmer and Harvey in December last year was delayed, causing cash flow pressure.

Things got worse in February when it was forced to stop deliveries to its largest customer after Kerryfresh’s insurer wouldn’t cover the supply agreement.

It is understood the wholesaler also lost the business of big customers WH Smith and Poundland.

Nisa ends financial year on high Nisa has reported a “positive” fourth quarter, boosted by the recruitment of 1,039 new stores served following the demise of Palmer and Harvey.

Total sales for the 13 weeks to April 1, 2018 were £377m, up 26% compared to the same time last year.

However, market conditions described as “extremely challenging” by interim boss Arnu Misra saw like-for-like sales down 1.1%, although like-forlikes did pick up to +0.5% in the last six weeks of Q4.

Nisa said cash generation in

End of the road: a Kerryfresh van waits to be sold at auction In a bid to plug the financial hole, the Kerryfresh management team tried to find new investors – or a buyer – for the business but were forced to call in administrators when this proved unsuccessful.

The Swindon-based company,

which was subject to a management buyout in February 2015, ran a fleet of over 200 refrigerated vehicles from 19 sales centres around the UK with a main hub in Manchester. Scottish depots were located in Coatbridge, Inverness and Dundee.

the quarter was “excellent”.

Accolade Wines changes hands Australian winemaker Accolade Wines has been bought by US private equity firm the Carlyle Group for one billion Australian dollars (£548m).

Former owner Champ Private

WHOLESALE UK’s largest Spar distributor looks to offload depots

APPOINTMENTS

Equity more than trebled its

Landmark member AF Blakemore to sell cash and carry operation

New boss for CJ Lang

original investment with the sale, having paid A$290m when it purchased Accolade in 2011.

The deal comes as Australian wine exports climbed to record highs in both value and volume last year, partly due to strong demand from China.

Accolade is Australia’s biggest winemaker and the fifth-largest in the world by volume.

In a further sign of widespread industry unrest, AF Blakemore (AFB) is seeking a buyer for its wholesale division, consisting of 12 cash and carry depots across England and Wales, as a going concern.

The decision, which affects 520 staff, follows a strategic review by the company.

Its Joint Managing Director Geoff Hallam said the move away from the cash and carry sector would allow the company to invest further across its wider business and focus its future

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strategy upon its remaining eight divisions. One of these – Blakemore Logistics – supplies over 1,000 Spar stores south of the border.

AF Blakemore has been a longstanding member of Landmark Wholesale.

The Managaing Director of Landmark, John Mills, commented: “We understand that in this consolidating market, AFB have to do what is right for their business. We will work closely with their management team during this process.”

CJ Lang has named Colin McLean as its new Chief Executive Officer.

McLean has 22 years at a commercial Main Board Director level, with substantial blue-chip and multi-channel retail plc experience. He has worked with Scotmid Cooperative (13 years as Chief Operating Officer), Boots, Littlewoods, Argos, Dixons and WH Smith. McLean started his career with Marks & Spencer.

While serving as a member of CJ Lang’s Main Board, McLean will also actively direct the Executive Board in its activities.

GroceryAid Ball smashes £500k mark GroceryAid raised over half-amillion pounds from its recent Gala Ball, held on March 9 at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

Ticket sales plus monies raised on the night combined to raise a jaw-dropping total of £550,000.

Over 1,100 industry colleagues enjoyed an evening of entertainment hosted by comedian Russell Kane. They were treated to performances from Escala, Filet of Soul and headliner Ronan Keating.

APRIL 2018 | SLR

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News RETAIL CRIME Further evidence that theft and violence is escalating

Filshill ready for MUP JW Filshill has put a minimum unit pricing action plan in place ahead of the introduction of the new legislation on May 1.

The wholesaler is working with retailers to ensure they fully understand the implications of MUP and how it will affect their business.

Posters highlighting the impending legislation are also on display in prominent positions in Filshill’s cash and carry at Hillington.

The wholesaler’s ReScan EPOS system has also been updated to block the sale of lines below MUP. The Scottish Government has set the minimum price for a unit of alcohol at 50p.

Green light for Aldi’s £25m Bathgate warehouse Aldi has secured planning permission for a £25m expansion to its Regional Distribution

ACS puts price of crime at almost £4k per store Crime is costing convenience retailers an estimated £3,873 per store every year, according to the 2018 ACS Crime Report. This equates to a 7p “crime tax” on every transaction.

The report revealed a 10% yearon-year increase in the number of shop thefts and provided yet more evidence of the rising levels of violence that staff face.

Around 13,500 violent incidents occurred in the sector over the past 12 months, with theft increasingly linked to aggressive behaviour.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman thought the real figure could be even higher. “We expect the true impact to be much larger as a lack of faith in the consistency of police response has led to many incidents going unreported.”

Calling for the police and judiciary to take retail crime seriously, Lowman added: “Shop thefts especially are often being committed by people that are dependent on drugs or alcohol, or part of an organised gang, with many now unafraid to turn to violence when challenged. Allowing shop theft to go unpunished means that these people go on to commit

other offences, and where they have addiction problems they are not treated. We need fresh thinking from government and the police.”

The report also found that there were over 2,800 burglaries in the last year, costing retailers £20m.

The total cost of fraud (counterfeit notes, credit/debit card fraud etc) for the last 12 months was put at £24m.

Centre in Bathgate.

The approved plans include a new 196,000sq ft storage and chill facility to cope with the discounter’s growing number of Scottish stores and expanding product range.

Work will start later this year

CONSOLIDATION Competition watchdog approves latest industry merger

LOTTERY

Co-op/Nisa deal gets CMA stamp of approval

Retailers pass Camelot’s mystery shopper test

and is due for completion in 2020. The extended facility will create more than 200 new jobs in addition to the existing team of 470.

Justice meated out on cigarette-selling butcher A butcher has been fined £1,800 after becoming the first person in Scotland to be convicted of breaching an order banning him from selling tobacco.

John Truten was given a maximum two-year ban after notching up £4,000-worth of fixed penalty notices for selling illicit tobacco from the Meat Market store in Glasgow.

He was caught flouting the ban when a tip-off led to the seizure of 2,000 cigarettes and 20 pouches of tobacco from the premises. This was later destroyed on the order of

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared the Coop’s takeover of Nisa, saying that “the proposed merger does not give rise to competition concerns”.

In approving the £137.5m deal, the CMA decided that existing competition in the marketplace meant the merged company would be unlikely to raise prices or cut service quality for both its retail and wholesale customers.

Peter Hartley, Chairman of Nisa, commented: “Today’s ruling (April 23) by the CMA is excellent news, and a significant step towards finalising the transaction that our members voted for last November.

We are very excited about our future together which will help ensure that our members are best placed to serve their communities.”

Over three-quarters of Nisa members had backed the takeover.

Sheldon Mills, Senior Director of Mergers at the CMA, said: “Millions of people throughout the UK shop at convenience stores and supermarkets, and it is vital that they continue to have enough choice to get the best value for them.

“After careful consideration, we’ve found that there is sufficient competition in both the wholesale and retail sectors to ensure that shoppers are not worse off.”

Camelot has congratulated National Lottery retailers for the second year running following confirmation that 91% of retailers visited in 2017 correctly asked for ID as proof of age on the first visit – up 2% on last year, and an impressive 5% improvement on 2015’s results.

The figures were the result of 11,600 mystery shopping visits last year – part of Camelot’s commitment to preventing underage and excessive play of The National Lottery.

The lottery operator’s mystery shopping programme has been in place for over a decade. If a retailer fails a mystery shopping visit on three occasions, their National Lottery terminal is suspended and is likely to be removed.

Glasgow Sheriff Court.

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News Extra

Scottish Grocers’ Federation Centenary

NewsExtra DRIVE INCREMENTAL SALES WITH GUMS & MINTS – P36 SCOTTISH GROCERS’ FEDERATION Commemorative publication looks back over first 100 years

Convenience Matters with the SGF One of the key aims of SGF is to promote responsible community retailing. From May 1, 2018 retailers will no longer be legally allowed to sell alcohol below a price of 50p per unit. There will be no sell through period.

With this in mind SGF has produced – in partnership with the Scottish Government – guidance on minimum unit pricing (MUP) for retailers.

This is intended to enable retailers to fully understand and be fully compliant with the new Scottish Government regulations on the MUP of alcohol.

MUP is being implemented by way of a condition on all premises licenses in Scotland.

The condition requires all alcohol sold on the premises to meet the minimum price per unit. Failure to do so is a breach of a condition of a premises licence and constitutes a criminal offence.

SGF has been conducting, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, customer-facing communications with the convenience sector, suppliers and other retailers to ensure that industry is prepared and ready to comply with MUP. We know that retailers will do everything they can to comply with the new regulations and continue their commitment to responsible retailing of alcohol.

SGF recognises the importance of ongoing dialogue with industry and so will meet with retailers and suppliers this August to assess the initial impact of MUP, with any concerns to emerge being communicated to the Scottish Government for a response.

The SGF guide, along with an MUP calculator, is available now and can be downloaded from the SGF website (www. scottishshop.org.uk) onto smartphones using the SGF app.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

SGF celebrates landmark centenary with official history of the Federation The Scottish Grocers’ Federation has published an official history book to commemorate its centenary.

The Scottish Grocers Federation (SGF) celebrated its 100th anniversary last month with the launch of a new official history of the Federation written by former President Lawrie Dewar and edited by SLR contributor Karen Peattie. The launch was hosted at Edinburgh City Chambers and featured presentations from the Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh Joan Griffiths, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity Fergus Ewing MSP and SGF Chief Executive Pete Cheema.

Formed in 1918, the Federation has been at the forefront of promoting the interests of c-stores and community-based retailing.

Membership has grown to include all the major convenience groups and co-ops operating in Scotland. In 2017 the Federation established the first Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on retailing.

The Cabinet Secretary, representing the First Minister, said: “When the Scottish Grocers’ Federation was formed in 1918, Scotland’s retail landscape was very different to now – with the notion of supermarkets some years off, and most shops across the country owned locally. It is testament to the Federation’s enduring relevance, as well as its remarkable adaptability that, 100 years on, the SGF remains as the authoritative voice for the independent convenience store sector, and can be justifiably lauded as a Scottish ‘institution’.

“I appreciate just how much benefit Scotland’s shop owners bring to local communities, by providing vital services, sustaining and creating jobs, and contributing to the economy.

The Scottish Government shares the SGF’s ambition to improve Scotland’s trading environment, and I hope we’ll continue to work

together for many years to come, in order to achieve that.”

SGF Chief Executive Pete Cheema added: “Convenience stores in Scotland have moved on from being corner shops to become an industry sector where the value of sales is almost £4 billion and the contribution to Scotland’s economy in gross value added is over £500 million every year. SGF has been the driving force in this transformation. We have also led the way in promoting responsible community retailing and this has become a way of life for our members. One hundred years in existence is a remarkable milestone and we are intensely proud of our industry and the contribution it makes to life in Scotland.”

The centenary history book charts how the Federation and the industry have responded to changing times and new challenges. www.slrmag.co.uk

Comment

THE FUTURE IS SMARTER, NOT HARDER The challenges that face the local retailing sector are well documented with costs rising, margins falling and competition stiffer than ever. The recent spate of massive collapses – P&H, Conviviality and Kerryfresh to name but a few – give a decent indication of just how tough the market is these days and as an industry we all have some tough decisions to make. One thing that is very clear is that the key to success in the future will not simply be working harder. It’s a strategy that built the convenience store industry, you could argue, but simply doing longer and longer hours and minimising costs at the same time will no longer be enough to sustain the industry. The solution, or at least part of the solution, has got to be in working smarter rather than harder.

Working smarter means, in essence, evolving two specific areas of every retail business: people and technology.

People are so expensive now that simply throwing human resources at the challenges we all face as retailers is no longer feasible. The minimum wage is so high these days (and will only continue to increase) that retailers must be sure they’re getting the maximum out of every member of staff. That means training and development to ensure all staff are given the support and encouragement and tools they need to be as productive as possible.

Which leaves us with technology. There is zero doubt that technology will transform our industry and it will happen in the very near future. Historically, our sector hasn’t been too enthusiastic about how it has embraced new technology – but that will change. It has to change. Only technology offers the prospect of minimising cost and improving efficiency in a way that will allow us all to maintain sustainable businesses into the future.

Technology impacts upon all areas of a local retailing business and offers retailers the chance to do more with less – and that was the point of our recent #ThinkSmart2 event at the Glasgow Science Centre. The conference wasn’t designed to deliver every solution any retailer could possibly need. It was simply created to encourage retailers to accept that technology and data will play a much bigger role in their futures, and to encourage them to start thinking about what that future might look like for them.

No-one knows what the future holds for local retail – but we can be very sure that technology and data will power that future. Online retail grasped that concept years ago. The major multiples are spending millions grasping that concept now. Local retailers don’t want to be left behind because playing catch-up is a tough, tough game. The onus is on us all to build the future we want to see –­ and that means driving that progress ourselves.

ANTONY BEGLEY, PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

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EDITORIAL Publishing Director & Editor Antony Begley 0141 222 5380 | abegley@55north.com Web Editor Findlay Stein 0141 222 5389 | fstein@55north.com Editorial Contributor Karen Peattie

ADVERTISING Advertising Manager Susan Dignon 0141 222 5384 | sdignon@55north.com

DESIGN Design & Digital Manager Richard Chaudhry 0141 222 5388 | rchaudhry@55north.com

EVENTS Events & Operations Manager Cara Begley 0141 222 5381 | cbegley@55north.com

CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS Scottish Local Retailer is distributed free to qualifying readers. For a registration card, call 0141 222 5381. Other readers may obtain copies by annual subscription at £50 (UK), £62 (Europe airmail), £99 (Worldwide airmail).

55 North Ltd, Waterloo Chambers, 19 Waterloo Street, Glasgow, G2 6AY Tel: 0141 22 22 100 Fax: 0141 22 22 177 Website: www.55north.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/slrmag DISCLAIMER The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of 55 North Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher.

All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endevoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change.

This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein.

Scottish Local Retailer is produced monthly by 55 North Ltd.

© 55 North Ltd. 2018 ISSN 1740-2409.

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Cover Story

#ThinkSmart2

THE FUTURE STARTS HERE Technology and data took centre stage at SLR’s new annual #ThinkSmart conference as speakers from across the globe offered a glimpse into how the future of convenience retailing might look.

The Retail Data Partnership Ltd

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

I

t is becoming clearer than ever that data and insight, facilitated by new technologies, are set to transform the retail industry – and that includes local retailing. Last month saw SLR launch a new and unique event, #ThinkSmart, that aimed to explore that opportunity and consider what local retailers need to be doing to ensure they are not left behind in an increasingly data-driven world.

A look around the wider world of retail tells us that data and insight is what drives modern retail. In the online world, data and insight is the only thing that drives retail, given the more or less complete absence of face-toface interaction between the retailer and the customer. Increasingly, data and insight is what also drives decision-making in the bricks and mortar world of retail too.

The problem that #ThinkSmart2 attempted to address is that while the supermarkets, discounters and high street retailers now ‘get’ insight – and are spending vast sums harnessing its power – local retailers have been slower to get on board, albeit for very understandable reasons.

The danger here is that the fabled intimate relationship that has long been the convenience store’s USP is rapidly being eroded. Where once a convenience store could rely on having a uniquely close understanding of its customers, the exponential growth of data-driven retail is turning that notion on its head.

Amazon, for instance, an almost entirely online business, arguably understands its customers far better than a local retailer does. Even Tesco and Asda, who are quite a way behind, are spending fortunes on data and insight these days to get closer to their customers. And that’s why we created the event. To help attendees and the wider SLR readership to get closer to their customers; to deeply understand the types of experience and the range of services customers will expect from their convenience store in three, five or 10 years’ time.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

And one thing is for sure: it won’t be even remotely close to the experience they expect today. So the time to start planning for that connected store full of connected shoppers is now. Waiting around is not an option.

We need to take the initiative now and that might mean getting out of our comfort zones and trialling some new solutions and ideas we hadn’t considered before. But the future will be an exciting place and the best way of predicting the future is to create it yourself. #ThinkSmart2 was created to be the first step on that journey and the many delegates from across the UK who braved the snow and travel chaos were rewarded with an enriching, enlightening and inspiring day packed with fantastic speakers, brilliant ideas and great technology and data-based concepts to help them drive their stores forward into the new era of customer engagement.

Hosted by former HIM joint owner Tom Fender, now MD of Glasgow-based Bolt Learning, the event took a fast-paced run through some of the technologies that will undoubtedly be impacting upon our sector in the months and years to come.

It was a fascinating day and we would encourage all retailers to make sure they attend next year’s event as things will no doubt have developed even further by then.

The future is yours for the making.

Chairman Tom Fender

The #ThinkSmart2 speaker line-up.

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#ThinkSmart2

Cover Story

EXHIBITORS: PAYPOINT PayPoint’s UK network of 29,000 stores is bigger than all banks, supermarkets and Post Offices together, putting it at the heart of communities nationwide.

The company’s innovative retail services platform PayPoint One is now live in over 8,000 stores in the UK and offers everything a modern c-store needs, from parcels and contactless card payments to Epos and bill payment services. paypoint.com contactus@paypoint.com THE RETAIL DATA PARTNERSHIP One the UK’s leading Epos providers, The Retail Data Partnership specialises in reliable, easy to use Epos systems to the convenience sector and strives to use big data to give retailers and brands the complete picture of the convenience sector.

The Retail Data Partnership’s ShopMate Epos system is designed to take the work out of running Epos instore, and to provide retailers with the key information they need to build the profits of their business. retaildata.co.uk marketing@retaildata.co.uk ZAPPER Free to download for all stores, Zapper’s award-winning mobile payment with in-built loyalty app is now available in +1,000 stores across the UK, including Spar, Nisa, Best-One and Booker.

With just one tap to pay, digital store loyalty cards are instantly updated and available vouchers automatically redeemed. Using Zapper, retailers and brands can instantly match a name to every basket and create targeted marketing campaigns to encourage a higher visit frequency and increase basket spend. zapper.com retail@zapper.com BOLT LEARNING Bolt is committed to improving the

performance of the UK convenience and wholesale industry by improving the knowledge, skill-sets and capabilities of the people who work within it. Bolt creates innovative digital learning solutions, using modern teaching methodologies and cutting-edge technology, to help companies more effectively train and develop their people.

Bolt offers online training modules that are specifically designed for convenience retail, giving retailers a cost-effective, time-efficient way to train themselves and their staff. boltlearning.com/sectors/retail info@boltlearning.com GS1 GS1 UK is a community of over 33,000 members working in retail, foodservice, healthcare and more, committed to standardising supply chain processes using the common language of GS1 global standards. GS1 Standards for identifying, capturing, and sharing information – about products, assets, services, people, locations and more – make it possible for companies to speak the same language, connect with each other, and enable true visibility in the supply chain.

GS1 UK helps everyone involved in making, moving and trading goods, to automate and standardise their supply chain processes, enabling enhanced efficiency, safety and sustainability. gs1uk.org support@gs1uk.org HI STREET DIGITAL MEDIA Hi Street Digital Media provides local retailers and FMCG brands with a unique opportunity to target shoppers at the vital moment of decision-making prior to purchase.

Our high bright digital media screens, placed in premium c-stores throughout the UK, are proven to increase sales of promoted products by an average of 15.3% whilst also increasing both footfall and basket size.

The screens are supplied free to

retailers who meet the qualifying criteria.

The company also allocates a portion of the daily media space to symbol group specific retailer promotions. histreetdigital.co.uk paul@histreetdigital.co.uk IRI WORLDWIDE IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics and forward-looking insights that help suppliers and retailers grow their businesses. With the largest repository of purchase, media, social, causal and loyalty data, all integrated on an on-demand cloud-based technology platform, IRI helps to guide its 5,000+ global clients in their quests to remain relentlessly relevant, capture market share, connect with consumers and deliver market-leading growth. iriworldwide.com uk.marketing@iriworldwide.com MHOUSE SOLUTIONS MHouse Solutions is Scotland’s leading supplier of tailored Epos solutions. The rapidly-expanding company has multiple supplier links and partnerships and services over 450 stores in Scotland alone. MHouse Solutions offers a comprehensive, cost-effective yet premium Epos solution that brings the simplicity back to retail.

The company offers a free helpdesk and seven-day support, as well as allocating a dedicated BDM to project manage Epos installation and training. mhousesolutions.com admin@mhousesolutions.com NAVARRA RETAIL SYSTEMS Navarra Retail Systems has provided tobacco retailing solutions for over 15 years and offers retailers the best service and keenest prices.

The company supplies a range of dispensers tailored to the needs of UK retailers with solutions to suit all outlets.

All units fully comply with all regulations (even with their doors open) and are the

most efficient way to retail tobacco in a market with restricted display.

The secure metal units protect valuable stock and provide real stock control as all product dispensed is automatically scanned to the till which reduces costs by saving time on stocking, speeding up service and preventing mistakes. navarraretailsystems.com info@navarraretailsystems.com SNAPPY SHOPPER The Snappy Shopper solution was designed and built specifically for the convenience store market. As consumers continue to migrate to online services and away from traditional offline business models, it was clear that the convenience store market would go the same way.

Snappy Shopper responded with an app that gives convenience store retailers an instant ecommerce facility by allowing them to deliver to shoppers within a predefined catchment area, increasing sales by up to 45% in trial stores. snappyshopper.co.uk scott@snappyshopper.co.uk VELOCITY WORLDWIDE Velocity Worldwide is a creative retail marketing and shopper engagement specialist with over two decades in the business of knowing shoppers and the retailers who serve them. Velocity’s proprietary personalisation and insight technology, Darius for Retail, was born out of this specialism.

By helping convenience stores and fuel retailers gather, profile and segment shopper data, Darius for Retail drives more visits, engages customers and grows sales by making it possible for them to deliver personalised, relevant messages, experiences and rewards to their shoppers across all channels, both offline and online. velocityww.com andy.batt@velocityww.com

PAUL MERCIECA

Founder, Hi Street Digital Paul Mercieca, better known as the man behind the eponymous multi-award-winning London integrated communications agency Mercieca, launched Hi Street Digital Media in 2017 after testing the concept in major independent c-store chains across the UK for a full year. The in-store screens add colour and excitement to c-stores and feature a rolling programme of ads and offers to entice shoppers into the store and get them spending more.

Free to retailers, the screens have been proven to drive significant sales uplifts (15.3% on average) in featured products and the company is currently seeking retailers in Scotland looking to bring a new tech-driven angle to their stores.

Mercieca’s presentation took delegates through a potted history of how technology has influenced shoppers and retailers over the years and demonstrated how quickly technological advances have revolutionised local retailing outlets.

He highlighted how feedback from retailers struggling to find room and time to site yet more instore POS led him to the idea of digital screens that could be managed remotely, leaving the retailer free to concentrate on selling. The technology provided by Hi Street allows retailers and brands to influence shoppers at the crucial moment as they enter a store.

Average sales increases for retailers using the screens have been 15.3% while footfall has risen 4.3% and basket spend grew by 6.8%.

histreetdigital.co.uk paul@highstreetdigital.co.uk

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APRIL 2018 | SLR

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Cover Story

#ThinkSmart2

KATIE JENKINS

Head of Customer Proposition, Bolt Learning Bolt Learning’s mission is to help retailers, wholesalers and suppliers improve their business by leveraging technology to grow their biggest asset: their people. Bolt’s online smarter training solutions offer an extensive range of online modules containing realistic scenarios, immersive stories and engaging graphics, combined with trainee and performance analytics, to inspire behavioural change, ensure compliance and drive productivity. The company already works with key retailers and wholesalers including Lifestyle Express, McColl’s, Parfetts and Brakes.

Jenkins discussed how 22% of staff receive no induction training at all and less than 50% of local retailers offer no health and safety training while 77% of retailers say time is the limiting factor to training. Additionally, she highlighted how 44% of shoppers don’t feel staff are adequately trained in the stores they use.

If you aren’t investing in staff training or employee engagement, she said, then you run the risk of losing out to your competitors and losing out in the ‘talent war’. It’s worth noting too that in five years’ time millennials will make up 50% of the workforce and they value training more than they value more traditional perks.

Jenkins explained how modern learning is 24/7, is interactive (not passive) and is any device, any language, anywhere. Bolt’s solutions have been tailor-made to leverage these opportunities and have the added benefit of being hugely helpful in maintaining and storing staff training compliance records.

Bolt, she said, helps retailers protect their stores, grow their sales and build a winning team.

boltlearning.com info@boltlearning.com

JOHN BIRT

Retail Director, Zapper

SLR Publisher Antony Begley

Free to download for all stores, Zapper’s award-winning mobile payment with in-built loyalty app is now available in more than 1,000 stores across the UK, including Spar, Nisa, Best-One and Booker.

Jon Birt’s presentation highlighted how Zapper is helping retailers meet consumer demand with new technology. With just one tap to pay, digital store loyalty cards are instantly updated and available vouchers automatically redeemed. Using Zapper, retailers and brands can instantly match a name to every basket and create targeted marketing campaigns to encourage a higher visit frequency and increase basket spend.

With payments settled within 24 hours, Zapper’s low-cost loyalty solution also helps retailers to improve cash flow. Birt discussed how 37m adults in the UK now own a smartphone and one in four use a smartphone to pay in-store. Over six billion vouchers were issued last year with a marked shift away from paper vouchers toward digital – and Birt also stressed how important personalised offers are becoming. One size no longer fits all and customers are increasingly expecting offers tailored to their preferences and shopping habits.

Zapper’s technology allows retailers to leverage their shopper data to drive targeted campaigns, run engagement campaigns and carry out customer surveys, continually enhancing and improving their marketing along the way.

zapper.com retail@zapper.com

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www.slrmag.co.uk

• Fast pick and service times • Stock securely locked away • Easy to use and operate • Increase available merchandise space • Automatically rotates stock • Easy stock control

• Replaces your old flap type gantry • Run by your EPOS till for stock control • From 600mm wide 46 chutes through to 1.8m wide 142 chutes • Choice of slat board fronts small media screens and large media screens • In use by Nisa, Costcutter, Spar, Londis, Budgens, Premier, Family Shopper, Co Op, Tesco & One Stop

Cover Story

#ThinkSmart2

TOM HALL

Retailer Analytics and Consulting Practice Leader, IRI Worldwide Tom Hall has worked across the globe in both developed and developing markets dedicated to helping retailers and manufacturers optimise their price, media, promotion and ranging strategies. He has a wealth of experience and has specialised in rolling out data analytics to new markets, working on convenience business optimisation across the world.

He currently leads the Retailer Analytics and Consulting Practice at IRI, driving the development of tailored business optimisation packages for the UK convenience sector.

Hall’s presentation centred on improving the performance of stores through real time data analytics, something IRI has been doing in the supermarkets for many years, but has now brought into the convenience arena.

He started by insisting that, despite what retailers think, they already have all the data and the ability they need to create amazing insight to optimise business performance.

A controversial section of the presentation revealed how more than half of all promotions in a c-store actually have a negative impact on revenue growth.

He then highlighted how choosing promotional lines and indeed wider ranging decisions should be based far more on real data than on the current wholesaler/supplier driven model. He also outlined how powerful data analytics technologies can be in any stores, using digital shelf edge labels as an example of technologies that can help retailers optimise sales and profits.

iriworldwide.com uk.marketing@iriworldwide.com

STEPHEN BURNETT

MD, The Retail Data Partnership Twenty years in the independent retail sector has confirmed Burnett’s belief that independent retailers need to use technology and their personal service to defend their livelihoods against ever-growing competition.

The Retail Data Partnership is one of the largest suppliers of Epos to the convenience retail sector in the UK and its ShopMate Epos system is designed to take the work out of running Epos in-store, and to provide retailers with the key information they need to build the profits of their business.

The Retail Data Partnership sets itself apart through some truly innovative data and insight work to help retailers run more effective businesses, and it was one such piece of recent work that formed the basis of Burnett’s presentation.

The ‘Optimising Prices’ project was a first of its kind attempt to examine the effects on sales volumes of proactively moving prices of a basket of

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high volume lines in a selected group of real convenience stores over a period of time, including SLR’s own Woodlands Local. The project aimed to tackle the received wisdom that increasing prices will necessarily reduce sales and profits – and indeed aimed to show that retailers can add 10% to their margins without losing sales.

While the project was live at the time of the event, the indications were that by taking a structured, analytical approach to pricing, retailers could significantly increase profits without taking a hit on sales and footfall. SLR will report on the project in more detail in future issues, but it is indicative of the innovative, hands-on approach to data analytics that the company takes.

retaildata.co.uk marketing@retaildata.co.uk

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#ThinkSmart2

Cover Story

HARRIS ASLAM

MD, Eros Retail Harris Aslam runs Eros Retail, a fast-growing family-owned chain of seven stores. He believes innovation is a fundamental driving force behind the company’s mission to “redefine convenience retail”. Harris recently visited the famous Amazon Go store in Seattle and shared his first-hand experience of the trip from a retailer’s point of view. He also discussed what local retailers in Scotland can learn from this unique store and considered whether this is a model that that could be replicated, at least in parts.

The most surprising element about Amazon Go is that, far from replacing staff with technology as many people assumed it has, the store is actually using technology to free staff up to carry out roles much better suited to humans, principally customer service. Harris highlighted how the store has countless staff on the shop floor who now have the time to talk to shoppers in-depth, offer advice and simply help them with anything they require.

The store also focuses enormously on fresh food and food to go, including a team of workers behind a glass panel preparing fresh salads, sandwiches and so on all day long. While much of the store could not be replicated directly on this side of the Atlantic, the overall commitment to customer service and key categories like fresh, chilled and food to go is enlightening.

erosretail.co.uk hello@erosretail.co.uk

STEVE O’NEILL

Group Marketing Director, PayPoint Steve O’Neill oversees the development of PayPoint’s strategic marketing, as well as its consumer insight, media relations and brand agendas. Having held senior roles at HSBC, Carphone Warehouse, Orange and John Lewis, he is passionate about technology, retail and shopper behaviour and has played a fundamental role in the transformation of the PayPoint brand in the last couple of years.

PayPoint is now present in over 29,000 c-stores across the UK and its new PayPoint One platform is now live in over 8,000 UK stores.

www.slrmag.co.uk

O’Neill’s presentation focused on how the future of convenience technology may look and stressed how difficult predicting the future can be, citing the then CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer’s casual dismissal of the iPhone in 2007 as a case in point. He also discussed the fact that most technologies fail while some, like the QR code, lose popularity before being given a new lease of life.

The best advice, he said, when choosing which technologies to invest in was always to start with the customer, quoting HIM data

that showed that friendly and helpful staff was consistently the number one driver to store for customers between 2013 and 2017.

The key areas to focus on, he concluded, were “how people find you”, “how people shop” and “how people pay”. Most technologies should meet at least one of these key challenges and help your store improve its performance in these areas.

paypoint.com contactus@paypoint.com

APRIL 2018 | SLR

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Cover Story

#ThinkSmart2

SCOTT CAMPBELL

Director, Snappy Shopper A home-grown Scottish solution, the Snappy Shopper app was designed and built specifically for the convenience store market. As consumers continue to migrate to online services and away from traditional offline business models, it was clear that the convenience store market would go the same way, said Scott Campbell. Snappy Shopper’s response was an app that gives local retailer a powerful ecommerce website that allows shoppers to order via the app and have the products delivered to their door.

The app automatically highlights participating stores in their area for the shopper and allows them to quickly and easily build an order before checking out and paying via cash, card, Apple Pay or PayPal. The order is then delivered to them.

Initial results have been phenomenal with test stores seeing additional sales of £35,000 a month – a 45% increase in turnover. The app has already processed £2.5m of sales per year with over 20,000 successful deliveries in the Dundee area alone.

The app also provides the retailer with a host of customer insights that can be used to drive sales further and target customers more efficiently while the loyalty club functionality makes launching a club quick, easy and rewarding for both retailer and customer.

snappyshopper.co.uk scott@snappyshopper.co.uk

ENDA MCSHANE

CEO, Velocity Worldwide Flying in specially from New York where he is based, Enda McShane is CEO and founder of Velocity Worldwide, a specialist in using creative marketing and personalisation technology to help retailers grow their business.

Velocity’s proprietary personalisation and insight technology, Darius for Retail, helps convenience stores and fuel retailers gather, profile and segment shopper data. McShane explained how Darius drives more visits, engages customers and grows sales by making it possible for retailers to deliver personalised, relevant messages, experiences and rewards to their shoppers across all channels, both offline and online – when they’re instore and when they’re not.

He summed Velocity’s proposition up as helping “more customers spend more, more often” and highlighted the company’s impressive client list from Spar, Londis and Family Shopper to Virgin Holidays, Standard Life, Gap and, of course, SLR’s own Woodlands Local.

His presentation explained how the real threat to local retailers is from changes in shopper behaviour driven by online shopping – but offered a caveat that the death of bricks and mortar has been greatly exaggerated.

Now, he said, is the time for local retailers to start the fight back by understanding and utilising customer data to drive sales and profits efficiently.

McShane also warned retailers off “chasing shiny objects” by investing on the latest big thing, instead advising them to focus on technologies that blend physical and digital touchpoints in a single solution. He concluded that most retailers know what they really need to do but don’t know how to do it. The solution? Go back to basics by gathering customer data in a way that lets you actually do something with it.

velocityww.com andy.batt@velocityww.com

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For greater openness, face-to-face lobbying must be registered.

If you lobby MSPs, members of the Scottish Government, Special Advisers or Permanent Secretary then you need to know more before 12 March 2018.

LOBBYING REGISTER | CLÀR-COITEACHAIDH

www.lobbying.scot

News

Products

Red Bull expands sugarfree range Red Bull has launched several

ProductNews

new SKUs to ensure that every line in its range now has a sugarfree alternative.

The following are all now available: Sugar-free 473ml (PMP and plain); Sugar-free 355ml (PMP only); Editions Sugar-Free Tropical 250ml (PMP and plain); Editions Sugar-Free Orange 250ml (PMP and plain).

The launch is supported

by Red Bull’s biggest-ever campaign on sugar-free which includes video-on-demand, digital, outdoor, social media and shopper activity.

Dedicated POS is also available.

Makeover for Overhang Soft drinks brand Overhang has unveiled a packaging refresh designed to make the product more appealing to health-

PROFITING FROM TOBACCO IN A DARK MARKET – P40 FROZEN On-pack promo encourages families to get out more

McCain dares to do it McCain has unveiled a new onpack promotion for families that offers 2-for-1 tickets for thousands of venues across the country.

Activities include tree-top adventures, go-karting, segway tours, scuba diving, trampolining and more. The promotion aims to encourage families to participate in activities that they might not normally consider at the weekend.

The promotion is supported by out-of-home advertising and instore activity.

Live from April, Dare To Do It runs for 12 weeks.

To redeem a ticket, customers need to purchase a promotional pack then enter its code online.

McCain Marketing Director Mark Hodge said: “We’re hugely excited to launch the ‘Dare To Do It’ promotion. As a brand, we know families and know how expensive it can often be to entertain a family at the weekend.

“With so many different activities on offer – from Tae Kwon Do to scuba diving, and from trampolining to theme parks – there’s something for everyone to enjoy!”

conscious consumers.

The redesign is a result of MATCHES

market research that

CONFECTIONERY

revealed Overhang

Retailers can get minted with Trebor

was being mistaken for an energy drink.

The drink’s all-natural formula remains unchanged. It contains orange, ginger and lime, as well as several botanicals including milk thistle, raspberry leaf and burdock root, B vitamins and Vitamin C.

Reformulated Capri-Sun slips under sugar tax threshold Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has halved the sugar content in its Capri-Sun Original range to 4.9g per 100ml, making the children’s fruit juice drink sugar tax exempt.

The sugar has been replaced by natural sweetener stevia and the new recipe applies to all variants in the Original range.

The Capri-Sun Original, No Added Sugar and Fruity Water

Trebor’s convenience-exclusive promotion Get Minted has returned for a second year.

The promo runs until June 17 and gives consumers a chance to win one of 102 prizes ranging from £50 up to a whopping five grand.

Consumers can win by simply unwrapping Trebor packs and finding a ticket revealing if they’ve won a cash prize.

And it’s not just shoppers who will be quids in. Mondelez will reward retailers who stock Trebor and display the Get Minted POS with the same cash prize if one of their customers buys a winning pack.

Get Minted was launched last year and increased sales by 8.5% in independents and

symbols during the competition period. This year’s promotion will be extended to include 2017 NPD, Trebor Softmints Pots 100g and Trebor Sugar Free Mighties Megapack 44.5g.

Carly Sharpe, Brand Manager for Trebor, commented: “Our latest competition will create excitement that will encourage consumers to purchase Trebor in store to give themselves, and the retailer, a chance to win big.”

Prize coupons will be hidden within selected wrappers of both plain and price-marked packs of Extra Strong Mints, Softmints and Mighties.

Retailers can find advice on how to boost mints sales further on deliciousdisplay.co.uk.

Republic unveils striking new pack designs Republic Technologies has relaunched its ranges of matches following a major overhaul of its Swan, Cook’s, Bryant & May and Ship brands.

The refresh is intended to appeal to a broader, younger audience, focusing on the attributes of heritage, quality and reliability, and explicitly reflecting trends in candles, outdoor living, wood burning fires and general in-home usage.

In addition, the move reflected the growing appeal of sustainability and increased demand for eco-friendly matches, following Republic’s removal of all Strike Anywhere match formats.

ranges are all now soft drinks tax exempt.

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Products

News

Oreo now made with sustainably sourced cocoa Mondelez has announced that its Oreo brand is now covered by its sustainable cocoa sourcing programme, Cocoa Life. Packs

CRISPS Major milestone heralds a taste-trip down memory lane

Walkers celebrates 70 years with new flavours Walkers is celebrating its 70th anniversary with a limited-edition flavour launch and multi-channel campaign to thank the British public for its continued support. One lucky retailer will also win a store makeover and a party for their local community.

There are six new limited-edition flavours inspired by the nation’s favourite tastes over the decades available now in both single serve and multipack formats: Coronation Chicken (1950s), Roast Lamb & Mint (1960s), Cheese Fondue (1970s), Chicken Tikka Masala (1980s), BBQ Rib (1990s) and Sweet Chili (2000s).

The core Walkers range doesn’t miss out either, with a new design that states: “Celebrating 70 years of the nation’s favourite”. Two separate TV ads this month reinforce the message, alongside digital content and in-store activity.

Rachel Holms, Senior Marketing Director at PepsiCo, said: “Our flavour campaigns have always been popular with shoppers, and retailers benefit enormously from the buzz that they generate.”

will now begin to display the Cocoa Life logo, which will be present across the full range by the end of this year.

The company has committed to expanding Cocoa Life to more of its brands, with the ultimate goal of sourcing all its cocoa sustainably. All of its Cadbury products will be brought under Cocoa Life by 2019.

B&H Blue gets Superking capsule Benson & Hedges Blue has launched B&H Superkings Blue, a new capsule variant. The new variant is available now, with an introductory RSP of £8. The launch taps into the growing capsule segment, which is now worth over £630m a year in independent and symbols, and accounts for 13% of the UK’s total cigarette sales.

Convenience retailers can upload an image of their in-store Walkers 70th birthday displays before April 28 to countsformore.co.uk for a chance to win a store make-over and celebration for local residents.

Bags of £1 PMP chocolate from Mondelez Mondelez has introduced 95g £1 promotional price-marked packs PMPs across CDM Giant Buttons, CDM Caramel Nibbles, Cadbury Twirl Bites and

MEAT-FREE

Cadbury Bitsa Wispa. Terry’s

Quorn extends tennis tie-in with LTA

Chocolate Orange Minis will be

Quorn has renewed its partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) for a further five years.

The partnership will see Quorn continue to be the title sponsor of the Quorn Family Tennis Cup, as well as sponsor of all LTA grass court events and sampling at The Queen’s Club Championships where tennis fans can try free Quorn samples.

Plus, for the first time, Quorn is launching a partnership with the LTA High Performance Team specifically to test and research how mycoprotein, the main protein source

All products ship in outers of 10.

used in all Quorn products, supports the growth of muscle mass and bioavailability of protein.

The deal forms part of Quorn’s £14m investment in the brand throughout 2018.

Peter Harrison, Quorn Marketing Director said: “Our partnership with the LTA is very important to our Quorn vision, which is to provide food that is healthy for our families and the planet. We also want to understand the positive impact mycoprotein can have on the growth of muscle mass.”

available to order from May 15.

The equivalent non-price-marked packs are also available.

Landmark launches Lifestyle Groceries promotion Landmark Wholesale is offering an increased POR of 40% with its latest promotion, available exclusively to Lifestyle Express retailers. until April 21. Ownbrand Lifestyle products included in the promotion include pure orange juice, mayonnaise, softest luxury toilet tissue, nappies, instant noodles, digestives, kitchen foil and cappuccino sachets.

www.slrmag.co.uk

APRIL 2018 | SLR

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News

Off-Trade

Disabled Access Statement needed for new licences All new premises licence

Off-TradeNews

applications must now include a disabled access statement. The statutory application form has been amended to include a pro forma questionnaire obliging the applicant to appraise and document their accessibility. It is important to remember that the statement should cover more than matters relating to physical access, such as menus and hearing loops. Guidance from the Scottish Government can be found at bit.ly/2IpkBsk.

The Macallan.

The new look.

The Macallan has unveiled a new look for its range of single malts that will roll out from his month.

Taking inspiration from The Macallan Rare Cask and Rare Cask Black packaging, the new bottle design is broad-

SOAK UP SOME SERIOUS WATER SALES – P46 BEER Everything’s cool for premium world beers

Heverlee and Pabst fridge packs unveiled Tennent’s owner C&C Group has launched new fridge packs for two premium world beers it distributes in the UK, Heverlee and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Packs of 6 x 330ml cans of Pabst are available through Booker and JW Filshill now, with same-sized packs of Heverlee rolling out mid-May. Belgium-brewed Heverlee is the fifth top-selling premium lager in the Scottish on-trade.

Pabst Blue Ribbon is an iconic

American brew, popular with millennial beer drinkers.

Head of Premium Brands at Tennent’s, Angus Lawrie, said:

“We have big plans for both brands this year, specifically designed to drive footfall into retailers and encourage purchase.”

shouldered, with a chevron cut into the bottle as it tapers toward the neck. The outer packaging

WINE

WINE

design has also been updated.

Spar’s wine revamp continues

Campo Viejo uncorks life with limited edition

The new bottles feature an anti-refill enclosure and anticounterfeit technology.

Savanna launches new fusion cider South African premium cider brand Savanna has unveiled new Savanna Cross (4% ABV).

Flavoured with hops to give a taste like beer, Savanna Cross has been developed as an alternative to sweet and fruit ciders. It is available from Distell in cases of 24 x 330ml packs for single can resale.

Less bubbles from Landmark’s fizz Landmark Wholesale has added a Frizzante variant to its Santa Loretta range, offering a lightlysparkling alternative with less bubbles to prosecco. Frizzante is currently experiencing a growth in popularity. Landmark’s offering was praised for its “light and refreshing taste” during sampling. It is available

Spar has kicked-off the second phase of its own-brand wine range update, with two new line-ups for spring.

The ‘Exclusives’ range is available now, while the ‘Regional Selection’ range will be unveiled in May. The new ‘Exclusives’ range is a small selection of promotable wines, only available in Spar. They give consumers the chance to trade-up – especially when they’re on promotion – and come in bold, engaging packaging to draw shoppers in.

The range comprises 10 whites, 14 reds and one rosé from seven countries.

“With ‘Exclusives’ joining our offering, Spar has created a range of wines which is relevant, on-trend and great value for money,” said Amrit Rebello, Spar Brand Manager.

“The launch is a great addition to our core wine range allowing us to keep sales growing yearon-year, making these higher-tier lines perfect for today’s quality-seeking shopper.”

The new lines are supported by a marketing campaign that includes POS, newsletters, social media and PR activity.

Campo Viejo has unveiled the fifth of its yearly Reserva Art Series Limited Edition bottles.

For the label design, artists from around the world were invited to create an image that reflects what it means to ‘Live Uncorked’ and represent Campo Viejo’s Spanish way of life.

The winning entry by Norman Duenas depicts “an abstract representation of people coming together and celebrating life”.

The new Campo Viejo Reserva Art Series Limited Edition bottle (RSP £12.95) is available now for a limited period.

The launch is supported with in-store activity and a social media campaign.

exclusively from Landmark Wholesale member depots.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

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Off-Trade

News

xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx BEER Camelot extension promises

Guinness tempts ‘craft curious’ consumers Guinness has launched two new beers targeted at the “craft curious” drinker: Open Gate Citra IPA (5% ABV) and Open Gate Pilsner (4.5% ABV).

The new drinks aim to address the barriers to craft beer and become a “gateway range”, giving the UK’s 7.5m consumers who are curious about craft beer – but don’t buy it much – the confidence to venture off the beaten path that leads to more mainstream brews.

Created at the Open Gate Brewery in Dublin, both are available now.

Citra IPA has an RSP of £1.85 for a 330ml bottle, or £6 for a 4-pack of 330ml cans. Pilsner RSPs at £1.85 for a 650ml bottle, £5 for 4 x 330ml bottles, and £12 for a 12-pack of 330ml bottles.

Guinness Innovation Manager Katie Hunter said: “These two new beers are set to inspire consumers to broaden their beer repertoires in an accessible way.”

BEER Competition should be a hit with music fans

Gigs galore for Carlsberg’s winners

LIQUEURS

Carlsberg has revealed an on-pack competition that will see one lucky music fan every week win a bumper bundle of gig tickets.

The promotion, in partnership with music promoter Live Nation, runs for 12 weeks from April to June across six million packs of Carlsberg and Carlsberg Export.

The brand will support the activity in-store with POS material, bolstered by online activity including website banners and targeted ads.

The weekly winners will receive six tickets to a Live Nation festival and six tickets to three O2 Academy gigs throughout the year, with artists scheduled to play the venues this year including Kylie Minogue and Justin Timberlake.

To enter, consumers simply need to ‘Shazam’ limitededition packs with their phones. They will then be directed to the competition page, where winners will be instantly notified and able to redeem their prize.

Baileys has tapped into the growing demand for dairy-free products with the launch of new Baileys Almande (70cl, RSP £20, 13% ABV).

Available now, the new vegan-friendly variant blends the nutty flavours of sweet almond oil and almond essence with vanilla.

The new bottle features the signature Baileys branding teamed with a fresh new colour palette, designed with the free-from market in mind.

The launch will be supported by a six-figure marketing spend and a targeted digital campaign.

An initial trial before Christmas saw the product sell out in less than two months.

www.slrmag.co.uk

Baileys targets dairyfree drinkers

Q: I lodged a major variation application to increase the alcohol display in my store 10 months ago but I am still waiting to hear back from the Licensing Board!

A: Newlegislation will soon require licensing boards to determine any applications within nine months of the application being lodged. In the meantime you may wish to phone and email the Licensing Board asking for an update. The Board’s contact details are available online. If there is a technical issue preventing your application being processed you may wish to consult a licensing solicitor.

Q: I see that there is a proposal to create a criminal offence that deals specifically with violence and abuse directed at shop workers.

What does this potentially mean for me as a c-store worker?

A: It has long been argued that tresponsibilities such as Challenge 25 makes shopworkers a target for abuse. A private Members Bill recognising this has been proposed by Daniel Johnson MSP. This will lower threshold at which obstructive, abusive or threatening behaviour is considered a crime and can be prosecuted. It is not yet law and the Government is seeking views from shopkeepers and the public. Further information can be found at www.notpartofthejob.com.

Q: I spoke to the Council about applying for a premises licence for one of my stores. A Licensing Standards Officer gave me lots of paperwork including a Disabled Access and Facilities Statement as part of the application. What is this? I am a bit lost.

A: As of March 30, 2018, you’ll need to submit with your application a statement that clearly outlines how your premises is accessible for disabled people and what facilities you provide as part of this access. For example, you may have ramped access to the door of your store or a low-down counter for wheelchair access. It is important to note that the licensing board will not progress your application without this statement.

Further information can be seen at bit.ly/2G75Pq3 but don’t struggle on yourself, get help from a specialist licensing solicitor.

APRIL 2018 | SLR

23

News

Newstrade

RETAILER MARGINS

Retailers hit by terms cuts once more News retailers have been dealt several body blows in recent weeks with news that terms have been cut on several of the UK’s leading newspapers.

News UK announced that the cover price of the Saturday Times was rising by 20p to £1.90 but at the same time there was to be a drop in margin from 21.5% to 21%.

The announcement came shortly after Trinity Mirror confirmed that it would be cutting retailer margins on both the Daily Express and Daily Star.

Previously, retailers have enjoyed preferential terms of 24.2% on both the Express and Star titles but the new prices mean margins are being reduced to 22.5% for weekday publications and 21% on the weekend newspapers.

Monday to Friday copies of the Daily Express now cost 5p more, at 60p, while The Saturday Express now costs 90p and the Sunday edition rises to £1.50.

Meanwhile, Monday to Friday editions of the Daily Star increase by 10p to 40p.

Saturday editions now cost 50p and the price of the Daily Star Sunday has gone up from 90p to £1.

NFRN National President Linda Sood said: “News retailers are getting heartily sick of this follow my leader mentality that publishers are now adopting by accompanying price rises with a cut in our terms.”

NFRN News Operations Committee Chairman John Parkinson commented: “I do not, for one moment, believe that the money that comes from these rises will be reinvested in the products and the position of these titles on newsstands will come under further threat.”

News& Magazines TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT YOUR SOFT DRINKS RANGE – P48 NEWSTRADE CONSOLIDATION Competition watchdog looks into proposed buyout

NFRN welcomes CMA inquiry into Trinity Mirror’s takeover of Express Newspapers Proposed consolidation in the newstrade hits a snag as inquiry announced into Mirror’s Express aquisition.

The NFRN has hailed the Competition and Market Authority’s (CMA’s) phase one inquiry into Trinity Mirror’s planned purchase of the newspaper and magazine titles published by Richard Desmond, adding that it hopes that it will shine a spotlight on some of the ills in the newspaper supply chain.

National President Linda Sood said: “We did fear some repercussions for news retailers when the takeover by Trinity Mirror was first announced and as they have become a reality we will be happy to share our concerns with the regulator.

“Firstly, we will remind the CMA that the 11 daily newspapers and nine Sunday publications that now exist are owned by just a handful of plcs or individuals and this will be further reduced by the Mirror buyout.

“Secondly, the worst fears of independent retailers were recognised just recently when cover prices on the daily and weekend copies of both the Express and Star increased but the margins that news stockists received were slashed to bring them in line with those offered by the Mirror publications.

“Previously, retailers had enjoyed preferential margins of

24.2% on both titles but these have been reduced to 22.5% for weekday publications and 21% for the weekend papers.”

The announcement of the CMA’s decision to launch the phase one inquiry came on the same day that the NFRN delivered a dossier of concerns regarding practices in the news supply chain to the regulator and called for an investigation into the market.

As well as the phase one inquiry into Trinity Mirror’s acquisition, culture secretary Matt Hancock is to consider whether it raises media plurality concerns under the Enterprise Act.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

New racing paper off and running Greenways Publishing has added to its stable of sports media titles with the launch of The Racing Paper, with the first edition hitting newsstands in time for the Grand National.

Aimed at racing and betting enthusiasts, The Racing Paper will be published every Saturday throughout Great Britain with a £1.90 cover price.

Along with previewing all the weekend horse racing action, a 12-page Sports Bet section will also cover sports betting, including an exclusive column on football from Michael Owen, plus other leading personalities from cricket, golf, rugby, tennis, motor racing and American football.

Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief David Emery, former Head of Sport at Express Newspapers, said: “We have been considering a racing newspaper for a number of years. With recent changes in the market, such as the loss of Racing Plus, and the 20% increase in cover price of the daily publication, The Racing Post (from £2.40 to £2.90), now seems to be the perfect time to fulfil our ambitions. The launch also complements our existing racing coverage via our monthly magazine, Racing Ahead.”

Trade Marketing Manager, Neil Wooding, added: “Greenways Publishing are a growing sports media company who are passionate about sport and we look forward to growing our media portfolio through both the launch of The Racing Paper and through future acquisitions.”

KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST NEWS AS IT HAPPENS – FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SLRMAG

24

SLR | APRIL 2018

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Inside Business

Research Digest

ONLINE SEARCHES FOR ‘SUGAR TAX’ ROCKET As the Government’s new sugar tax legislation comes into force, the nation’s shoppers have become increasingly interested – if online search data is a good indicator.

Analysis of the search behaviour of three million consumers in the UK by consumer insight firm Hitwise has revealed that, since the beginning of 2018, there has been: Q A 208% increase in searches for “sugar tax” Q A 64% increase in searches for “artificial sweeteners” Q A 54% increase in searches for “coconut sugar” Consumers interested in sugar-free/reduced sugar products are 27% more likely to search for Coca-Cola than they are Dr. Pepper (four weeks ending 24/03/18) Similarly, Ribena is 14% more likely to attract a sugar-conscious audience than IrnBru (four weeks ending 24/03/18) The data below highlights the top sugar free food searches in March: Q 1 Sugar free sweets Q 2 Sugar free biscuits Q 3 Sugar free cake Q 4 Sugar free chocolate Q 5 Sugar free banana bread Q 6 Sugar free Easter eggs Q 7 Sugar free banana cake Q 8 Sugar free ice cream Q 9 Sugar free jelly Q 10 Sugar free squash

HOW SMARTPHONES HAVE CHANGED SHOPPING The way consumers shop has changed considerably over the last decade, as new research by online smartphone retailer Mobiles.co.uk confirmed. Although shopping online at home is not new, the way consumers shop via their smartphones is beginning to shape the online retail landscape – and will certainly have implications for local retailers in the future.

A study into the nation’s smartphone shopping habits revealed that sales made via smartphones grew by 18.9% year-on-year in December 2017. That doesn’t mean desktops and tablets are not still a popular form of online shopping: YouGov data shows that 23% of UK adults make a purchase online at least once a week which explains why physical spend has decreased by 32% on items such as books, music, videos, and video games.

26

SLR | APRIL 2018

RETAILERS GET CREATIVE IN PURSUIT OF EASTER SALES New research from IGD suggests that retailers have been embracing new trends this year as they attempt to drive some excitement and energy back into Easter sales.

From avocado-shaped chocolate eggs to freefrom ranges, retailers embraced a variety of trends to engage with shoppers this Easter, as identified by research and training charity IGD. Products playing on popular consumer health trends were seen on retailers’ shelves this year, including the prevalence of freefrom chocolate and other alternatives. With a quarter (25%) of shoppers showing an interest in free-from products, free-from ranges of Easter eggs and hot cross buns came through as a popular choice over the bank holiday weekend.

On the increase of free-from options, Simon Wainwright, Director of Insight at IGD said: “Current food trends should always form a part of a retailer’s strategy around events such as Easter, and in this instance, we’re seeing retailers in particular embracing free-from, vegan and sugar-free ranges which can appeal to a wider shopper base.”

Recipe boxes and meal kits also played their part for grocery inspiration this Easter. “There is an innovative opportunity for retailers to group different meal components together to provide a convenient dinner solution for shoppers”, continued Wainwright.

“UK retailers can take inspiration from international retailers where ‘Easter boxes’ containing all the ingredients needed for the meal are being introduced as time-saving solutions.”

Retailers are also learning from what works well at Christmas and translating this into other major retail events, with IGD identifying the likes of Easter crackers, trees, baubles and wreaths as some of the items lining the shelves this season.

On the influence of other events, Wainwright said: “In the past, seasonal

events have been marketed and approached in rather traditional ways depending on what associations they have, whereas we’re now seeing retailers take inspiration from other events to create this blended outcome.

“As the biggest seasonal event in the retail calendar, retailers and suppliers should look at what works well at Christmas and translate this into other in-store events for similar success. This is a theme that came through strongly this Easter, so we look forward to seeing how this approach plays out with shoppers in future.”

The Sunday roast remained a prominent feature of Easter celebrations, with 22% of shoppers planning to have a meal at home with their family or household on Easter Sunday. Convenience and ease continue to be significant factors in how shoppers are finding products in-store this season, with almost one-third (32%) of shoppers seeing seasonal fixtures as a way of saving time when shopping at Easter as all the key products are in one place.

In-store signposting is coming through as a popular tactic to direct shoppers to relevant offers on retailers’ frozen and fresh meat.

With 20% of shoppers seeing Easter as an exciting time to carry out their food shopping, in-store theatre is coming through as a key way to engage with those shoppers looking for an added experience to their visit. This will be seen in the form of large, dedicated aisles marking the event, and prominent window displays to draw shoppers in.

Wainwright commented: “From IGD’s ShopperVista research we can see that 42% of shoppers are tempted to spend more at Easter, so giving Easter displays prominence in-store and displaying premium products at eye-level did help encourage trade-up.” www.slrmag.co.uk

Research Digest

Inside Business

Brits lead the way in online grocery shopping – but consumers want more A new online grocery survey of 2,000 consumers reveals how fast the online market is growing – and the areas that are holding back further growth.

A new survey of online grocery shopping by retail experience personalisation specialists RichRelevance makes for very interesting, and concerning, reading for local retailers with over half of all UK shoppers doing some or all of their weekly shopping online.

The research, which includes responses from over 2,000 participants across the United Kingdom, France and Germany, investigated how consumers are using the internet to do their grocery shopping, whilst analysing some of the issues and barriers that prevent more people from making the switch from instore to online grocery shopping.

Some 53% of the UK population are doing some or all of their grocery shopping online, a figure significantly higher than in France (40%) or Germany (32%). However,

despite the majority of consumers showing a willingness to embrace modern technology and shop online, grocery retailers have failed to take full advantage.

There are no surprises in the key drivers to why consumers choose to shop online, namely increased convenience (62%) and the ability to save time (59%). However, the research also revealed that grocery retailers are failing to take full advantage of new technology to make the online grocery experience more personalised.

UK consumers would like to see more features such as “reminders on frequently bought items” (80%), “relevant alternatives2 (58%) and would also like grocery retailers to tailor products shown based on dietary requirements (43%).

There is also an opportunity for grocery retailers to automate the sales process, with 53% of people indicating that they would be happy for their retailer to automatically reorder frequently bought items, such as toilet roll, laundry detergent and pet food. Further, 55% of consumers would like grocery retailers to offer recipe ideas based on what they are adding to their cart.

Despite just over half (52%) of Britons doing their grocery shopping online, the overwhelming majority of consumers (97%) are also still buying products in-store. When they were probed as to why, 51% of consumers said that they do not trust retailers to pick the freshest produce on their behalf, with 68% preferring to physically handle items themselves in store.

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APRIL 2018 | SLR

27

SEWLARRDS

R

2017

BRIAN EARNS A £500 BREAK FROM THE BUSINESS Londis Inverarary’s Brian McCaughey was the winner of last year’s Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year award and picked up a £500 travel voucher for his efforts.

There’s nothing quite like the SLR Rewards as Londis Scotland Director turned Londis retailer Brian McCaughey discovered when he won the 2017 Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year award, sponsored by Coca-Cola European Partners. For his amazing efforts in the category, Brian picked up £500 worth of travel vouchers that will go to very good use in the near future when Brian can find a few days free out of the business to go and enjoy a well-earned break.

It’s one of the most important categories in any convenience store and for that reason it’s also one of the most competitive at the SLR Rewards, with a mountain of great quality entries each year, but Brian’s store came out top in the eyes of the judges.

“I was surprised to win it, to be honest,” says a very modest Brian. “I’ve seen a lot of stores in my time and I’ve seen some truly outstanding soft drinks fixtures and while I thought ours was very solid and covered all of

the needs of our customers, I never really thought we had a chance. So we were delighted to hear our name called out!”

The judges agreed that Brian’s soft drinks offering was very solid and covered all the needs of his customers, but they went even further than that, stating that his fixtures were simply impossible to fault. The range was adjudged to be spot-on for the audience, the merchandising was clean, efficient and effective and the extensive use of multi-siting meant that very few shoppers left the store without picking up a soft drink of some description.

Promotions were well executed, in-store POS was immaculate and staff were both knowledgeable and friendly. The store stocked all the latest important NPD and the siting of the impulse chiller, right by the front door, was unimprovable.

“It’s always gratifying to be told by people that live and breathe the category that you’re doing things well,” says Brian. “You just do your best and aim for the highest standards you can and hope that your customers appreciate it. So far in our relatively short lives as retailers, myself and my family have enjoyed the challenge and while it’s been tough with a big new store opening near us I think we’ve done a good job.

“But having said that, I’m certainly looking forward to using the vouchers to get a wee break and spend a few days relaxing and thinking about something else! My thanks go to Coca-Cola European Partners and of course to SLR for the Reward.”

WWW.SLRAWARDS.COM

SEWLARRDS

R

2017

A ‘QUIET’ FEW DAYS IN THE DAM FOR DONNA AND BRUCE Biggar Best-one retailers Donna and Bruce Morgan spent the a few days in Amsterdam recently as winners of the Biscuit Retailer of the Year award, sponsored by pladis.

While most winners in awards programmes in the local retailing industry pick up a nice plastic trophy and a certificate for their efforts, winners at the SLR Rewards get treated to something just a little more special, as Biggar Best-one retailers Bruce and Donna Morgan discovered recently when they flew to Amsterdam for a four-day trip courtesy of SLR and Biscuit Retailer of the Year category sponsors pladis.

“It was honestly an absolutely fantastic experience from start to finish,” says Donna. “We were picked up at the airport, taken to a lovely hotel and given a guided tour of the pladis factory – and they even gave us £500 spending money. It was sensational!”

The couple were given a private guided tour of the Zaandam pladis facility just outside Amsterdam by the site’s General Manager and had a ball. Donna explains: “We didn’t know

what to expect from a factory tour, to be honest, but it was just the best fun. It’s the factory where they make Go Ahead as well as some of the chocolate biscuits. We saw the whole process from start to finish and even got treated to a mountain of biscuits straight off the production line, still warm. Delicious!”

It was the first time that Donna and Bruce had been in Amsterdam together and, rather than the usual Dam shenanigans, they took the opportunity to visit some galleries, take a canal boat trip and have an amazing meal at the famous Five Flies restaurant.

“The meal was out of this world,” says Donna. “It’s where all the celebs go when they’re in Amsterdam and the seats have famous names on them – we were sitting right next to Bruce Springsteen’s chair. The food was sublime, and the evening was just perfect. In fact, the whole trip was just about perfect. I also have to say that pladis were just so caring and generous and we can’t thank them enough.”

And that’s what you get when you win an award the SLR Rewards – a memorable experience that reflects the huge amount of time and effort you put into running a great store.

Bruce and Donna’s Best-one @ Brownlies store was a clear winner for the judges with its huge and eclectic range of biscuits catering for a whole array of tastes, way more than the standard range found in most convenience stores. Or “biscuit heaven” as one judge memorably put it.

A great Reward for some great retailers.

WWW.SLRAWARDS.COM

WOODLANDSlocal

Inside Business

30

SLR | APRIL 2018

Woodlands Local | Monthly Update

TOUGH DECISIONS TO TAKE AT WOODLANDS As Woodlands Local parts company with its store manager and the options for choosing a new supplier narrow, we’ve had to make some tough decisions.

W

hoever said that people are the toughest challenge in retail never said a truer word.

Finding good people to run and operate the store has been without any shadow of a doubt the toughest challenge we’ve had in Falkirk since we first bought the business – and that observation remains just as true to this day. The latest people challenge we face is deciding how to structure the in-store team after our second manager parted company with the business, leaving is with the choice of attempting to find a new manager, or taking an altogether different approach to running the store.

After consulting with the team and our Board of Directors, we have decided to run the store for a trial period of six months without a nominated store manager and run instead with a team of shift supervisors. In our experience, naming managers seems to have created as many problems as it solved.

Perhaps we just haven’t found the right people but perhaps we were simply expecting too much of one person in asking them to carry out all the managerial tasks involved with running a busy convenience store which has the added complication of being owned by a trade magazine.

Whatever the truth is, we’re set on appointing shift supervisors and leaving the strategic management of the store to the www.slrmag.co.uk

Monthly Update | Woodlands Local

team in Glasgow. To be fair to the team we now have left in the store, the morale and enthusiasm is arguably better than it’s ever been and I’ve already had literally dozens of comments from our regular customers telling me how much better the atmosphere is in the shop these days.

PROCESS DRIVEN With no dedicated manager, however, our reliance on systems, protocols and procedures is only set to increase – but this is something we have been keen on implementing for a long time. The latest developments simply gave us the excuse to commit to that strategy and we’ve already begun work on drafting a series of procedural documents stipulating how everything is done in the store. Literally everything.

The first step was a to-do list for the two shifts we operate (06:45 to 13:45 and 13:45 to 21:00) including tick boxes for every activity and pages that need to be signed at the end of every shift.

We are also introducing methodologies for the optimum management of everything from managing the Lottery and scratchcards to ordering milk, from our cleaning and hygiene routines to our daily bake-off quantities (and waste management tracking), from recipes for making filled rolls to signing stock in and out of the store. Everything in the store will be proceduralised so that, in theory, every important task each shift will be carried out just as it should be, and staff will also have a reference document no matter what they are asked to do.

It sounds like death by administration but in reality it’s simply a case of writing down what the staff are already doing most of the time and ensuring that each procedure is the best procedure it can be – with everything logged and tracked on a shift by shift basis.

Wish us luck.

FRESH CHALLENGE Since before the turn of the new year we have been working with Craig Brown and his retail team at Filshill to plan an entire store www.slrmag.co.uk

re-lay. This was complicated by the collapse of Palmer and Harvey, as it was P&H who used to supply our fresh, chilled and frozen (on behalf of Costcutter). It has taken some time for us to narrow down our options, but we have decided to buy our fresh, chilled and frozen from Nisa now via Filshill. Costcutter also offered us the option of buying Nisa through them – but Filshill offered a 12 month grace period where we wouldn’t be hit with £100 fines for failing to hit our 100-case minimum weekly order.

We’re pretty confident that we can do 100 cases a week, particularly as we can include milk and bread (from Allied) in those 100 cases, but the grace period limits our exposure and gives us time to learn what’s working and what’s not. That trial period will kick off this month and we’ll let you know how it’s going in the next issue.

RE-LAY IS GO As part of the store-wide re-merchandising, we have already started work on a few categories.

Both Wrigley and Diageo have been in to audit our offerings in the categories they cover and have suggested several new lines to add to our range, some lines to de-list and some significant and some minor amendments to the merchandising of the categories.

The fixtures already look neater and tidier, plus a bit fresher, but it’s too early yet to tell the impact on sales. One thing we have learned however is that when we make big changes to a fixture, sales invariably increase – no doubt just because the fixture has ceased to be ‘wallpaper’ for customers.

We’re particularly interested in our alcohol offer as we see a huge opportunity when Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) kicks in come May. For the very first time, we will be able match the prices offered by the supermarkets.

Why buy a case of 24 beers you don’t need for £22+ when you can get four cold ones at Woodlands for the same price (pro rata)? Why go to Tesco to buy a bottle of vodka when you can get it at Woodlands for the same price – and Woodlands is much closer and the staff are friendlier?

Inside Business

For that reason, we’re keen to get our alcohol offering in top shape before May arrives. [See the following pages for more detail on exactly how we’re doing that.]

NEW RANGES Also happening as part of the re-lay is the introduction of some new categories to the store, or categories we haven’t stocked in a while. We’ve added a big range of kids’ confectionery from Bobby’s Foods to create a dedicated section. The lines are also value priced and come sale or return which means there’s no risk on our part. Additionally, we’re re-introducing a range of greeting cards from Card Connection, also on what is effectively a sale or return basis.

We did stock greetings cards but the wall the fixture was mounted on got water-damaged very badly when the flats above the store flooded. We also lost part of the space during our major refit. We’ve now decided to reclaim that space and bring cards back, which will hopefully help drive footfall, sales and profits as the lines typically carry a margin of over 50%.

Finally, we are likely to have AG Barr on as our official soft drinks Partner in the store in the near future and will hopefully implement their brand-new planogram over the next few weeks. As part of that, we are moving all our soft drinks into the large open dairy deck chiller, bringing the entire soft drinks impulse range together for the first time in several years. The waters and sports drinks had previously been merchandised in a standalone closed-door chiller which may have been impacting negatively on sales, given the highly impulsive nature of soft drinks.

The closed-door chiller will then be used as our dedicated breakfast and lunch chilled food to go unit, carrying our extensive range of filled rolls, sandwiches, salads, toasties, pork pies, slices, fruit juices, smoothies and so on.

These categories are probably less impulsive and are much more likely to be the reason the shopper is actually visiting the store, so the closed door should be less of an impediment to sales.

APRIL 2018 | SLR

31

Inside Business

Woodlands Local | Diageo

GEARING UP FOR MUP WITH DIAGEO As part of a new Partnership with drinks giant Diageo, we have been busy analysing the Spirits category in the run up to Minimum Unit Pricing and also freshening up the beer and cider chiller while we’re at it.

WOODLANDSlocal

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

32

W

e’ve been working with global drinks specialist Diageo to refresh our spirits offering, and also to give our beer, cider and RTD fixtures a once-over, as we believe that Minimum Unit Pricing is set to throw the off-trade wide open and let local retailers compete with the supermarkets on a level playing field for the first time.

Therefore, we were keen to develop our spirits offering and hopefully lure a few new shoppers through the door.

Why would shoppers drive to Tesco for a bottle of Smirnoff when they can get it at Woodlands for the same price? That’s our logic anyway.

Diageo duly sent out National Sales Manager Kevin Ingham and local rep Malcolm Welch. They suggested we stock a number of new lines (see panels). To make room for these, we removed slow-moving Magners and Kopparberg 4-packs and reduced facings on our range of 650ml bottles.

SLR | APRIL 2018

BEERS, CIDERS & RTDS Based on the Epos sales data information provided, informal feedback from the staff and other data provided by the store, Diageo recommended the addition of the following lines:

In terms of merchandising, the Diageo team moved the fastest-selling lines in the cabinet to the right, where they are visible from the front door and tillpoint, as these were most likely to drive impulse sales by attracting customers to the chiller.

Also, the spirits fixture was remerchandised to both freshen it up and make it more logical to shop.

Premium spirits were moved to the top shelf with middle-range vodkas and gins below, then value offerings on the next shelf down.

Lower volume specialist spirits were moved down to nearer the bottom while whisky was given its own blocked section over two shelves. We will rework our dedicated single malt section later in this project.

The new fixtures are hopefully growing our range in improving categories and helping to focus a little more at the premium end of the market, something we hope will pay dividends when MUP arrives in May. Look out for initial sales figures in next month’s SLR. Additions to the spirits category include:

GIN Q Q Q Q Q

Edinburgh Gin 70cl Tanqueray 70cl Whitley Neal 70cl Blackwoods 70cl Gordon’s Pink Gin 70cl

VODKA Q Ciroc 70cl Q Ciroc Red Berries Cl

SPICED RUM Q Captain Morgan’s Spiced 35cl

LIQUEUR / SPECIALIST Q Drambuie Q Southern Comfort

PREMIX Q Captain Morgan’s Spiced & Cola Q Jack Daniels & Cola

BEERS Q Hop House 13 4-pack

CIDERS Q Smirnoff Cider Raspberry & Pomegranate Q Passionfruit & Lime

CRAFT ALES Q BrewDog Elvis Juice Q Joker IPA Q Caesar Augustus

www.slrmag.co.uk

Gum & Candy Audit | Woodlands Local

Inside Business

9.5 out of 10 for our gum and candy range audit!

As part of our on-going project with Mars Wrigley Confectionery to optimise our sales of gum and candy, we invited the company to the store to audit our range and offer pointers on any lines we were missing – and were delighted with the results!

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

Wrigley’s Sharon Wotherspoon making some final adjustments.

G

um is massively important for us at Woodlands Local as it’s one of the fastest-selling categories and one of the biggest profit drivers in the store, all from a remarkably small

our range line by line then going over our merchandising with a fine-tooth comb. The audit complete, Sharon gave us a “9.5 out of 10” which was great news for the team at the store. We have always impressed on the team how important it is to keep those vital gum fixtures at the till fully stocked and in great condition, so getting a formal nod of approval from Mars Wrigley was very heartening.

“The range is almost perfect and the merchandising is completely in line with best practice,” said Sharon. “Availability is absolutely spot on with plenty of spare stock and the fixtures are clean, tidy and well sited.

You have all of the latest NPD and you’ve given the right amount of space to each product in line with its rate of sale, so I’d have to give you a 9.5 out of 10.”

Only a 9.5? Well, it turns out we were

missing one line – Wrigley Extra Bubblemint Soft Chew – and we had one out of stock, since our wholesaler Filshill no longer offers the SKU in question.

Needless to say, we’ve subsequently added the missing line and sourced the out of stock product from a trip to Booker at Port Dundas, putting us back in 10 out of 10 territory.

CANDY CRUSH While Sharon was in she also looked at our candy range and was similarly satisfied that we stocked the recommended range for a store of our size and location across all of Mars Wrigley’s range, including medicated sweets. She advised that we may want to try a few more hanging bag lines from the Skittles and Starburst ranges, so we’ll report back next month on what we decide to do.

footprint.

We will be working with undisputed gum kings Mars Wrigley Confectionery over the coming months to attempt to ensure that we are squeezing every penny of sales and profit out of the category. We have a long and very good relationship with Mars Wrigley so we knew that we were in reasonably good shape when it came to our ranging and merchandising in-store – but we decided nonetheless to invite our local rep Sharon Wotherspoon to Woodlands to give us marks out of 10 and highlight any areas where she felt we might be weak, or any areas where we could grow.

Sharon duly popped along to the store last month and spent over an hour checking

www.slrmag.co.uk

APRIL 2018 | SLR

33

Hotlines

Product News & Media Watch

Attack A Snak Pepperoni ‘N’ Cheese Kerry Foods Kerry Foods latest limited-edition Attack A Snak variant taps into the popularity of pizza as one of the nation’s top five favourite meals.

The new on-the-go pizza alternative wrap kit is aimed at the brand’s target audience of tweens (nine to 13-year-olds) who are “looking to expand their food horizons”, and is available now, with an RSP of £1.50.

Yazoo Choc Mint FrieslandCampina Yazoo has added a limited-edition Choc Mint flavour to its range of flavoured milk drinks in response to consumer demand. Yazoo Choc Mint is available from this month. The 400ml bottles have an RSP of £1.15. The launch is backed by social media, digital advertising and PR campaigns.

Yazoo is currently outperforming the Flavoured Milk category at +11.6% versus +4.4%.

Ultimate Sprinkles Dr. Oetker Home baking brand Dr. Oetker has launched a three-strong range of Ultimate Sprinkles cake decorations.

Glamour & Sparkle (115g, RSP £2.29) features a variety of gold and silver sprinkles. Midnight Magic (110g, RSP £2.29) offers a mix of differentshaped black and coloured sprinkles.

Unicorn Confetti (110g, RSP £2.29) taps into the current unicorn craze.

34

SLR | APRIL 2018

World first for Milkybar Wowsomes Nestlé has unveiled Milkybar Wowsomes, the world’s first chocolate bar produced using the Swiss food giant’s new sugar reduction technique.

Inspired by candy floss, Nestlé boffins developed a process to aerate sugar so that it dissolves quicker in the mouth. The confectioner says this allows you to perceive an almost identical sweetness using 30% less sugar than similar chocolate confectionery.

Wowsomes will be available in three-piece 18g single bars and 8 x 10g two-piece multipacks from April 16. It comes in two variants, white chocolate and a combined milk and white chocolate. Each piece is made of smooth chocolate and has a creamy-tasting centre containing crispy oat cereal pieces. A 105g stock-up bag containing individually-wrapped single pieces of both variants is also available.

With no preservatives, colours or flavourings, Wowsomes is a source of fibre and is gluten free. The

Fruittella Fruit Drops Perfetti Van Melle Fruittella has extended its range of less sugar and sugar-free products with the launch of its first-ever hardboiled sweet, Fruittella Fruit Drops.

The new product is made with fruit juice, is sugar-free and contains added vitamin C. It is available now in cases 20 at an RSP of £1 per fliptop pack. Two variants, Citrus and Red Berry, are available.

A summertime £2m media campaign will support the launch.

18g bar contains 95 calories. The sweetness in the product comes entirely from milk and sugar: there are no other sweeteners – natural or artificial – added.

The launch of Wowsomes also marks the first time in Milkybar’s 81-year history that it has combined both milk and white chocolate in the same product.

Stefano Agostini, CEO of Nestlé UK & Ireland, said: “It is with great pride that the UK and Ireland becomes the first market in the world to use this exciting technology to create such a great tasting confectionery product.

“A new product like Milkybar Wowsomes introduces greater choice and allows parents to treat their children with chocolate that tastes great but has less sugar. We are demonstrating how we can, and will, contribute to a healthier future and that we take our public health responsibilities very seriously.”

Maltesers Treat Cake Finsbury Food Group Mars Chocolate Drinks and Treats has added a Maltesers Treat Cake to its celebration cake range. The 15-portion tray bake features moist chocolate sponge topped with chocolate frosting and Maltesers. It is available now, with an RSP of £8.

Michelle Frost, General Manager at MCD&T said: “We’re certain that this latest addition to our celebration cakes range will soon become a favourite choice for consumers.”

Rustlers All Day Breakfast Sausage Muffin Kepak Convenience Foods Kepak is introducing Rustlers to a new eating occasion with its latest launch. The new breakfast product features a sausage patty in a muffin bun, topped with cheese and tomato ketchup, at an RSP of £1.50.

It will roll out across convenience from early this month. Kepak recommends retailers site the muffin in the food-to-go fixture, with a secondary siting beside the rest of the Rustlers range.

www.slrmag.co.uk

Product News & Media Watch M&M’s Peanut Ice Cream SHS Mars Chocolate Drinks and Treats has added M&M’s Peanut Ice Cream to its singles range. The new lolly combines a blend of dairy peanut ice cream with M&M’s Peanut pieces, coated in a crunchy chocolate layer. It joins an existing line-up of Mars, Snickers, Galaxy and Maltesers ice cream singles.

It is available now with an RSP of £1.76. Mars is confident it will soon become a “sought-after family favourite.”

Jammie Dodgers Lemon Twist Burton’s Biscuit Company Burton’s Biscuits is bringing a ray of sunshine to its Jammie Dodgers range with the launch of a Lemon Twist variant, available now in outers of 18 with an RSP of 89p.

The new limited edition features standard Jammie Dodger biscuits sandwiched together with a zesty lemon jam. The vibrant pack design should generate some on-shelf standout. The launch is supported by social media activity.

MEDIAwatch

Hotlines



Lucozade’s heavyweight campaign Lucozade Sport Fitwater has rung the bell on new campaign featuring world heavyweight boxing champion and Lucozade Sport brand ambassador, Anthony Joshua. The £3.5m campaign incorporates a range of outdoor ads which should reach 86% of adult shoppers 16 times, supported by digital and in-store activity.

Birds Eye ups ad spend on veg Bundaberg Brewed Drinks Barr Soft Drinks

Nairn’s Oatcakes PMPs Nairn’s

Barr Soft Drinks has signed a new franchise agreement that will see Australian company Bundaberg Brewed Drinks’ range of craftbrewed premium non-alcoholic beverages on shelves in Britain. The UK range comprises six flavours – Ginger Beer; Root Beer; Blood Orange; Peach; Pink Grapefruit; and Lemon, Lime & Bitters. All are available in outers of 12 x 375ml “stubby” glass bottles with rip cap.

Nairn’s is launching its first-ever price-marked packs, created specially for the wholesale and convenience channels. Its two bestselling oatcakes, Rough and Fine Milled, will be available from May in £1 PMPs in cases of eight. The company is shifting its focus from the multiples and says it will offer retailers an upweighted support package, either direct or via their wholesaler.

Birds Eye has increased the amount it spends on TV and online advertising for vegetables by 42% to £4.8m until December 2019. The new campaign looks to positively portray vegetables to children and their families.

The ads will be shown during children’s TV programming times as well as during peak family viewing.

Coke gets all shook up Coca-Cola European Partners’ new ‘We Do’ campaign celebrates Coca-Cola Classic and “reinforces the uniqueness and specialness of the 132-year old global phenomenon”.

Running across billboards and social media, the visually arresting Elvis Presley-inspired ads feature the strapline “They don’t make ‘em like they used to. We do.”

McVitie’s shows its human side Flash Ultra Power P&G

Oasis Aquashock CCEP

Flash has launched a new premium range of surface cleaning products that includes wipes, a handheld spray, multi-surface cleaner and a ‘Magic Eraser’ stain remover. The Flash Ultra Power collection is available now in three scents (Lemon, Fresh and Blossom & Breeze). The launch is backed by a multimillion pound campaign that includes a TV ad and POS (FSDUs, shelf trays and shelf frames).

The two variants in this new range of flavoured waters from CocaCola European Partners offer consumers a ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ hydration experience. Oasis Aquashock Spicy Raspberry is flavoured with fiery chilli, whereas the Chilled Cherry variant contains cooling, tangy lime. Both are available in 500ml PET bottles with an RSP of 89p, are soft drinks tax-exempt and contain only natural flavourings with no added sugar. POS material is available.

The importance of connecting with other people is the theme of McVitie’s latest masterbrand campaign, ‘Sweeter Together’.

The £9.7m campaign revolves around two animated adverts. ‘Crane’ tells the story of a crane operator who feels left out at break time, while ‘Brows’ is about a woman feeling nervous on her first day at work.

Kids do their Fruit Shoot thing Robinsons has launched a new £3.5m campaign supporting its Fruit Shoot Juiced and Hydro ranges. ‘It’s My Thing’ runs on TV and online until May 28. The advert is focused on inspiring kids’ adventurous sides and supporting their development. The campaign also includes brand partnerships with Netmums and Change4Life.

for all the latest product news, head to www.slrmag.co.uk/category/product-news/ www.slrmag.co.uk

APRIL 2018 | SLR

35

Feature

Gums & Mints

GET MINTED! TREBOR OFFERS RETAILERS AND SHOPPERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO ‘GET MINTED’ Q The UK’s number one mint brand’s convenience channel exclusive promotion, Get Minted is returning for a second year. Trebor’s promotion will run until June 17 to drive sales by offering consumers a chance to win one of 102 prizes ranging from £50 up to a £5,000. Consumers can win by simply unwrapping Trebor packs and finding a ticket revealing if they’ve won a cash prize.

Q And it’s not just consumers who will win. For retailers who stock Trebor and display the Get Minted POS, Mondelez will match the value of each cash prize for retailers where winning packs are purchased.

Q Get Minted was launched last year and succeeded in both exciting shoppers and driving sales by an increase of 8.5% in Independents and Symbols during the activation period [IRI, Jun 2017].

This year’s promotion will be extended to include 2017 NPD, Trebor Softmints Pots 100g and Trebor Sugar Free Mighties Megapack 44.5g.

Q Carly Sharpe, Brand Manager for Trebor, said: “Trebor is the UK’s number one mint brand and its single rollpacks sell faster than all other mints so it is important that retailers stock a full range of Trebor products to maximise sales. Our latest competition will create excitement that will encourage consumers to purchase Trebor in store to give themselves, and the retailer, a chance to win big.”

Q Prize coupons will be hidden within selected wrappers of Extra Strong, Softmints and Mighties products.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

Mints and gums offer fantastic profit opportunities for retailers who capitalise on these key impulse categories in-store.

T

he confectionery category is one of the biggest opportunities to drive sales in your store. Confectionery is not only worth a significant value in convenience, it is also the most impulsive category [CTP, 2015], meaning it can really help you drive your sales and – in particular – drive incremental sales.

Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager at Mondelez International, comments: “Candy accounts for 24% of total confectionery sales [Nielsen, Dec 2017] and mints represent a key part of this segment.

As mints provide consumers with both refreshment and help to give confidence, they have very broad appeal. Research shows that one in every two shoppers buy into the category and that customers expect to see mints in your stores [Kantar, Jun 2016].”

The total mint segment of confectionery is worth £139m MAT [Nielsen, Dec 2017], and the number one brand is Trebor. Four out

www.slrmag.co.uk

*Source: Nielsen MAT Value Sales w.e. 30.12.17 **Convenience includes all Independents and Symbols T&Cs apply, for full T&C’s go to www.promoterms.com/getminted

Feature

Gums & Mints

TOP TIPS FROM MONDELEZ FOR DRIVING YOUR MINTS SALES: Q Stock the bestselling brands: Trebor is the UK’s number one mint brand and Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint is the biggest selling mint product. Four out of the top five best-selling mint products in the UK are Trebor products.

Q Stock a range of hard and soft mints in spearmint, peppermint and sugarfree.

Q Stock the latest supported NPD. Q Make the most of brand investment: have displays in store when the consumer is most aware of them.

Q Utilise manufacturer POS to help product stand-out and help shoppers spot what they are looking for. Create displays that inspire purchase.

Q Place mints both in the main confectionery fixture and on the counter to grab the attention of impulse shoppers. 100% of shoppers visit the till area, and 19% of shoppers visit this area alone.

Q Be fully stocked.

Q Stock should be clearly priced. Consider PMPs. For more advice on merchandising and how you can grow your mint sales, visit www.deliciousdisplay.co.uk.

POTENTIAL GUM TAX ‘HEAVY HANDED’ One leftfield factor to come out of the Government’s Spring Statement of the consultation on what can be done to reduce the use of single use plastics was the surprise announcement that chewing gum could be included in any potential tax, a move dismissed by some as “heavy handed”.

David Harris, Senior Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, comments: ‘‘Chewing gum manufacturers will not appreciate being tarred with the same brush as plastic packaging, with this consultation into plastic waste in the UK. The majority of gum products in the UK are focused on providing oral health benefits. As such, an extra tax on sugar-free gum in particular could be a detriment to the nations’ oral health.

“Consumers, legislators and the industry do need to talk about the most effective ways of minimising chewing gum waste. Street waste is a genuine issue, and chewing gum is part of the problem. However, this broad consultancy focusing on taxation measures seems heavy handed, and a one-size fits all approach will not be the most effective way to tackle the issue.

Taxation may be part of the solution, but simply adding cost to the price of a pack will not drive a significant change in the behaviour of consumers who are generating this street waste.’’

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SLR | APRIL 2018

of five of the bestselling mint products in the UK are from the Trebor brand, which boasts sales of over £48m, according to the same data.

The number one bestselling product of all is Trebor Extra Strong Peppermint, which has a rich heritage, being first introduced in the 1950s.

Nash comments: “The Trebor range meets both consumer need states of refreshment and confidence through its range of hard, soft and sugar free mints.

Trebor Extra Strong and Trebor Softmints have the highest rate of sale of all mint products [Nielsen, Dec 2017].”

So how should retailers make the most of this minty opportunity? Nash advises: “Key to success in selling mints is visibility. Consumers expect to see mints by the counter area and we recommend that mints, where space allows, are sited in at least two locations: on the main confectionery fixture and in the hot zone (the area around the counter and front-of-store).”

It makes sense to use manufacturers’ point of sales to ensure the product stands out to really inspire purchase. Products should be neatly merchandised to help the shopper scan and select what they are looking for and pricing should be clear.

Having the latest NPD and products that are benefiting from media support is also sure to help drive your sales.

Following a fresh new packaging design roll-out last summer, Trebor launched its popular Softmints and sugarfree NPD Mighties in handy pot format (100g Softmints and 44.5g Mighties). The new pot has been created to allow consumers to easily enjoy the mints on-the-go.

The brand says the larger format is ideal for the desk at work, in the bag for the daily commute or in the car for long journeys.

Carly Sharpe, Brand Manager for Trebor, says: “The pot format is now worth £4m in the UK mints category and growing at +89% [Nielsen, Dec 2017] and the launch of these popular mints in a convenient format aims to help retailers drive further mint sales.”

Alongside Trebor Extra Strong Softmints and Trebor Softmints, is Trebor Mighties. Available in two flavours, Mint and Berry Mint, Trebor Mighties appeal to health-conscious shoppers looking for sugarfree options.

The sugarfree market is growing 14% year on year [Nielsen, May 2017], and Trebor Mighties will help to provide consumers with greater purchasing choice and drive incrementality for the category.

The products are sold in a flexible shelf-ready outer with hooks meaning the packs can be sited anywhere in store for maximum stand-out.

When it comes to gum, Mars Wrigley Confectionery remains the standout market leader. The total gum category is currently worth over £261m [Nielsen, Jun 2017] and Wrigley’s gum portfolio is worth over £246m.

Growth is driven by sugarfree gum and Wrigley expects this to continue as chewers seek out a healthy addition to their day-today oral care routine.

Worth over £204m, Extra sugarfree gum is the driving force behind the gum category, which is growing in volume sales. Extra’s core flavours, Peppermint and Spearmint are the www.slrmag.co.uk

Gums & Mints top performing variants and are worth over £130m. And that’s not forgetting the fact that Wrigley’s mint portfolio is also worth £6.5m.

Dan Newell, Confections Marketing Manager, is encouraging retailers to back the latest initiatives from the company to drive sales and profits, including the launch of Extra Bottle in a price-marked pack (PMP).

Newell comments: “Wrigley is looking to continue to grow the gum category with the launch of its £2 RSP Extra sugarfree gum PMP 46 pellet bottle across its best-selling core flavours, Peppermint and Spearmint. An exclusive format for the route to market channel, the bottle format continues to tap into the growing demand for keeping teeth clean and breath fresh after snacking on the go. For retailers,

the launch of the new PMP bottle will help to improve rate of sale, as purchase intent in the gum category has been shown to significantly decline when priced above £2.”

It may also be worth considering the recently-launched range of Starburst gum. The range includes Starburst Fruity Mixies, Starburst Strawberry Cubes and Starburst Red Berry Sticks.

Starburst Fruity Mixies chewing gum is available in three popular flavours – Strawberry, Apple and Bubblegum – and is available in a small 24-piece pack, a 48 piece handybox and a 100 piece bottle format.

The launch marked the first time Mars Wrigley has combined its gum and candy expertise in a single range of products and the company expects the launch to add an extra £15m to the gum category.

WIN

£400 WORTH OF POS AND STOCK FROM MENTOS AND SMINT Perfetti Van Melle is giving SLR readers the opportunity to win £400 worth of POS and stock from Mentos and Smint. As part of the prize, our lucky winner will receive four cases each of: Q Brand New Mentos Stay Free Q Smint 8g Q Mentos Mint single roll Q Mentos Spearmint Roll Q Mentos Gum White Peppermint Q Mentos Gum White Bubblefresh Perfetti Van Melle is focused on driving progress and differentiation.

Mark Roberts, Trade Marketing Manager for Perfetti Van Melle said: “We have continued to deliver year-on-year growth for the past 12 years across our brands here in the UK through strong focus on the core but also category relevant NPD. “By having a strong selection of mints and gum formats and flavours retailers can feel confident that they are tapping into what consumers want and utilising impulse sales.

“Mints and Gum still play a key role in the confectionery category representing just over 33% of the market, and retailers have opportunities to grow through focusing on changing shopper needs and occasions to keep mints and gum relevant.

“To ensure continued growth within mints and gum, variety is essential. For example, our new BubbleFresh Mentos gum, available within bottle and single flip top formats, appeals to a new, younger audience.”

Following the successful launch of the Say Hello campaign last year, retailers should look out for the latest NPD from Mentos, which is launching next month and will keep Mentos at the forefront of consumer’s minds.

HOW TO ENTER: Just fill in the form below and send to: MENTOS AND SMINT COMPETITION, SLR, WATERLOO CHAMBERS, 19 WATERLOO ST, GLASGOW, G2 6AY

MARS WRIGLEY CONFECTIONERY’S FIVE STEPS TO GUM SUCCESS: Q Availability is key – gum is more impulsive than any other confectionery line so remember to re-stock each morning and prior to peak traffic times.

Q Stock the best-sellers – such as Extra Peppermint, Extra Spearmint, Extra White and Airwaves.

Q Champion new products – e.g. Extra Cool Breeze Bottle and Hubba Bubba Cola and Fancy Fruit Bubble Tapes.

Q Multiple gum sitings – e.g. next to a second till point, confectionery aisle or dental section to drive additional purchases and ultimately maximise sales.

Q Offer a wide choice of pack formats and flavours – to meet different consumer demands e.g. stock bottles, stick and pellets, as well as a variety of flavours.

www.slrmag.co.uk

Feature

T&C’S: This competition is only open to readers of SLR. Only one entry per store is permitted. Entries received after the closing date will not be considered. The prize is not transferable and the judges’ decision is final.

CLOSING DEADLINE: MAY 31, 2018 Name: Company/store name: Address:

Daytime phone number: Email Address: Would you like to continue to receive a copy of SLR?

Signature:

YN

Date:

APRIL 2018 | SLR

39

Feature

Tobacco

SMOKE SIGNALS

Now a year down the line since the EUTPD2 regulations were introduced, the tobacco picture is a little clearer than before and suggests that the category will remain vital in retail for a long time to come.

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

W

e’re now a year down the line since the infamous EUTPD2 legislation was first introduced in the UK with many hailing it as the beginning of the end for the tobacco category – with the Scottish Government in particular positively willing it to be curtains for the category.

With a year’s experience behind us, the consequences of the seismic shift in the tobacco market are now beginning to become reasonably well understood and documented, although the picture remains slightly blurred by the huge impact on category sales caused by the untimely collapse of P&H at the tail end of last year whose business relied so heavily on tobacco.

That collapse caused untold bedlam in the supply chain and affected supermarkets and local retailers for several months, so the conclusions that are drawn from last year’s data must be drawn with care.

At the top line level, tobacco sales have indeed continued to fall by volume, but the decline is perhaps less steep than had been anticipated and demonstrates yet again how resilient the category is.

Andy Stevens, Head of Sales at JTI, puts the category into context: “[We estimate that] the UK tobacco market is worth £15bn and tobacco continues to be the biggest FMCG category and the number one contributor to store turnover.”

So the market remains resilient but the challenges facing it are becoming no less daunting, particularly with regard to the seemingly unstoppable rise of the illicit trade, something the tobacco industry warned about for years before plain packs finally hit the shelves.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

ILLEGAL TOBACCO? THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT! All tobacco manufacturers are united in encouraging local retailers to report any illegal tobacco activity in their area, but Imperial Tobacco has shifted its activity in this area up a gear with the launch of an app to facilitate reporting.

Imperial is the only UK tobacco manufacturer with a dedicated field-based Anti-illicit Trade (AIT) team and has now launched a unique Suspect it? Report it! app (SARA for short). All members of the company’s sales force have the app loaded onto their tablets, allowing them to collect and process information supplied by retailers (in total anonymity) more quickly and efficiently than ever.

Before SARA launched, Imperial was averaging between 10 and 20 illegal tobacco reports per month. In the two months following the app’s launch, the company has received over 300 reports relating to illegal tobacco activity from their reps in the field.

Off the back of this, trading standards bodies and police forces around the UK have made seven successful seizures from outlets identified via SARA so far in 2018. In addition, over 50 Facebook posts offering illegal tobacco for sale have also been removed in the same period following their identification via SARA. If any retailers suspect #illegaltobacco activity in their area, they should ask their rep about SARA or visit www.suspect-it-report-it. co.uk to find out more.

TO RSP OR NOT TO RSP? In such a complex environment, and with falling sales, there is also mounting evidence to suggest that more and more retailers are choosing to price above RSP in order to maintain their cash profits. This is something that all the major manufacturers warn against, stating that the short-term gains will be outweighed by the longer-term loss of footfall, sales and profit.

Stevens again: “Price is a key factor for existing adult smokers when choosing where to shop for tobacco, so retailers should look to remain competitive by selling at RSP or below, although retailers are of course free to sell JTI products at whatever price they choose.”

Imperial Tobacco goes further, advising retailers to be very careful with the pricing of their tobacco range: “Premium pricing by independents is an ever-decreasing circle.

“Retailers may be making up for drops in volume with increased prices and margins but it will lead to diminishing return as consumers eventually turn elsewhere – most likely to multiples like supermarkets – to buy their tobacco.”

Imperial Tobacco believes independent retailers have one big advantage over their

www.slrmag.co.uk

Feature

Tobacco

HOW SHOULD YOU MERCHANDISE YOUR TOBACCO GANTRY? JTI offers the following merchandising advice: Q We recommend that retailers don’t make any snap decisions about changing the position of their tobacco offering and diminishing brand range and stockholding.

Q Research tells us that almost 27% [IPSOS, Qs 2016] of existing adult smokers choose to buy elsewhere if their brand is unavailable. Therefore, it’s vital that retailers maintain full availability and range to ensure they do not lose out on sales.

Q Price is a key factor for existing adult smokers when choosing where to shop for tobacco, so retailers should look to remain competitive by selling at RSP or below (retailers are of course free to sell JTI products at whatever price they choose).

Q Maintaining availability and range at all times is also of vital importance to ensure that retailers become a destination store of choice. Existing adult smokers will expect their brands to be readily available.

major multiple cousins: a personal service and the chance to build a genuine relationship with their tobacco-buying customers through excellent category knowledge.

It’s not an easy puzzle to solve and many retailers are clearly toying with higher prices, but only time will tell what the consequences of premium pricing are.

INNOVATION CONTINUES Despite the dark market and predicted death of innovation in the category, there is still a fair bit of it about. One of the most striking has been the relaunch of the Kensitas Club brand with a hugely reduced RSP of just £7.65 accompanied by the launch of a Superkings variant. The JTI’s move took everyone by surprise and has led to a very successful revitalisation of the brand in Scotland.

Sales in our own Woodlands Local store increased by hundreds of percent in just a matter of weeks, with Kensitas Club pitched as the cheapest cigarette on the gantry.

Also new from JTI is a capsule variant of its Benson & Hedges Blue value range.

The Superkings Dual variant joins the UK’s fastest-growing factory-made brand portfolio.

The launch taps into the growing capsule segment which is now worth over £630m a year in independents and symbols alone and accounts for 13% of total cigarette sales in the UK [Nielsen, Jan 2018].

The demand for Superkings in the Ultra Value market has grown by 45% in in the last year alone, according to the same data, as consumers continue to seek out value for money products.

The new variant is now available in all channels with an introductory RSP of £8.

CAPSULE CASH In a category as tough as tobacco, it pays to focus your attention on the areas where they’re most likely to reap rewards; that means staying on top of the prevailing trends.

According to Imperial Tobacco, the crushball (capsule) sector continues to be a key area of focus. A spokesperson says: “Crushball now accounts for almost 14% of the overall cigarette market. This has increased considerably in recent years. If they don’t already do so, retailers should consider 42

SLR | APRIL 2018

stocking our award-winning JPS Player’s Crushball (£7.65 RSP) and JPS Crushball (£8.30 RSP).”

Imperial also says that the latest RYO consumer trends suggest adult smokers appreciate all-in-one products that combine papers, filters and tobacco. “Our Gold Leaf 30g handy pack – with an RSP of £10.50 – has proved extremely popular in this regard,” adds the spokesperson.

Also highlighting the importance of this trend, JTI launched two new capsule products in January this year: Sterling Dual Superkings 20 and Sterling Dual Double Capsule King Size 20.

ROLL WITH IT Roll Your Own (RYO) tobacco continues to play a significant role in offering value for money for shoppers and is an area retailers should pay particular attention to.

Amber Leaf is the number one tobacco with a 33.6% share of the RYO market and is the best-selling RYO brand in every region within the UK [Nielsen, Jan 2018] with two out of the top three selling tobacco SKUs in its portfolio.

With the current trend towards value set to continue, larger RYO packs are also expected to become increasingly popular. Larger RYO packs, such as 50g, can provide existing adult smokers with the option of improved value for money.

Sterling Rolling, JTI’s value RYO product from a best-selling cigarette brand offers existing adult smokers more value for money.

The line is now available in a 3-in-1 format that includes tobacco, papers and filters all in a convenient box format. The product takes advantage of recent trends in the market that have seen an increase in popularity for box formats.

Having increased by over 6% year on year, sales of box format now account for over 31% of RYO pack sales. To take advantage of this trend wholesalers are advised to stock both pouch and box variants of Amber Leaf and Sterling Rolling [Nielsen, Jan 2018].

Imperial Tobacco’s Gold Leaf JPS is a product that made significant strides in terms of sales growth in 2017 and retailers should strongly consider stocking it if they don’t already do so. www.slrmag.co.uk

£7.65

LIMITED TIME ONLY*

NEW LOW RRP

SAME QUALITY TOBACCO

KING SIZE

SUPERKINGS

NOW ALSO AVAILABLE IN

SUPERKINGS

*You are free at all times to sell JTI Products at whatever price you choose. Previous Club KS 20 RRP £10.55, new RRP for Kensitas Club £8.00 effective from 19th March 2018. £7.65 available for a limited time only. www.jtiadvance.co.uk – developed with you, for you.

Tobacco

Feature

CIGARS EXPLOITING EUTPD2 EXEMPTIONS Cigars still benefit from being exempt from the restrictions around minimum pack sizes and standardised packaging, so they can still be branded, wrapped and sold individually, or in five or 10 packs and some are now the cheapest option on the gantry.

“Premium pricing by independents is an ever-decreasing circle. Retailers may be making up for drops in volume with increased prices and margins, but it will lead to diminishing return as consumers eventually turn elsewhere – most likely to multiples like supermarkets – to buy their tobacco.”

IMPERIAL TOBACCO

TOP PERFORMING CIGAR BRANDS BRAND

SHARE (%)

VALUE (£m)

MAT TY

MAT TY

9%

£34.1

12%

£13.1

Hamlet

3%

£35.8

Hamlet Miniatures

8%

£16.2

Café Crème

1%

£14.1

Royal Dutch Miniatures

1%

£7.9

%

£21.2

Café Crème Red Filter

3%

£6.7

Royal Dutch Miniature Blue

7%

£4.1

HW Half Corona

5%

£13.9

Panama

4%

£3.8

King Six

1%

£2.7

Meharis Red Orient

0%

£1.8

HW Panatella

9%

£2.4

Royal Dutch Elites

8%

£2.1

Café Crème Finos Blue

7%

£1.0

Café Crème Blue Moments Blue

Classic2

44

SLR | APRIL 2018

W

ith the tobacco category tougher than ever, retailers need to be exploiting every opportunity they can find – and one of the most obvious out there is the cigar category. Cigars still benefit from being exempt from the EUTPD2 restrictions around minimum pack sizes and standardised packaging, so they can still be branded beyond the product name and can be wrapped and sold individually, or in five or 10 packs. This means some cigars are now the cheapest option available on shelf, which may attract existing smokers from other categories.

Worth £197m, the cigars category presents a significant sales opportunity for retailers.

Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK (STG UK) is leading the way in the category, accounting for seven of the top 16 brands (as highlighted in the panel) and over half of the entire category with a 53% market share. With a portfolio benefitting from many category-leading cigars, including most notably Café Crème which

is the number one cigar brand in the UK, its brands should be considered must stocks for any tobacco retailer.

Jens Christiansen, Head of Marketing & Public Affairs at STG UK, comments: “Many consumers remain loyal to wellknown brands they can trust as they provide reassurance in terms of the quality and perceived value of the product. As a result, it’s important for retailers to include a range of top-sellers from each segment in their range so that they don’t miss out on sales.

As the number one cigar brand in the UK, Café Crème Blue accounts for 22% of cigar sales single-handedly [IRI, Jan 2018], making it a valuable asset for any tobacco retailer.”

VALUE PROPOSITION Price continues to be a major focus for shoppers, especially within the tobacco category, and STG UK expects the value for money trend to gain even further momentum now the EUTPD2 restrictions are firmly bedded-in.

With the Small Cigar segment

worth £75m, STG believes with the right product there is a huge opportunity to capitalise on this demand for value and drive growth back into the category.

Christiansen comments: “To tap into this demand for value, last year we launched the Moments Panatella, which is available to buy in packs of five with an RSP of £4.20, making it the cheapest product on shelf within the Small Cigar segment.

Thanks to its exemption from the plain packaging restrictions, the range also benefits from an eyecatching yellow design to help stand out on-shelf.”

The Miniatures segment is now dominating the value for money category as consumers continue to seek out quickersmoking cigars.

“Priced at just £3.83 for a pack of 10, stocking Moments Blue allows retailers to take advantage of the sales afforded by this leading segment, whilst also responding to two of the major trends we’re seeing in the category: trusted brands and value for money,” says Christiansen.

STG’S TIPS ON MAXIMISING CIGAR SALES IN 2018 Q Stock the Biggest Brands Many consumers remain loyal to well-known brands they trust. As a result, it’s important to include a selection of top-sellers from each segment, like the No.1 cigar brand in the UK, Café Crème Blue, so that they don’t miss out on sales.

Q Know Your Customers Retailers know their customers better than anyone else and there will always be regional differences in product performance. By paying attention to what customers are buying and reviewing sales data, retailers can see what’s performing well and stock their range accordingly.

Q Availability is Key Without a doubt the simplest, but most effective piece of advice to follow is to stay stocked up. If a product isn’t in stock, consumers can’t buy it, so retailers should make sure they monitor stock levels carefully to avoid this happening.

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Feature

Water

WHAT NEXT FOR WATER? Consumers are buying more water than ever as the trend towards healthier consumption shows no signs of relenting but the category faces more challenges than ever, so what lies ahead?

S

tatistically speaking, consumers are drinking more water than ever before and the sub-category is outperforming the wider soft drinks market, which declined by 0.1% in volume in the 12 weeks prior to January 2018 [IRI, Jan 2018]. And of the sub-categories that showed growth, Bottled Water contributed a whopping 41%, with total overall volume sales of Plain Water increasing by 5.6% according to the same data, with sales in convenience up 2.3%.

Interestingly, Plain Water outsold Cola by volume across the Total Retail Market for the first time ever in July 2017.

Carol Saunders, Head of Customer Marketing at Highland Spring Group, comments: “This can largely be attributed to the rise in consumer demand for healthy hydration options. And consumers in Scotland specifically are drinking more water than ever before with Plain Bottled Water growing in volume by 5.2% in the last year [IRI, Feb 2018]. Sparkling water in particular is also continuing to gain popularity with volume sales increasing 7% in the last year in Scotland.”

CHALLENGES AHEAD? So far, so good, but the road ahead for plain water looks increasingly challenging. The growth of flavoured waters will certainly put pressure on the category while the shift towards re-using and re-filling bottles may ultimately affect the category should the trend continue to grow.

The flavoured water sub-category now accounts for over a third of impulse water sales and is growing strongly in Scotland at 4% [IRI, Jan 2018]. AG Barr’s Rubicon Spring is a good example of a product helping to grow this sub-category. It has

delivered over £25m of sales since launch [IRI, Dec 2017] and is available in four variants: Strawberry & Kiwi; Lemon & Lime; Orange & Mango; and Black Cherry & Raspberry.

Adrian Troy, Marketing Director at Barr Soft Drinks, comments: “What makes Rubicon Spring so exciting is that it appeals to consumers across different categories. For those wanting a healthier alternative to a fizzy drink or fruit drink, it has all of the low calorie and healthier benefits of spring water. And for those coming from water or flavoured water where taste can often be bland and disappointing, it has a big hit of Rubicon flavour.”

The company has also launched a new first of its kind product for the water category: Strathmore Botanics, made with spring water infused with natural botanicals and fruit flavours, with zero calories and no added sugar.

Available in three flavours – Orange & Mandarin; Apple & Elderflower; and Pear & Elderberry – the new range taps into the growing popularity of natural botanical tastes that consumers are increasingly enjoying across other categories.

SUGAR TAX The recent introduction of the sugar tax is also likely to further boost the wider category, as Saunders explains: “The increasing consumer and media focus on health, as well as the imposition of the sugar tax, continues to be a major driver of product choice and is a significant consideration for consumers when choosing between drinks.

Research shows that 36% of consumers are more concerned with sugar in food compared to the previous year [KWP Health and Attitudes to Nutrients, Mar 2017]. Therefore, retailers need to make sure their range appeals to health-conscious consumers by offering options low in or free from sugar and calories.”

CAMPAIGN DRIVE Highland Spring, the UK’s leading producer of natural source bottled water, has recently unveiled its latest marketing campaign, entitled ‘H2Oomph’. Encouraging consumers to enjoy life with added value, the activity kicked off with an on-pack promotion running until June and forms part of the brand’s ongoing ‘Brave By Nature’ positioning.

The instant win mechanic appears on Highland Spring’s Still 500ml flat cap and 750ml sports cap on-the-go single bottles and multipacks and gives the nation the chance to win one of 10,000 prizes on offer.

The promotion is supported by a fully integrated communications plan that includes in-store activation, out of home and digital advertising, PR and social media activity.

The brand has also unveiled a packaging refresh for its 1-ltr, 750ml and 330ml glass bottles. The design mirrors the new look introduced to the PET range, updated in 2017, and highlights the brand’s provenance and heritage messaging.

AG Barr’s Strathmore Water has also unveiled Team GB athlete and last year’s European Indoor 1500m and 3000m champion, Laura Muir, as its new brand ambassador.. The 24-year-old runner – who hails from Milnathort in Scotland – will help the brand to deliver its ongoing Do More campaign which aims to inspire more people of all ages and ability exercising.

HIGHLAND SPRING ADVICE Stock only top selling brands which consumers know and trust and which generate high rates of sale.

Ensure a good range of bottled water is available and well merchandised within the chiller.

Clear merchandising of the bottled water range in a prominent position in the fridge will help customers find what they are looking for. It’s essential to have a variety of single bottles in the fridge to cater for immediate consumption with high sellers on the bottom deeper shelf.

Stock products across plain and flavoured, still and sparkling to meet different consumer needs and occasions.

On small bottles it is essential to have a minimum of two facings to ensure visibility.

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SLR | APRIL 2018

www.slrmag.co.uk

we’re

back nat flav ural our s

sugar free fruit d e flavourish scott g sprin water

*Units, IRI Total Scotland – Year to 14/10/17

Feature

Low Sugar Drinks

LOW SUGAR RUSH A

gree with it or not, the sugar tax is now well and truly with us, with hiked prices for high sugar drinks fuelling a trend towards low and no sugar options that was already evident in the market. There has never been a better time to take a fresh look at your soft drinks range to ensure you are meeting the demands of modern shoppers, particularly as they begin to notice the sizeable price differentials between full and low/no sugar lines.

One thing that hasn’t changed however is the overriding reason why most consumers choose a soft drink: great taste.

That combined with flavour choice and the right pack formats remain the key drivers to soft drinks sales and the major manufacturers haven’t lost sight of this when shaping their offering to meet these new, healthier demands.

While the likes of Coca-Cola and Irn-Bru

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SLR | APRIL 2018

have taken different routes to positioning their full sugar ‘classic’ options – Coca-Cola toughed it out and is keeping the full sugar variant as a premium option while AG Barr has slashed the sugar content of Irn-Bru – there’s no question that the major players are shifting the bulk of their marketing and NPD spend into low and no sugar.

“There is still strong demand for regular soft drinks and AG Barr has a responsibility towards these consumers to help them reduce their sugar intake,” says Adrian Troy, Marketing Director at Barr Soft Drinks.

“We are responding by introducing new and innovative mid-sugar regular products as well as low and zero sugar options across our key brands. This means that, by April 2018, we now expect that up to 99% of our portfolio will be sugar levy free, while still delivering the great taste for which our brands are known.”

Troy highlights that Barr Soft Drinks mid, low and no-sugar offering now includes Irn-

Bru regular (50% less sugar), Irn-Bru Sugar Free, Irn-Bru Xtra, Rubicon Spring, Rockstar Revolt and Snapple Iced Tea. Along with reduced sugar comes reduced calories and the growth in popularity of lower calorie soft drinks means that it’s more important than ever for retailers to talk to their customers, find out what they’re looking for and then tailor their offering.

Troy again: “Our research has highlighted that many carbonates shoppers in particular are looking to reduce their sugar and calorie intake, so it’s crucial that retailers react accordingly to cater for shopper needs and maximise sales.

“Positioning also plays a key role – for example, shoppers that are looking for a healthy option tend to look at the water fixture in the chiller, so Barr recommends that Rubicon Spring is stocked in the chiller cabinet, positioned between carbonates and water.”

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GIVE YOUR SALES A TASTY TWIST.

©2018 The Coca-Cola Company. All rights reserved. COCA-COLA, COCA-COLA ZERO and DIET COKE are registered trade marks of The Coca-Cola Company.

CAPITALISE ON THE GROWTH OF FLAVOURED COLA, WHICH IS UP 20%*

NEW FLAVOURS NO SUGAR

FROM GB’S NO.1 SUGAR FREE COLA AND FASTEST GROWING COLA BRAND** SOFT DRINKS TAX EXEMPT TO FIND OUT MORE VISIT WWW.COKECUSTOMERHUB.CO.UK OR CALL OUR CUSTOMER HUB ON 0808 1 000 000 *Nielsen data 31.01.18 **Nielsen: MAT W/e 30.12.17

Feature

Low Sugar Drinks

When it comes to energy drinks, Barr has focused its no-sugar game with the launch Rockstar Revolt.

“Rockstar Revolt appeals to the growing number of consumers who want zero sugar energy, but don’t want it to look, feel, perform or taste different to full sugar energy,” says Troy.

“The new products also reinforce Rockstar’s reputation as the leader in energy drink innovation, building on the brand’s proven ability to deliver incremental category sales.”

The UK’s number one energy brand, Red Bull, has also expanded its sugarfree range as part of its commitment to become more relevant with current health and category trends, and drive market growth.

The launch includes the completion of Red Bull Sugarfree, with a 355ml PMP offer, while the brand has also revisited its Editions range with two Red Bull Editions – Tropical and Orange – as a 250ml can sugarfree option, available in PMP and plain packs.

The launch also sees the brand extend its portfolio with the addition of the first Red Bull Sugarfree 473ml can (PMP and plain).

Research highlights that shoppers are currently purchasing 44% more low calorie functional energy big cans than last year, and 28% more low calorie functional energy flavours [IRI, Oct 2017].

With low calorie and big cans currently growing faster – 7% and 14% respectively – than the brand as a whole (according to the same data), the extension of Red Bull’s Sugarfree range will ensure shoppers can

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SLR | APRIL 2018

now choose a sugarfree alternative for every Red Bull pack.

First Launched in 2001, Red Bull was the first to market with a sugarfree option. The existing Red Bull Sugarfree 355ml, which launched in 2006, continues to perform well despite flat distribution in 2017, and has grown 73.7% highlighting clear potential for growth within the sugarfree category.

More than one and a half times bigger than the number two low calorie sports and energy SKU, Red Bull Sugarfree 250ml is currently the fifth-largest low calorie drink within total soft drinks [IRI, Oct 2017].

Designed to expand Red Bull’s success within the sugarfree energy drinks category, the brand-new range will offer consumers choice and remove the current taste and health barriers to trial. With over half of shoppers walking away from a purchase if there is no low calorie offering, the NPD will encourage more 18 to 34-year olds, who want to cut down on sugar without giving up on pick me ups, to drink Red Bull Sugarfree by driving trial. With the Red Bull 2017 single can portfolio achieving 5.4% brand growth in a flat category, the new offering aims to help reinvigorate the category further.

Gavin Lissimore, Red Bull Head of Category Marketing comments: “As an active lifestyle brand, we understand the importance of offering health conscious consumers choice. The launch of our new sugar free range ensures that consumers can choose a sugarfree alternative for each and every Red Bull can. Whether it’s our top performing Red

Bull 250ml can – which remains our bestseller – or a Red Bull Edition, shoppers can reach for their favourite SKU and expect to see the sugarfree option sitting right beside it. We’re passionate about giving our loyal customers choice, which is why we would encourage retailers to stock the sugarfree alternative next to the original Red Bull SKU – ensuring both options are always available to shoppers.”

The launch is supported by Red Bull’s biggest-ever campaign on sugarfree. With a complete 360 degree approach, the activity is supported above the line with video-ondemand, digital, outdoor and social media campaigns, whilst shopper activations and dedicated POS will drive awareness instore.

Amy Burgess, Trade Communications Manager at Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), is also encouraging retailers to embrace the low and no sugar opportunity: “It’s important for retailers to offer a wide selection of low or zero sugar drinks and constantly soft drink ranges as manufacturers innovate new lighter options to meet rising consumer demand for healthier options.

“We have remained focused on our sugar reduction strategy which is built around meaningful actions that we know change consumer behaviours over the long term, helping them to make healthier choices. In fact, since 2005 we have launched 32 new drinks with no or less sugar, helping people reduce the sugar intake from our soft drinks offer.”

CCEP recently unveiled two new variants of Diet Coke and one for Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

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MORE WINGS WITHOUT SUGAR.

RED BULL SUGARFREE EDITIONS 250ML. Stock the new Sugarfree Editions alongside your existing Red Bull range to offer your shoppers the choice they demand. Red Bull Gives You Wings.

Feature

Low Sugar Drinks

to build on the growing consumer demand for light colas [Nielsen, Aug 2017] and flavour options [Kantar, Aug 2017].

Burgess comments: “Exotic Mango and Feisty Cherry have joined the Diet Coke portfolio, which is the first time the brand has introduced new flavours since 2003.

These new variants are the first to feature Diet Coke’s brand new contemporary design that includes images and coloured banners to reflect the flavours, whilst still using the iconic silver colour.

“Exotic Mango offers a bold, fruity variant of the well-loved brand that maintains and complements the great, much-loved taste, whilst Feisty Cherry appeals to consumers looking for something a little different with a kick of chilli alongside the cherry.

“Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Peach follows the success of the Cherry and Vanilla variants launched in 2017 and is the first product to be available in a new, sophisticated red can design that celebrates the iconicity of the Coca-Cola brand. This is the latest step in our One Brand strategy that aims to unite and celebrate the product family, whether it’s a

Coke with or without sugar, or one of our new flavours.

“The new flavours for Diet Coke and CocaCola Zero Sugar have been designed to help retailers tap into the growing popularity of light colas, which are worth £915.5m [Nielsen, Aug 2017], and the growing consumer trend for unique, exciting options. 4.7 million households in Great Britain buy flavoured colas and the category brings 340,000 incremental shoppers to the cola segment every year [Kantar, Aug 2017].”

As well as launching new flavours, CCEP has also refreshed the entire Diet Coke brand, supported by a £10m advertising campaign for 2018.

“As part of the refresh, Diet Coke now has a new look and feel that includes a larger logo etched onto the background of the iconic silver can,” says Burgess. “It’s a subtle but contemporary update that aims to appeal to both loyal fans and new drinkers.

“Completing a trio of exciting developments for Diet Coke is a new campaign ‘Because I Can’, which will encourage consumers to live their lives unapologetically. The campaign

£2 MILLION BRAND INVESTMENT PROFIT FROM THE NO.1 * SCOTTISH GROCERY BRAND *Source : Kantar World Panel, Value Sales, Take Home Non-Alcohol Brands, MAT to 21.05.17, Total Scotland

Low Sugar Drinks

represents a departure for the brand that has a rich heritage of campaigns, including the Diet Coke Hunk and ‘Get the Gang Back Together’ campaign.”

Much of CCEP’s energy is also going into its Coca-Cola Zero Sugar product which launched back in summer 2016 and was supported by a £10m marketing campaign, the company’s biggest brand investment for a decade.

Since then CCEP has distributed a whopping 15.4m samples nationwide to drive trial of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and has launched two new flavour variants Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Vanilla and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Cherry.

As a result, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar has become the fastest growing cola brand in Great Britain, up +41% [Nielsen, Sep 2017].

Now worth £136m in value in Grocery, CocaCola Zero Sugar is the fourth-biggest cola brand in the country.

Burgess states: “The brand has attracted 1.6m more households so far in 2017 and has achieved the biggest actual value growth YTD of any soft drink brand (£30.5m) [Nielsen,

Sep 2017] growing its volume share of light colas by 4%, supporting our key objective of establishing Coca-Cola Zero Sugar as a strong option for those looking to reduce their sugar intake.”

It’s clear then that the direction of travel of the category is in one direction, but none of major manufacturers see the sugar tax as the most effective way of achieving wider societal aims.

Burgess concludes: “Our position on the soft drinks tax is clear. We agree that there is a major societal challenge around obesity, but we do not believe that a tax on one product category is the best way of tackling such a complex issue – particularly when that category has been leading the way in sugar reduction. In fact, since 2014 sugar from the soft drinks category has declined by over 20% [Kantar Dec 2017 v Jan 2014].

“We will continue to focus on the work we began long before the tax was announced.

This includes the introduction of innovative new products, build distribution for our smaller packs and encourage consumers to choose our lower and no sugar drinks.”

Feature

UTC

THE STUFF OF DREAMS

Never having set foot inside in a McBurger King, the auld yin was suitably flummoxed by a press release that landed in his inbox recently hailing the arrival of the answer to every obese, salad-dodging Scot’s prayers: a Burger King home self-service ordering kiosk.

Unfortunately – or, perhaps, fortunately – the new bit of kit only appears to be available in Belgium at the minute, which will be a wee weight off Scottish Health Minister Shona Robison’s mind. Here we are worrying about a minimum price for alcohol and a tax on sugar when them pesky Belgians are handing out Burger King kiosks to all and sundry.

Needless to say, UTC remained unimpressed. Mind you, if Gregg’s or Blue Lagoon launched an ordering kiosk, that would be a different matter entirely...

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SLR | APRIL 2018

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

As regular readers will be aware, nothing floats the auld yin’s boat quite like a bit of pointless research. The latest fine example comes from the Rotterdam School of Management which has “proven for the first time that some forms of advertising provoke a response in consumers that they are powerless to control”.

Professors Mandy Hütter and Steven Sweldens [Have you just made those names up? – Ed] have developed a new methodology showing that consumers are “unable to form their own, objective opinion on a brand or product when they view an advert containing positive stimuli such as beautiful scenery, happy people and well-liked celebrities”.

So there we have it, the recipe for guaranteed success: stick whichever one of Ant and Dec hasn’t just been done for drink driving on the shores of Loch Lomond on a sunny day while holding your product and you’ve got it made. Shoppers will be simply unable to resist, and the Rotterdam School of Management are prepared to stake their reputation on it.

MOVING THE GOALPOSTS IS A NO-BRAINER IF YOU WANT TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX Of all the things UTC hates – and there’s a long, long list of them – marketing and management jargon is one of them.

Tell it like it is – that’s his motto. So he took some pleasure in pointedly circulating a press release to his colleagues at SLR Towers that he received from Kit Out My Office, an online retailer of office furniture.

The company had, for reasons best known to themselves, compiled a list of the most annoying office phrases: Q Think outside the box Q It’s not rocket science Q Amazeballs Q Going forward Q Can I borrow you for a second?

Needless to say, the next editorial meeting after the auld yin circulated said list turned into a festival of jargon with everyone competing to create the longest possible sentence that actually said absolutely nothing. A bit like reading features in SLR then, said the auld boy, somewhat harshly. www.slrmag.co.uk

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