SLR February 2019

STUART RAMSAY

Track & Trace in the spotlight

SHABANA CHAUDHRY FEBRUARY 2019 | ISSUE 190

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First Nom Stop opens in Glasgow

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NEW SUSTAINABILITY EVENT SLR unveils new sustainability conference

EPOS ON THE GO Accessing EPoS through an app

TIME FOR TEA

Tea still the UK’s favourite hot drink

VEGANISM: FAD OR THE FUTURE?

Is the current veganism trend another fad that will blow over, or is it here to stay – and what would that mean for retailers?

It’s time to enter the SLR Rewards 2019! p32

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February 2019

Contents

Contents ISSUE 190

NEWS p4 p5 p6 p8 p10 p18 p20 p22

Retail Violence Home Office Minister unveils plans to combat rising tide of assaults on shopworkers.

Legislation SGF highly critical of Scottish Government’s proposals to reduce harm done by unhealthy food.

Symbol Groups Spar makes several changes to both its UK and Scottish senior management teams.

Food-to-go First store rolls out Lomond Wholesale’s all-inone Nom Stop food-to-go solution.

News Extra Awards Two industry veterans are honoured at Buckingham Palace.

Product News KitKat urges shoppers to ‘make a break for it’ with an on-pack holiday competition.

Off-Trade News A survey reveals Britons are cutting back on the booze, just as an alcoholic sparkling water launches.

Newstrade Cover price rises help The Times back into profit, while the Egmont row rumbles on.

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INSIDE BUSINESS p24 Research Digest ‘Vaping’ replaces ‘quitting’ on the list of new year’s resolutions for shoppers in 2019. p26 2 Minutes Of Your Time Stuart Ramsay, from Imperial Brands, explains what the forthcoming Track & Trace legislation holds for retailers. p28 SLR Rewards We catch up with some of the retailers who bagged a fantastic prize last year. p32 SLR Rewards With entries now open, our awards partners offer some tips on making your application stand out. p40 Getting More Out Of Epos The third of ‘hands-on’ guides that could save you time and make you money. p44 Hotlines A round-up of the latest new products that suppliers are keen for you to stock. p54 Under The Counter The Auld Yin is impressed by one enterprising retailer’s attempt to secure his premises.

FEATURES p46 Energy Drinks This massively important category has been quick to react to a rapidly-evolving marketplace. p48 Impulse Must-Stocks: Tea Tea is still the UK’s favourite hot drink with market share of over 45% – a fact that should be reflected on your shelves. p52 Biscuits Category growth has been fuelled in part by growing demand for healthier and ‘free-from’ options.

ON THE COVER p14 Veganism Will the massive spike in interest in veganism be an opportunity for local retailers to cash in, or will the trend prove to be a flash in the pan?

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FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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News CRIME Home Office sets out three-pronged approach to curb attacks on shopworkers

Christmas fails to stop job numbers drop The number of employees in the retail sector fell by 2.2% in the last quarter of 2018, according to the latest BRC Retail Employment Monitor. The figure is equivalent to 70,000 less jobs compared to Q4 2017. Total hours fell by 2.8%.

Full time hours fell by 2.9%, a slower decline than Q3 when the number dropped by 4.2%. Parttime hours declined by 2.8%.

Digger smashes Spar store in ATM raid The Spar store in the Moray town of Keith suffered considerable damage after a mini-digger was driven into it in a bid to steal an ATM. The attempted robbery, in the early hours of Saturday 19 January, led to the closure of main A96 road while a clean-up operation was carried out.

Duncan Elrick, 35, faces six charges in connection with the

Crime Minister reveals plans to tackle retail violence Home Office Minister Victoria Atkins has announced a package of measures to tackle violence against retailers.

The move follows a top-level industry summit on retail crime held in December that was attended by representatives from the NFRN, Usdaw and other stakeholders.

In a letter to attendees dated 22 January, Atkins said she had “enormous sympathy for shop workers who, in their endeavours to enforce the law, can face intimidation, threats and, in some cases, violence”.

Atkins – Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability – set out a three-pronged plan, which is to be introduced when the offensive weapons bill that is currently before parliament reaches Committee Stage in the House of Lords. It

includes a call for evidence on violence and abuse towards shop workers; funding to raise awareness of existing legislation in place to protect shop workers; and refreshing the work of the National Retail Crime Steering Group to focus exclusively on violence and abuse.

Convenience trade bodies welcomed the announcement.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “Tackling violence against shopworkers on the front line enforcing the law must be a key priority for all authorities. This must include targeted action to deal with shop theft, which is one of the most common triggers of abuse along with challenging attempted underage sales.”

NFRN National President Mike Mitchelson commented: “The NFRN looks forward to seeing these

measures take effect as they will better protect all retail workers and we will work closely with both Mrs Atkins and the Home Office to deliver a safer working environment for shop owners and their staff.”

Usdaw General Secretary Paddy Lillis said the measures were “a step in the right direction” but called on the government to go further by accepting amendments to the bill that will provide greater protection for shopworkers.

Lillis said: “Shopworkers will play a vital role in policing the sale of knives and corrosive substances, as they already do on the sale of alcohol and other age-restricted products. Yet they are offered no additional protection under the law and shopworkers can be treated like criminals if a mistake is made at the point of sale.”

incident.

BREXIT CBI predicts ‘devastating’ impact on economy

Swatch launches contactless watch Swatch has announced a new series of watches enabled for contactless payment. Consumers can link their credit or debit card details to a SwatchPay watch and then use it to pay for goods or services at any contactless point-of-sale terminal.

The watches don’t appear to have any other functionality, apart from telling the time.

Transactions require no energy from the watch itself, meaning the payment features have no negative impact on battery life.

pladis names new boss Snacking giant pladis has appointed industry veteran A. Salman Amin as its new global CEO. He joins pladis from SC Johnson & Son, where he held the post of Global Chief Operating Officer. Prior to SC Johnson, he was PepsiCo’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Amin said: “I’ve built a career on seeking out opportunities to rewrite the rules, diversify and be

Scottish cost of ‘no-deal’ Brexit could be £14bn A no-deal Brexit could cost Scotland £14bn a year, according to the CBI. The business organisation reached its conclusion following new analysis of UK government figures.

If the UK fails to secure a deal, real gross added value (GVA) in Scotland could be 8.1% lower by 2034, compared with a situation in which current arrangements with the EU remained in place. This could amount to an annual loss of output of over £14bn.

To put the figure into context, £14bn is more than the amount spent on hospitals, GP surgeries and other health services across Scotland each year.

The food and drink industry is Scotland’s largest manufacturing sector. Its value is forecast to drop by 11% by 2034 in the event of a ‘no-deal’. Companies are particularly concerned about high tariffs and new customs procedures.

For example, the loss of access

to key non-EU markets through EU trade agreements would mean that Scotch whisky could face import duties of £53 million a year to access these markets.

CBI Scotland Director Tracy Black said: “CBI Scotland members are clear: if the new approach to finding a Brexit deal continues to be a game of who blinks first, the whole economy will pay the price.

“The deadlock will only be broken by a genuine attempt by all politicians to find consensus and compromise, not stick to rusting red lines and political conditions. Scotland is not – and cannot be – ready for no deal.

“The projected impact on our economy would be devastating and while business will do all it can to reduce some of the worst aspects, a no-deal scenario is unmanageable.”

Saying a disorderly Brexit would affect jobs and livelihoods for decades, Black called on MPs to put prosperity before party politics.

APPOINTMENTS

Raj Krishan moves to Sugro

Sugro has appointed Raj Krishan to the newly-created senior role of Head of Business Development.

Krishan will be responsible for developing and delivering the wholesale buying group’s strategic initiatives for sales and business improvements, including developing current and future member relationships.

He joins from AF Blakemore where he served as Wholesale Distribution Sales Director.

Prior to joining Blakemore, he held senior posts at Landmark, Todays and Nisa.

part of consumer evolution.”

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News LEGISLATION Federation highly critical of Scottish Government’s plans to reduce harm done by unhealthy food

SGF trashes Scotgov’s junk food proposals Scottish Grocers Federation has strongly criticised Scottish government proposals to restrict grocery promotions such as multibuys in stores as lacking in evidence, badly thought through and unenforceable.

The Federation was responding to a major Scottish government consultation on reducing harm from foods deemed to be high in fat, salt and sugar. The consultation period ended on January 9.

The SGF submission highlighted that the government has not yet defined which products would be included in the proposed restrictions and as such it was almost impossible to fully assess the impact on the convenience sector. The consultation document also stated that ‘upselling’ would no longer be permitted. In effect this means that staff asking customers if they would like a muffin with their coffee could be committing an offence.

The Scottish government has indicated that any new

regulations would be enforced by local authorities.

SGF Head of Public Affairs Dr John Lee said: “Retailers should be allowed to use a wide range of promotions to ensure they stay competitive and provide customers with the value for money they have come to expect.

At the moment we simply don’t know the full range of products which would be caught up in new regulations – full technical specifications should have been published before this consultation was launched. It will be very difficult for retailers to accurately assess which products will be restricted.

“Additionally, we fail to see how any new regulations – which will undoubtedly be quite baffling for both retailers and customers – can be effectively enforced.”

The Scottish government has indicated that it will establish an ‘expert technical panel’ to develop new definitions of foods deemed to be high in fat salt and sugar.

Former MRH boss Cresswell joins Bestway Andy Cresswell – previously Managing Director of forecourt operator MRH – has assumed the newly-created role of Chief Retail Officer for Bestway Wholesale.

Cresswell takes charge of Bestway’s owned and franchise stores, including those acquired from doomed alcohol wholesaler Conviviality.

He effectively replaces Bestway’s Retail MD David Robinson, who moves to Pets at Home as Chief Operating Officer.

Power moves to Müller Müller Milk & Ingredients has appointed Brendan Power as Commercial Director, effective from April 2019.

He joins the company from Birds Eye and brings more than 25 years of commercial

LOTTERY New game offers £10,000 monthly payout

FORECOURTS Motor Fuel Groups rebrands Spar stores

experience in leadership roles

Punters could be ‘Set for Life’ with Camelot’s new game

MFG extends Booker supply deal to cover all its forecourts

across channels including

Camelot has announced a new National Lottery annuity game, called ‘Set For Life’.

The draw-based game will offer a top prize of £10,000 a month for 30 years. Tickets will cost £1.50 per line and will go on sale on Friday March 15. Draws will be held every Monday and Thursday, with the first draw taking place on Monday March 18 (subject to regulatory approval). Players will be able to buy tickets through any of the usual channels.

Camelot is raising the profile of the new game via advertising, in-store signs, posters and other marketing materials.

Players will pick five main numbers from 1 to 47, and one ‘Life Ball’ from 1 to 10, and have the chance to win fixed prizes ranging from the top prize of £10,000 a month for 30 years to £5 for matching two main numbers.

Forecourt operator Motor Fuel Group MFG is rebranding 110 of its shops from Spar to the Londis or Budgens brands having extended its shop supply agreement with Booker Retail Partners.

MFG signed its first agreement with Booker in May 2016 and this new contract will include the MRH network that MFG acquired last year. Booker will supply the entire 925-strong network and MRH’s Spar shops will be the first to be rebranded.

Paul Dennis, MFG’s Retail Director said: “After nearly three years of successful Booker shop supply, we are delighted to be continuing our relationship to cover our enlarged network. We believe Booker’s promotional programme and Spend & Save rewards have already added significant benefits to over 800 of our forecourt retailers.

“In addition to rebranding the Spar stores, it is our intention to also replace the Hursts brand. We are confident that moving to Londis and Budgens will help drive additional footfall through our stores and enhance the customer shopping experience.”

Steve Fox, Managing Director, Booker Group Retail, added: “We are delighted to extend our partnership with MFG. It is a privilege to serve them and this extension to our existing agreement is a fantastic opportunity for Booker Retail Partners to build on our already successful partnership.”

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Punters have a one in 12.4 chance of winning a prize of some description. To scoop the top prize by matching all six numbers, players will need to beat odds of one in 15,339,390.

A dedicated web page (national-lottery.co.uk/set-forlife) offers more information about the new game, including a full breakdown of the prize tiers.

Camelot boss Nigel Railton said: “Annuity games really appeal to a growing number of people who like the idea of winning a prize paid out in regular instalments over the long term, and are very successful in other countries.

We think that Set For Life will be just as popular here in the UK. “Most importantly, it rounds off what is now a more appealing and balanced portfolio of games that offers something for everyone.”

multiples, convenience, wholesale, food service and export. Power has held similar roles for organisations including Adams Foods and AB InBev.

Environment Secretary restates DRS pledge Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has reiterated the Scottish Government’s pledge to introduce a deposit return scheme.

Visiting CCEP’s bottling plant in East Kilbride, she said: “A deposit return scheme as part of the wider circular economy will not only be an effective way of increasing recycling rates and reducing litter, but also provide an opportunity to secure a new source of high quality material.”

BP approves EDGEPoS Forecourt giant BP has approved EDGEPoS for its dealers and is encouraging its retailers to upgrade their legacy software.

EDGEPoS is fully integrated with the BPme App, allowing retailers full visibility and reporting from a back office system.

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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News SYMBOL GROUPS Spar makes changes to both its UK and Scottish senior management teams

Morrisons rolls out 20p paper bag trial Morrisons is introducing a reusable 20p paper bag as part of an eight-week trial in eight of its stores. The mult will also experiment with increasing the cost of its reusable plastic carrier bag to 15p. Morrisons said cutting down plastic was the top environmental concern for its customers. Waitrose isn’t following suit as it takes more energy and creates more CO2 to make a paper bag compared to a plastic one.

Graham’s expansion plans turn sour Graham’s The Family Dairy has written-off over £850,000 after it failed to get planning permission for a major development. The family firm wanted to expand from its Bridge of Allan base and build a new dairy, a primary school and 600 of houses.

The plan required rezoning of undeveloped land but Stirling councillors refused permission, a

CJ Lang bolsters management and updates fleet livery CJ Lang has made two appointments to strengthen its senior management team, and unveiled a new design for its Spar Scotland delivery fleet.

Current Company Stores Director Jamie Buchanan moves to the new position of Format and Merchandising Director.

The role will cover both company and independent Spar stores. A spokesperson said Buchanan’s “focus on merchandising direction together with format development will make a significant impact on overall business profitability”.

Brian Straiton joins the company from Scotmid Central Scotland where he is Regional Business Manager.

He will focus on “operating efficiency and consistency of store processes and standards” in order to deliver optimum sales and profitability.

The appointments came as Spar UK named two interim Managing Directors to fill the shoes of outgoing boss Debbie Robinson.

Robinson was named in November as the new CEO of Central England Co-operative and will replace Martyn Cheatle, who retires in May. She has been Spar’s MD since 2011.

Spar insiders Chris Lewis and Jackie Mackenzie will take over at the top of the company until a permanent replacement is found.

Outwith the boardroom, 20 Spar Scotland lorries have been given a makeover as part of the company’s ongoing athletics sponsorship.

The design features European Athletics Indoor Championship branding and promotes the event that takes place in Glasgow from 1 to 3 March.

decision that was upheld by the Scottish government.

New McColl’s appointment rings changes Former Welcome Break boss Robbie Bell has joined McColl’s as Chief Financial Officer. Bell was appointed CFO of Welcome Break in 2017 before taking on the CEO role early 2018. His time at Welcome Break included managing its sale and ownership transition to Applegreen. During 20-odd years in retail, Bell has also held positions with Screwfix, Travelodge and Tesco.

Nairn’s free-from boost The growing interest in ‘free from’ food has helped Nairn’s Oatcakes record a 10% rise in sales. These rose to £30m for the year ended May 2018, according to the Edinburgh-based company’s latest accounts.

Nairn’s recently invested £6m in a new specialist bakery, where it developed gluten-free oatcakes.

Pre-tax profits rose from £2.45m to £3.75m on the back of the

SYMBOL GROUPS Nisa celebrates Chinese New Year

Taste of Orient back, while Nisa charity donates almost £1m The Taste of the Orient promotional event returned to Nisa stores this month to help bring in the Chinese New Year (5 February).

Top brands including Uncle Ben’s, Sharwood’s and Blue Dragon feature in offers as the forthcoming Year of the Pig is used to encourage increased spending on meal solutions.

The Taste of the Orient event is live in Nisa stores until 10 February.

It follows a promotion that helped shoppers kickstart their new year healthy living plans with offers on fresh fruit and veg, alongside deals

on diet ready meals, low fat yoghurts and healthier snacking products.

In other Nisa news, it was revealed that its Making a Difference Locally (MADL) charity donated almost £1m to good causes across the UK and Ireland last year.

Over 2,000 individual donations were made to causes including community groups, schools, Scout groups, charities and sports clubs.

MADL raises funds in Nisa partner stores through sales of Heritage own label products and branded items featured on the Nisa leaflet, as well as via in-store collecting tins.

SYMBOL GROUPS

Easter starts early for Costcutter retailers Costcutter Supermarkets Group has reported seeing Easter pre-sales to its retailers increase 37% compared to 2018.

It said impulse, gifting and giant eggs were behind the rise of advance orders.

With Easter falling 20 days later than last year, CSG’s Category Manager for Confectionery & Seasonal Robbie Moore said it would be expected that retailers would put off planning.

“However, with Easter becoming such a crucial trading period, we’ve rolled out our category advice guide earlier than ever,” he said.

WHOLESALERS Look who’s back...

New P&H set to start trading in the spring The original Palmer & Harvey may have crashed in 2017, but a new online-only delivered wholesaler named P&H is scheduled to launch later this year.

The business, registered as P&H (2018) last July, has no connection to the doomed wholesaler which collapsed in November 2017, plunging much of the industry into chaos.

However the founder of the new venture Anthony Ferguson, who owns Irish wholesaler Acumendia, is understood to be negotiating with Palmer & Harvey’s administrators to acquire some of its intellectual property.

Described as “the Amazon of convenience” by Ferguson, the business will outsource its warehousing and logistics.

It is due to start trading sometime between April and July. Delivery will be free to retailers who order stock worth at least £1,350 before VAT and excluding tobacco, chilled or frozen goods.

sales spike.

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O T D E T T I M M CO

S R E L I A T E R R OU SINCE 1977

“I chose Nisa and have stayed with them because of the wide range of chilled and ambient products available just a click away, with the best prices in the market and great promotions for our customers.

I’m so glad to be a part of Nisa as availability of stock is great with great delivery services.

I joined Nisa as an independent retailer many years ago, then I moved my store under the Nisa brand fascia in 2016, when we rebuilt the whole new building and we designed our store with Nisa’s outstanding designing and merchandising team.

Recently we’ve also had a great chance to try Co-op’s best-selling own-label range which has increased my shopping basket.”

Join the family... visit www.join-nisa.co.uk

I’m looking forward to what’s to come in the future with Nisa.

Mahmood Saleem, Nisa Local, Ardeer Services, Stevenston, Scotland

News FOOD-TO-GO Glasgow store rolls out Lomond Wholesale’s all-in-one solution

Suspect fuel siezed from Scots forecourts HMRC has seized around 73,000 litres of suspected illicit from four petrol stations in Motherwell, Cowdenbeath, Hillington and Leeds, where a 30-year-old-man from County Armagh was also arrested. A further 7,000 litres of suspect fuel was siezed in Loanhead. The events unfolded after HRMC uncovered a suspected fuel laundering plant in Northern Ireland.

GroceryAid launches annual awareness day The inaugural GroceryAid Day is set to take place on Tuesday 26 February. The new annual event aims to make everybody who works in the grocery industry aware of the practical, emotional and financial support available to them. To get involved visit www.groceryaid.org.uk/ groceryaid-awareness-day for more information and a free

First ever Nom Stop solution unveiled in Premier Millerston Premier Millerston in the north of Glasgow has become the first convenience store in Scotland to install a comprehensive new food-togo solution from Lomond Wholesale.

Known as Nom Stop, the solution provides retailers with a complete food-to-go package including all equipment, training, POS, marketing materials and all the ingredients required to make a large array of popular food-to-go products from baguettes and hot morning rolls to soups and popular dishes like macaroni cheese to biscuits and cakes.

Run by Shabana and Usman Chaudhry, the store joined Premier in December and has never had a full food-to-go offering in the past, but the pair feel that the time is right to capitalise on the huge consumer interest in the category.

Shabana told SLR: “Today’s shoppers want high quality, freshlyprepared food that they can consume immediately, and Nom Stop gives us everything we need to provide a fantastic offer. We were very keen to find a solution that allowed us to target all parts of the day including breakfast, lunch, evening meal and snacking. Nom Stop lets us do all of that and we are confident that it will be a fantastic addition to the store.”

All ingredients are ordered direct from Lomond Wholesale with up to three deliveries a week available.

A full set of recipes is provided to retailers to help manage portion control and ensure consistency.

“The full installation was completed in a single night shift by the shopfitters and after a day’s training we were ready to officially open,” said Shabana. “The recipes are easy to follow and use high quality ingredients, including thaw and serve breads, and we’ve been selling product from the unit within minutes of opening, so we are hopeful that it will really help drive footfall, sales and profits.”

Leaflet drops, exterior signage and an in-store digital screen – part of the Nom Stop package – is helping to bring the new offer to customers’ attention. Read more on p45.

Awareness Day pack.

EPOS PayPoint’s all-in-one solution reaches 12,000 store mark

Link bids to save rural ATMs with greater fees Operators of free-to-use ATMs in remote areas will receive increased fees from the Link cash machine network in a bid to keep machines available. The ‘super premium’ of up to £2.75 per withdrawal takes effect on 1 April. It will be available to around 3,500 free-to-use ATMs that are currently 1km or more away from the nearest free-to use ATM or form part of Link’s Financial Inclusion Programme, which safeguards free ATMs in far-flung and deprived areas.

Scottish unemployment rate hits record low at 3.6%

Unemployment rate hits record low Scotland’s jobless total has dipped below 100,000 for the first time. The number of people looking for work fell to 99,000 between September and November last year. This corresponds to a record low jobless rate of 3.6%, with over 75% of working age Scots now in

PayPoint One passes 12k stores milestone during ‘solid’ quarter PayPoint has announced that there are now over 12,000 stores using its PayPoint One platform, as its latest trading update revealed a ‘solid’ quarter for the three months to the end of last December.

The Group’s underlying net revenue increased by 1.4% to £30.9m with UK service fee revenue up by 31.3% to £2.6m.

There was continued strong growth in MultiPay with transactions up 43.6% to eight million. Bill payment underlying net revenue styated flat at £13.2m, despite a 1.5% decline in transactions.

A third partner has been added to the Collect+ network and is expected to go live before the end of the financial year.

Commenting on the PayPoint One take-up, Lewis Alcraft, Commercial Director for PayPoint, said: “Feedback on PayPoint One has been extremely positive and it’s great to see a fastgrowing number of retailers benefitting from the enhanced experience and business efficiency that PayPoint One offers.”

The milestone was passed just as PayPoint rolled out an iOS version of its free PayPoint One smartphone app.

The app helps retailers connect to their stores from anywhere via their PayPoint One terminal. It gives access to business management tools such as a real-time sales dashboard.

Retailers with Core and Pro packages can use additional features, including advanced product, price and promotion features, stock inventory management and supplier orders.

WHOLESALERS

Bestway launches improved ordering app and website Bestway Wholesale has overhauled its ordering app and website to make ordering quicker, easier and more convenient. The new app allows customers to: Q Start an order on a phone, tablet or computer and finish it on another device at any time. The customer’s basket is reflected on the app and website in real time as they build their order.

Q Create personalised lists and save favourite products for quicker reordering.

Q When using the website, find out where their order is, and get live delivery updates.

Q Get live updates if any of the products they ordered are unavailable when the order is picked and see recommended substitutions.

The website refresh is designed to provide a significantly-improved user experience and seamless integration across the Bestway Wholesale digital landscape. It is intended to be the first step on a journey focused on raising the quality of digital channels across the wholesale sector.

employment of some sort.

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News Extra

Queen’s Birthday Honours List

NewsExtra HARNESS THE POWER OF YOUR EPOS SYSTEM – P40 QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS LIST Pete Cheema and Sandy Wilkie get their gongs

Convenience Matters with the SGF February sees the return of SGF’s annual retail crime seminar. It’s become one of the main events on our calendar and we genuinely feel that, along with the publication of our Scottish retail crime report, the event in itself has really helped to raise the profile of this important issue.

One very tangible thing that has developed from the seminar is the members’ Bill on the Protection of Shop workers being put before Parliament by Daniel Johnson MSP. Daniel’s Bill should be with the Justice Committee for Stage One consideration in March and we will do everything we can to ensure MSPs get behind it.

The Bill is a vitally important step forward, but we know that it will by no means solve retailrelated crime.

Over the Christmas period we saw several horrific attacks on retailers, which highlighted not only the vulnerable position they can be in but also how violent these attacks can be. Our sense is that, very worryingly, this violence is becoming more extreme.

Why is a difficult question to answer but at least part of the solution must lie in additional police resources, better response times and targeting retail crime.

Retailers have invested heavily in in-store security – the respondents to our crime survey had spent over £1m on security in 2018 – but have we reached a stage where this will have to be taken to a more sophisticated (and inevitably more expensive) level? Are personal alarms and anti-knife scanners at the store entrance the next steps in giving retailers the protection they deserve?

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Industry stalwarts honoured at Buckingham Palace

Pete Cheema meets Prince Wiliam.

Sandy Wilkie has a laugh with ‘the Queen’.

Pete Cheema and family celebrate his OBE.

Local retailing industry stalwarts Pete Cheema, Chief Executive of the Scottish Grocers’ Federation (SGF), and Sandy Wilkie, formerly of Muller-Wiseman Dairies, were both honoured at Buckingham Palace recently.

Cheema was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List last year while Wilkie was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) or, as he put it, ‘Milkman of the British Empire’.

Born in Wolverhampton, Cheema based himself in Scotland from 1988 onwards and established a reputation as a leading retailer. He has served as President

of the SGF and was a member of the National Executive from 1999 onwards.

He was appointed Chief Executive in 2015 and is widely credited with transforming the Federation into a modern, relevant and highly influential organisation. He currently sits on the Boards of the Scottish Retail Consortium and of the Scotland Towns Partnership.

He commented: “As much as anything this a recognition of the importance of convenience retailing to the economy and to our communities.”

Wilkie is one of the best known faces in the Scottish local retailing industry through his role as sales and marketing supremo at what was Robert Wiseman Dairies. He was joined by ‘The Queen’ as well as family and friends at a party at the Dorchester after the official presentation at Buckingham Palace. www.slrmag.co.uk

Comment

DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS Where do you stand on sustainability? Judging from conversations I’ve had with many retailers, building a more sustainable business with a reduced carbon footprint is an aim that most of us share – but bringing that goal to life in a convenience store is not without its challenges.

As local retailers with strong bonds to the communities we serve, there is clearly a certain amount of moral responsibility upon us as a sector to ‘do the right thing’, whether that means offering healthier eating options, supporting local causes or minimising our impact on the environment.

I would suspect that many retailers see sustainability as a ‘nice thing to do’ but one that oftenend up falling down the list of priorities behind all the stuff viewed as ‘mission critical’ – and for good reason. But here’s the thing: more and more evidence is accumulating that indicates that tomorrow’s shoppers – the infamous Generation Zs, for instance – are increasingly concerned with issues that broadly fall under the ‘ethical’ banner, and sustainability is undoubtedly one of them. Why is this a concern? Well, it seems highly probable that the new generations of shoppers coming through will base their purchasing decisions on more than just price and convenience.

They will be looking for the stores they use to take a responsible attitude to sustainability, a fact recognised publicly by everyone from the IGD to the SGF. The IGD even named sustainability as one of the five most important trends for 2019.

The impending introduction of a DRS scheme in Scotland has of course pushed sustainability much higher up the agenda for local retailers, but is it not time that we took sustainability more seriously anyway? After all, virtually every environmental improvement you can make will help the bottom line, either by reducing costs or by ultimately boosting sales. It turns out doing good is good for business.

Yes, many of us have introduced LED lighting and energy efficient fridges and sorted out our food waste and recycling, but how many retailers have gone beyond that and started to proactively look at how they can reduce their carbon footprint and improve their bottom line into the bargain? And how many of us actually communicate all the good sustainability work we do to our customers?

This stuff matters – and it’s going to matter a whole lot more in the near future, driven by both evolving customer demands and legislation. That’s why SLR is hosting a new Sustainability In Local Retail event on 27th March in Glasgow. We aim to tackle all these issues and help inspire retailers to make sustainability a core plank of their business strategy going forward. I would urge you to keep the date free and come along.

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 Robert Aitken 0141 222 5302 | raitken@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. 2019 ISSN 1740-2409.

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Cover Story

Veganism

IS VEGANISM HERE FOR GOOD?

The massive spike in interest in veganism is hard to miss at the moment – so is there an opportunity for local retailers to cash in, or will the trend prove to be a flash in the pan? SLR finds out.

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

O

nce considered the preserve of extremists, tree-huggers and hippies, veganism is rapidly establishing itself as big business in the UK. Or at least that’s the impression you would get by reading the news or watching TV recently. But just how big is the vegan opportunity? And is it one of those trends that will blow over in six months?

For many, veganism is simply an attempt to live more healthily and more ethically while minimising their impact on the planet.

For others it’s more akin to an evangelical religious vocation. Regardless of where you stand on the matter in an ethical sense, the key question as retailers is whether investing in upping your vegan game in-store is a worthwhile use of your time and money.

WORTH A PUNT?

The humble vegan sausage roll.

VEGANISM: A POLARISING ISSUE Unlike vegetarianism, its softer and more socially rounded cousin, veganism often provokes extreme reactions from its adherents and detractors, as a quick search through Twitter for any vegan-related hashtag will reveal.

One high profile recent example saw then Waitrose Food magazine journalist William Sitwell sacked for an ill-judged rant where he proposed “killing vegans”.

Sitwell had been approached by a freelance food and travel writer with a pitch for a series on vegan cooking. Sitwell’s reply was: “How about a series on killing vegans, one by one. Ways to trap them? How to interrogate them properly? Exposing their hypocrisy? Force-feed them meat? Make them eat steak and drink red wine?”

He has since been recruited by The Telegraph as a writer and commentator.

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Answering that question is not as simple as it might appear. First off, it’s very difficult to get reliable data on the size of the vegan market and, equally importantly, the geographical breakdown of the market. It seems logical that retailers in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow might be keen to board the vegan bandwagon, but what about those in Auchtermuchty or Freuchie? Are there enough vegan shoppers in those areas to make it worth a retailer’s while to order a new range and knock together a new social media strategy?

Spar Renfrew retailer Saleem Sadiq is sceptical. “For me, veganism is just a fad like all the ones we’ve had before that never came to much like protein, low carb and so on”, he says, but highlights that it’s the price points that may be the real issue: “People want to eat more healthily but they’re not prepared to pay twice the price. We do stock some vegan products but we don’t have a dedicated bay. www.slrmag.co.uk

Veganism

Cover Story

“Plant-based products on the market won’t just be confined to the 2% of shoppers who identify more regularly with veganism. They will appeal to a much broader group of shoppers.”

VANESSA HENRY, SHOPPER INSIGHT MANAGER, IGD

That’s not to say it wouldn’t work in a specialist health shop or an affluent area, but I just don’t think it’ll be a big deal in Renfrew.”

Instinctively, you would probably agree – but how then do you account for the biggest vegan success story of the last month or two, the Greggs vegan sausage roll? If you happened to have been at the Greggs marketing meeting when that particular bit of NPD was first proposed, chances are you’d have raised your eyebrows and said ‘next’.

But the market doesn’t lie, and Greggs has just recorded an all-time high value on the stock exchange off the back of the success of the product about which Piers Morgan tweeted: “Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns.”

Turns out Piers Morgan was wrong. Lots of people were indeed waiting for it. Incidentally, the Greggs PR strategy around the launch of the product was hailed as a “master class in public relations” by the industry magazine PR Week and many believe that Piers Morgan was a firm target of the Greggs PR team. Provoking a rant from him on Twitter would all but guarantee huge coverage of the launch. That might explain Greggs’ response to Morgan on Twitter: “Oh hello Piers, we’ve been expecting you.”

THE FACTS According to a shopper survey of over 2,000 people last year by IGD, a perhaps surprising one in two grocery shoppers follow, or are interested in following, a plant-based diet. This rises to 68% among 18-24-year olds, suggesting plant-based diets in general and veganism in particular is more attractive to the next generation of shoppers.

Almost half (45%) said it was because they considered a plantbased diet ‘healthier’ while 41% www.slrmag.co.uk

Many popular products are highlighting their vegan credentials.

put it down to ethical concerns with 30% saying it is ‘better for the environment’.

It may of course be that the next generation ties veganism into a much broader approach to ethically improved living that might also encompass what they see as positive change in other socio-political areas like sustainability and consumerism – but the fact remains that more and more younger shoppers seem to be interested in veganism, whatever the reason.

Having said all of that, the same survey found that only 2% of British grocery shoppers claim to actually follow an exclusively vegan diet.

That may not matter as much as it appears to however, as IGD is under the impression that an increasing number of shoppers are embracing part-time veganism.

Vanessa Henry, Shopper Insight Manager at IGD, said: “We are seeing an increasing number of people adopting a more flexible approach to their diets, whether it’s just for one meal or one day a week, shoppers are increasingly choosing a vegan, vegetarian or flexitarian diet. This suggests plant-based products being launched on the market now

Veggie and vegan options are appearing increasingly often.

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

15

Veganism

won’t just be confined to the 2% of shoppers who identify more regularly with veganism.

They will appeal to a much broader group of shoppers.”

Henry also reiterates that it’s the younger, more “socially engaged” generation that are more likely to embrace veganism full-time or part-time. She also cites the growth of celebrities and health influencers sharing recipes and tips online, as well as the growing popularity of movements such as Veganuary and meat-free Mondays, as evidence that the trend could continue to grow as vegan products become more mainstream.

Moniaive Premier retailer Graham Watson also believes that the market for vegan products will not be restricted exclusively to hardcore vegans. He says: “Even though we’re a very rural shop and not the sort of store you’d think would have a big customer base interested in veganism, I’d be tempted to give it a go. I think there are more ‘flexitarians’ around than you might think, folk that want

PIERS MORGAN

“Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns.”

Cover Story

Even beer brands are getting in on the vegan action.

THERE’S A LOT OF IT ABOUT… Vegan-related news has been coming thick and fast of late from all corners of the industry. Here’s a selected digest: QUORN GOES LARGE Quorn Foods has opened the world’s largest meat alternative production facility in the north-east of England. The factory expansion of 9,500sq m doubles production capacity of Quorn’s core products, and the facility will produce 1.33 million packs of Quorn products per week, equivalent to the meat produced by 1,600 cows.

ARYTA SPICES IT UP Aryzta Food Solutions has launched a new four-strong range of vegan savouries including a Vegan Sausage Roll, a Vegan Spicy Chickpea & Kale Pithivier, a Vegan Spicy Chickpea Roll and a Vegan Saag Aloo Lattice Slice.

“Innovation around vegetarian and vegan food-to-go has been a key driver of growth in 2018,” says Mary Byrne, Aryzta’s Trade Marketing Manager – Retail.

BIRD’S EYE WAFFLES ON Birds Eye has added a new line to its waffle range with in the guise of gluten-free, vegan Sweet Potato Waffles.

The new Sweet Potato Waffles are a simple blend of lightly-seasoned sweet potato and potato mash.

BAILEYS GOES DAIRY-FREE Baileys has launched a dairy-free, vegan variant called Baileys Almande which it says allows retailers to tap into the growing demand for dairy-free products.

Laura Pearce, Marketing Director for Baileys Europe, comments: “With dairy-free products in high demand, and almond milk currently the fastest growing product in its category, it made sense to produce an alternative variant which taps into this.”

SWIZZELS HIGHLIGHTS VEGAN CREDENTIALS When it entered the soft chew hanging bag category with its newest sweet invention, Choos, Swizzels made a point of highlighting how the products is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.

MARMITE REDESIGNS PACKAGING Love it or hate it brand Marmite has been busy reminding shoppers and retailers that it is, and has always been, suitable for vegans.

The packaging has been redesigned to make the vegan-friendly message more prominent on-pack.

WINDHOEK PRESSES VEGAN BUTTON Windhoek Draught from Namibia Breweries has entered the UK market and, among its many credentials, list the fact that it has been produced in accordance with the German Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) of 1516 using only the finest hops, malted barley, yeast and – and is both vegan and vegetarian friendly.

to eat vegan or veggie five or six days a week but are happy to have a steak or fish and chips now and again.”

SUPPLIER STAMPEDE One decent way to work out whether a shortterm trend is likely to become a long-term norm is to keep an eye on what the major 16

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www.slrmag.co.uk

Veganism

Cover Story

For some brands, veganism is their raison d’etre.

suppliers and manufacturers with the big bucks are doing. While this isn’t a fail-safe method – most of the world’s NPD fails after all – it at least gives an indication of how much faith there is in a new market like veganism.

As a trade magazine, we are lucky to get a flood of NPD and industry news into our inboxes every day and another quick search reveals a solid wall of vegan-related press releases. As a rule, these releases fall into one of three categories. Firstly, there’s the companies that have long been focused on vegan products and don’t want to miss out on the new upswing in interest (Quorn). Then there’s the big hitters keen to get something vegan onto the market as quickly as possible, just in case (Bird’s Eye). And finally, there are those who have realised that there products have always been vegan (though not necessarily on purpose) and are keen to point that fact out (Marmite).

Whatever the reason, it makes sense to target existing and new products at what has the makings of a significant and growing market.

Bellshill Nisa retailer Abdul Majid sums it up when he says: “There are so many trends it’s hard to keep up, but to run a successful store these days you really have no choice but to try everything you can. Veganism is clearly a big issue at the moment so I think we need to at least test the waters. If veganism turns out to be a short-term fad then so be it, and we’re on to the next thing.”

That pragmatic approach is shared by Eros Retail Commercial Director Lindsay Jenner. She says her chain of Green’s stores www.slrmag.co.uk

“People want to eat more healthily but they’re not prepared to pay twice the price.”

SALEEM SADIQ, SPAR RENFREW

is actively considering how to leverage veganism in-store. She says: “We’ve long had a free-from range and a dedicated vegetarian range. They’re quite popular but pricing is a challenge. We tend to build the ranges at store level, responding to local demand, but we’re definitely seeing more interested in vegan products and we have had quite a few customer requests. We can a lot of vegan lines through Nisa now so we’re looking at how to build that into our offer, again on a storeby-store basis. We’re also talking to suppliers about bringing vegan options into our food to go range but that comes with all sort of practical issues like cross-contamination, so it’s not a simple thing to do – but we do believe there’s some mileage in veganism.”

All told, the jury is out but Abdul Majid makes an important point when he says: “One thing is for sure: if you don’t even attempt to cater to any vegans out there, you definitely won’t see any of the benefits.”

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

17

News

Products

Unilever relaunches Partners for Growth Partners for Growth, Unilever’s

ProductNews

convenience category advice programme, has celebrated its 15th year by revamping its retailer website (partnersforgrowth.unilever.com).

The website has undergone a complete refresh in response to a recent retailer survey and boasts a new look, new updated content, and more user-friendly site navigation.

Aspire doubles down with Costco mixed case launch Healthy energy drinks brand Aspire has added a 15-pack mixed case of its lightly sparkling Mango Lemonade and Raspberry flavours to its range. The case is available from Costco at a price of £7.49 + VAT.

REVITALISING THE ENERGY DRINKS CATEGORY – P48 MEAT-FREE Quorn launches timely campaign as consumers cut back on meat

Quorn backs ‘healthy protein, healthy planet’ message with new products Quorn has announced major brand investment alongside NPD to drive growth and penetration of the meat free category.

Quorn will invest £12m in 2019, as it launches its ‘Healthy Protein, Healthy Planet’ messaging, highlighting how its products can help shoppers cut their meat consumption and also the environmental impact of their diet.

The launch coincides with data showing that, for the first time,

most UK consumers are reducing their meat consumption as they recognise the impact their food has on the planet. The brand got behind last month’s Veganuary

campaign on TV and in-store. It also launched two vegan fishless fillet products (see Hotlines p44).

Quorn’s 2019 schedule also includes advertising for 50 weeks, digital activity targeted at younger consumers and sponsorship of the Lawn Tennis Association.

“We are seeing a seismic shift in consumer attitudes towards meat reduction,” said Alex Glen, Marketing Director at Quorn Foods UK.

Visit uk.aspiredrinks.com for more information on the Aspire range.

DAIRY

Shell launches Jamie Oliver food-to-go range

Müller sponsors British Athletics for three more years

Shell has launched a new

Müller has extended its partnership with British Athletics until the end of 2021, becoming title partner for 10 world-class events over the next three years.

It will also continue as Official Supporter of the British Athletics team.

Müller will also sponsor officials at televised events, have an increased presence at World and European team events, and feature across all British Athletics corporate communications.

food-on-the-go range created in partnership with chef Jamie Oliver. More than 80 new products are now available at over 500 of Shell’s UK forecourts.

The range includes standard fare like sandwiches and wraps alongside a more adventurous selection of salads, sushi, hot pots and a kids’ mealbox.

The long-term deal comes as a recent IPSOS Mori survey found that over half (56%) of the country’s motorists want healthier choices at forecourts.

Hippeas celebs gave Veganuary a chance Hippeas Organic Chickpea Puffs partnered with Veganuary last month for a campaign that featured celebrity ambassadors explain why people across the UK should ‘Give Veganuary A Chance’.

The celebrities include Capital FM’s Roman Kemp, Wicked Healthy’s Derek Sarno, Made In Chelsea’s Lucy Watson and BBC 1 presenter Sarah-Jane

PET CARE Whiskas reveals easy-on-the-eye cat food

New Whiskas Pouch offers more MeWOW protein, healthy planet’ message Mars Petcare has given its Whiskas Pouch product a major overhaul, supported by a new in-store marketing campaign.

The product has a new and improved recipe alongside more gravy and jelly. It is also apparently more aesthetically pleasing, which must mean it now doesn’t look as much like a cat’s dinner.

At the same time, Whiskas continues by tailor its nutritional content to the different stages of a cat’s

life – including the first launch of an 11+ offering, which focuses on supporting healthy heart and optimum digestion for older cats. This is available in Meaty, Poultry and Fish selections.

As well as the recipe upgrade, new packaging states that Whiskas’s products are made “with selected natural ingredients, vitamins and minerals”.

Crawford.

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Products

News

Community groups can grab a grand with new Wall’s promo Wall’s Pastry has launched Collectors’ Club, a nationwide competition that gives local

BISCUITS Exotic holidays up for grabs

KitKat urges shoppers to ‘Make A Break For It’ with holiday promo KitKat has launched ‘Make A Break For It’, a new on-pack promo that gives consumers the chance to win a holiday to one of 10 destinations including Miami, Cuba, Thailand and Barbados.

Promotional packs are available across the KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, KitKat 2 Finger and KitKat Bites formats.

A new media campaign kicked off on 4 February to support

community groups the chance to win £1,000 by collecting points from Wall’s products.

The five groups who receive the most points will each receive

the promo. This includes outof-home advertising alongside social and digital media activity.

KitKat also launched its new TV ad on 21 January as part of a £4.5m media campaign, with a specific ‘Make A Break for It’ tag featuring across February.

Each holiday prize, worth up to £8,000, can be won instantly by purchasing a promotional pack and finding a Lucky Winning Bar and winning ticket inside.

There are also 100 getaway goodies to be won every day during the promotional period.

£1,000. Everyone who has redeemed points will also be entered into a draw to win £500.

The initiative is supported digitally across the brand’s website and through its social media channels.

For more information visit walls-pastry.co.uk.

Weetabix Minis cuts sugar and adds vitamins Weetabix has reduced the amount of sugar in its Crispy Minis at the same time as adding Vitamin D2 to the range.

Packs, which now contain up to 4g less sugar, also now say

BISCUITS

Oreo kicks-off Snapchat promo A new Oreo on-pack promotion is giving shoppers the chance to win prizes of up to £1,000 through a new Snapchat partnership.

The promotion runs until 30 April across all 21 Oreo SKUs. It is supported by TV, video-on-demand, online and social media activity until 31 March.

Consumers use Snapchat to scan the Snapcode on special packs. From there they will be invited to complete an online game to be in with a chance of winning one of thousands of prizes. There are 10 top prizes of £1,000, as well as 200 limitededition hoodies, 400 special t-shirts, 1,500 enamel pin badges and 1,500 free pack coupons.

Joanna Dias, Senior Brand Manager at Mondelez, said: “This promotion offers independent retailers a great opportunity to increase sales of a well-loved and established brand.”

For Oreo stock enquiries, retailers can call Mondelez on 0870 600 0699, email retailer.services@mdlz.com or visit deliciousdisplay.co.uk.

www.slrmag.co.uk

BREAKFAST

Quaker hits gym with Nuffield Quaker Oats has launched a new on-pack promotion that offers a free Nuffield Health one-day gym pass with every pack.

Shoppers also have the chance to instantly win one of 70 Health and Wellbeing packages from Nuffield Health, worth £1,000 each.

The promo runs on from Quaker’s ‘I owe it to Oats’ campaign and is timed to coincide with the surge of interest in health and fitness at this time of year. It features across the Oat So Simple range for 10 weeks and includes TV, digital and other broadcast activity.

“Great taste in every bite”.

Revised 100g packs are available now in Choc Chip; Banana; and Fruit & Nut flavours.

Weetabix plans to spend £10m on marketing in 2019 with its ongoing ‘Have You Had Your Weetabix?’ campaign. Crispy Minis Choc Chip tags will feature at the end of the ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ TV ad.

GROCERY New contemporary look for soup brand

Crosse & Blackwell out to shake up canned soup category Crosse & Blackwell is rebranding in a bid to invigorate the canned soup category.

The rebrand features a new packaging design for each of the 15 soups in the 200-year-old company’s portfolio, including four new variants – Carrot & Quinoa, Chicken & Multigrain, Broad Bean, Gammon & Parsley and Green Vegetable & Kale.

It will be supported by a regional advertising campaign featuring ITV Weather’s Becky Mantin on location at one of Crosse & Blackwell’s grower’s farms in Yorkshire. The campaign also includes PR activity and in-store media.

Dean Towey, Marketing Director for Crosse & Blackwell owner Princes, said: “We wanted to make an impact through a new design that will bring a disruptive and contemporary edge to the ambient soup category.”

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

19

News

Off-Trade

Spanish gin Nordés pops up around UK Nordés, a premium gin from

Off-TradeNews

Spain, has kicked-off a marketing campaign to widen its presence in the UK. Produced in Galicia, Nordés plans to use its link with the Atlantic Ocean to build demand through coastal towns.

Nordés Atlantic Galician Gin (70cl, ABV 40%) is available now with an RSP of £36.

For further information about stocking, retailers should call Craftwork UK on 02382 145596 or email sales@craftwork. uk.com.

Isle of Arran doubles production capacity The Isle of Arran Brewery has invested in new equipment to more than double its production capacity from 875,000 litres to two million litres a year.

The brewery has struggled to keep up with demand of late and experiencing significant supply issues last summer. The new kit is expected to be online by Easter.

NO NEED FOR INFUSION CONFUSION – P50 LOW/NO ALCOHOL ‘Generation Sensible’ leading shift to low alcohol alternatives

Britain’s boozers curbing consumption, says survey A quarter of British drinkers have either already switched some of their drinking to low alcohol alternatives or would consider doing so in the next six months, according to a YouGov poll conducted on behalf of alcohol watchdog the Portman Group.

The results showed that 7% of those surveyed have already switched some of their alcohol consumption to low or no alcohol alternatives, while a further 18% are likely to consider doing so in the next six months. This shift is being led by the socalled ‘Generation Sensible’ with almost one in 10 (9%) aged between 18-24 having already switched and those between 18-34 being the most likely to consider switching (22%).

The reasons given for opting for low alcohol beverages include nearly a third (32%) saying being able to drive home, while 26% said being social without drinking excessively was a key factor.

Thirteen per cent said they would drink lower alcohol drinks to stay within the low risk drinking

LOW/NO ALCOHOL

Morgenrot goes Dutch with non-alcoholic launch Importer Morgenrot has launched the non-alcoholic Playground IPA (ABV less than 0.5%) from Dutch craft brewer vandeStreek Brouwerij in the UK. Brewed using five types of American hops including Mosaic, Citra and Cascade varieties, the new launch taps into the demand for the IPA beer style and is available immediately in 33cl bottles in cases of 24.

Morgenrot’s Commercial Director John Critchley commented: “The Netherlands has been developing a fantastic reputation in the craft beer world and the vandeStreek Brouwerij has been at the heart of this.

Their Playground IPA is an incredible low alcohol beer – capturing the essence of a classic IPA without sacrificing the flavour. It tastes great, looks great and I believe will be a big hit with discerning UK craft ale drinkers, whether they want alcohol or not.”

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SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

guidelines. The survey also revealed demand for low and no alcohol products is high amongst those that drink at home as well as in pubs, bars and restaurants, with 60% of those who drink alcohol and would consider drinking low alcohol beverages saying they would consider drinking low alcohol alternatives at home, 59% at a restaurant and 55% at a pub.

John Timothy, Chief Executive of the Portman Group, said: “Many producers are already investing heavily in exciting low and no products. Given the importance of this sector to helping people make healthy choices about their drinking, more needs to be done to support its growth. Getting rid of confusing descriptors would support consumers.”

There are currently four ways for a low alcoholic drink to be described. A previous Portman Group survey highlighted that 68% of British adults thought it was clearer to have just one term to define a drink containing no more than 0.5% of alcohol.

READY TO DRINK

Premium RTD market turns Dark ‘n Stormy Love Drinks has brought the Goslings Rum Dark ‘n Stormy ready-to-drink cocktail to the UK. Dark ‘n Stormy is apparently Bermuda’s national drink and a trademarked cocktail, made with Goslings Black Seal Rum and Goslings Stormy Ginger Beer.

It is available now in 250ml cans (outers of 24) with an ABV of 4.5% and an RSP of £2.00 to £2.25.

Ellie Jones, Marketing Manager at Love Drinks, believes the launch will “provide the perfect platform for the brand to reach new consumer groups and become a big player in the exciting premium end of the RTD category”.

For more information call Love Drinks on 0207 501 9630, email info@lovedrinks. co.uk or visit lovedrinks.com.

Off-Trade

News

LOW/NO ALCOHOL

Peroni frees itself from alcohol with Libera 0.0%

ALCOHOLIC WATER Low calorie launch follows high sugar content criticism

Balans: Kopparberg’s boozy fizzy water Swedish cider maker Kopparberg has unveiled Balans Aqua Spritz, a new alcoholic sparkling water that targets health-conscious consumers.

New Balans Aqua Spritz (ABV 4%) is available in a 250ml RTD can format with an RSP of £1.70 or four for £5.

It comes in two flavours, Mandarin and Lime, both of which contain 60 calories or less per can. Balans contains only natural flavours and is vegan friendly and gluten free.

Asda is exclusively selling

the beverage for a 12-week period, which will then roll out to the wider off-trade in April. For sales enquiries, retailers should email sales@balansdrinks.co.uk.

Rob Salvesen, Kopparberg’s Head of Marketing, commented: “Balans is refreshing, light in taste, and is currently the lowest calorie 4% ABV drink of its kind available in its current 250ml serve. With Balans, we’re helping consumers say no to ‘maybe next time’ and ‘yes’ to embracing 2019.”

Shadow Culture Secretary Tom Watson took to Twitter recently to blast Kopparberg’s high sugar levels. He shared a MailOnline article showing a 500ml bottle of Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime cotains the equivalent of roughly 13 teaspoons of sugar.

“The fact no labelling is required makes this a public health scandal,” said Watson.

GIN Another medal for island distillery

BEER

Icelandic craft beer trio land in UK Love Drinks has strengthened its craft beer portfolio with the winter roll-out of a trio of brews from Iceland’s Einstök brewery.

The threesome includes a Toasted Porter, a Doppelbock Winter Ale and Wee Heavy – a special Scotch Ale made with birch-smoked barley.

Einstök Icelandic Doppelbock (ABV 6.7%) and Icelandic Toasted Porter (ABV 6%) are both available in cases of 24 x 330cl bottles with an RSP of £2.50 to £3.

Icelandic Wee Heavy (ABV 8%) takes inspiration from the Viking’s history in Scotland and the Einstök brewmaster’s student days at Heriot Watt. It is available in outers of 24 x 33cl bottles and has an RSP of £2.75 to £3.50.

For more information call Love Drinks on 0207 501 9630, email info@lovedrinks.co.uk or visit lovedrinks.com.

Arkh, the Orkney angel wins Orkney Distilling’s Arkh-Angell ‘Storm Strength’ gin has won a UK Gold Medal at this year’s World Gin Awards.

The 57% spirit took home the prize in the event’s Navy Gin category, adding to the Silver Medal from last year’s Scottish Gin Awards.

Arkh-Angell (ABV 57%) is available in 70cl bottles at RSP £39.99. To stock, call 0185 687 5338 or email info@orkneydistilling.com.

Peroni has launched its first alcohol-free beer, Peroni Libera 0.0%.

The move comes on the back of yet more research that showed nearly 30% of 16-24-year-olds do not drink at all, whilst 45% of 25-34 year olds are more regularly choosing no- or low-alcohol options.

Libera – ‘free’ in Italian’ – has a taste described by Peroni as “a rich and intense aroma of flavours where citrusy and hoppy notes are followed by a delicate fruity aroma”.

Simone Caporale, Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s flamboyantly-titled Master of Mixology, said: “Peroni Libera 0.0% is the perfect alcohol-free beer option for the lower-tempo occasions.

Those looking for an alternative to alcohol no longer have to compromise on quality or taste.”

Peroni Libera 0.0% will be available to convenience retailers from March.

GIN

Roses are pink this Valentine’s Day Edinburgh-based distillery, The Old Curiosity, is spreading the love this Valentine’s Day and beyond with its colour-changing gin.

Until the end of March, every 50cl bottle of the distiller’s Apothecary Rose gin will come with a free bag of pink rose petals to garnish glasses.

Apothecary Rose (ABV 39%) is available in 50cl bottles with an RSP of £35.95. It changes colour from pale gold to pink when tonic is added.

For more information call 0131 285 6833, email sales@theoldcuriosity.co.uk or visit theoldcuriosity.co.uk.

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FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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News

Newstrade

NFRN Scottish Conference The 105th NFRN Scottish Conference will take place on

News& Magazines

Tuesday 5 March at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow. Formal proceedings start at 9am. As usual, a gala dinner will take place on the previous evening, commencing with a drinks reception at 7pm. Money raised during the event will go towards the Scottish District President’s

MAKE A PACKET FROM BISCUITS – P52 NEWSPAPERS Cover price rises help boost turnover

TIMES HEADS BACK INTO PROFIT Times Newspapers moves from £6.5m loss to £9.6m profit in 2018 with turnover up 2% at The Times.

chosen charity, the Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice.

Tickets for the gala dinner cost £25 for members and £50 for trade partners and guests.

To book your place contact membership services manager Bernard Ridgewell by emailing bernard.ridgewell@nfrn.org.uk.

No sign of crown slipping from Disney Princess Egmont Publishing’s Disney Princess magazine is still going strong as it celebrates

An outstanding year from Times Newspapers has culminated in the publisher succeeding in growing turnover on The Times in a shrinking market and converting a £6.5m loss the previous year into a £9.6m profit in 2018.

Turnover at The Times increased by 2% to £326.4m resulting in an adjusted operating profit of some £13m. The Times said its increased turnover was supported by cover price rises

that “more than offset continuing industry-wide declines in print volumes and print advertising”.

The accounts also revealed that The Times titles grew subscription numbers by 55,000 last year, taking it through the half-million mark.

Meanwhile, the publisher of sister titles Sun and the Sun on Sunday saw its losses grow to £91.2m in 2018. The Sun remains the largest UK newsbrand title across print and online and is

still the UK’s best-selling daily newspaper.

The fall in turnover was put down to the continuing industrywide decline in print newspaper circulations but the group did see advertising revenues increase for the first time in seven years.

The Sun Savers scheme has also been credited with turning more than 700,000 previously anonymous print readers into known Sun Savers customers since it was set up in June 2017.

its 21st anniversary. July’s ABC results revealed the title had the highest growth in the overall UK magazine market with sales volumes up by 28% year-onyear. It has remained a top 10 children’s title since launching Egmont’s Kiran Vara said: “The children’s magazine market is highly competitive, so the continued growth of Disney Princess after 21 years of publishing clearly demonstrates its evergreen status and its enduring appeal.”

News Scotland supports the future of journalism News Scotland held its annual News Academy Conference last month (29 January). The “Investing in the future of journalism” event saw around 150 journalism students from Scotland take part in a number of ‘how to’ sessions and watch a panel of experts debate what the future holds for the newspaper industry.

Conference host and Scottish Sun Editor Alan Muir said: “The Academy reflects the ingredients of News Scotland’s own success – investment in journalism and

HOME NEWS DELIVERY Publisher increases ad insert rates

IMPROVED PAYMENTS SECURED FROM MAIL The Natuional Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN) has announced that it has succeeded in securing an increase in the payment that Mail Newspapers makes to home delivered newsagents when third party advertising inserts weigh more than 70g. The increase, across all four weight bandings, took effect on all newspaper titles in the publisher’s stable from the 1st of January.

The move follows approaches from the NFRN just before Christmas to all national publishers who participate in the scheme asking them to look again at the payment rates.

NFRN National President Mike Mitchelson said: “We are pleased that Mail Newspapers has recognised the importance of better rewarding Home News Delivery (HND) retailers for the extra work involved in handling third party advertising inserts. I would now urge all members who offer HND to make sure they have registered with their news wholesaler to receive the benefit.”

NFRN Head of News Brian Murphy added: “Before Christmas we made it clear to newspaper publishers that we were unhappy with the current rates of payment for third party inserts. Mail Newspapers is the first publisher to respond positively to our call and we hope to receive further positive news from their publishing colleagues in due course.”

The payments have to be negotiated individually with each major newspaper publisher that participates in the payments scheme.

MAGAZINES

Go Girl joins controversial Egmont trial Newstrade retailers have expressed dismay at the fact that children’s book and magazine publisher Egmont is to substitute another of its titles from its portfolio into a controversial trial that sees multiple retailers receiving their copies first with smaller, independent stockists supplied with returns some four to six weeks later.

The news came only a week after toy manufacturer Lego stepped into the row between the publisher and the Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN), securing a promise from Egmont and its distributor Seymour that independent retailers would receive their supplies of Lego Star Wars magazine at the same time as the multiples.

Go Girl was due to join the trial at Menzies’ Wakefield depot and Smiths News’ Newcastle distribution centre from January.

NFRN National President Mike Mitchelson said: “This latest move is nothing short of despicable. Egmont is treating independent retailers whose customers are loyal purchasers of its titles with huge contempt. Justifying its actions, Egmont says it has the full support of its partners but as we discovered, that certainly wasn’t the case with Lego who thanked the NFRN for bringing the issue to their attention and took steps to ensure that all retailers, regardless of size, could order and receive their titles at the same time.”

effective promotion.”

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SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

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Inside Business

Research Digest

‘WORST CHRISTMAS IN A DECADE’ UK retail business experienced “their worst Christmas in a decade”, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). Total retail sales showed zero year-onyear growth in December, the worst December performance since 2008, despite a swathe of promotions and deals. On a likefor-like basis, retail sales actually fell by 0.7% from December 2017.

BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson said: “Squeezed consumers chose not to splash out this Christmas, with retail sales growth stalling for the first time in 28 months. The worst December sales performance in 10 years means a challenging start to 2019 for retailers, with business rates set to rise once again this year, and the threat of a no-deal Brexit looming.”

Dickinson said the trading environment remained tough and that “retailers are facing up to this challenge, but are having to wrestle with mounting costs from a succession of government policies – from the apprenticeship levy, to higher wage costs, to rising business rates.”

Food sales was the one area of retail that showed some very minor glimmers of hope.

‘VAPING’ REPLACES ‘QUITTING’ IN 2019 RESOLUTIONS Vaping’ has replaced ‘quitting’ on shoppers’ list of new year’s resolutions for 2019, according to a new survey.

S

witching from smoking to vaping has made it into a list of the nation’s ‘modern’ New Year’s resolutions for 2019 for the first time. Around 9% of respondents in a new survey cited moving off the cigarettes and onto vaping as one of their resolutions for this year, alongside spending less time on social media (24%) and hitting 10,000 steps on a fitness tracker every day (11%).

Carried out on behalf of blu, the survey illustrated how tech solutions are increasingly helping to change shoppers’ lives with 89% of those surveyed said they believed new tech – including fitness trackers and vape pens – could help improve their quality of life.

According to Public Health England, 40% of UK smokers having never tried vaping which reinforces the opportunity available to retailers to make the most of this category at this important time of year and help customers make the switch to something better.

A spokesperson for blu said that, unlike online and vape stores, traditional retailers usually offer both tobacco and vaping products for sale. This, combined with their unique relationship with their shoppers means that independent retailers have a strong competitive position in helping their adult smokers switch to something better in 2019. The company offered the following tips to retailers to capitalise on the category: DEVICES – Stock at least one open and one closed system.

FLAVOUR – Make sure your range is supported with a strong portfolio of e-liquids, especially popular fruity flavours, in a variety of nicotine strengths.

KNOWLEDGE – Take time to read up on the category to understand the different product types, how they work and the terminology involved. This way, you can best advise your customers on what vaping products are right for them. Don’t forget about your staff either, especially if one of them is a vaper. Consider empowering an in-store ‘vaping champion’; they could prove to be an valuable asset in helping to build up both customer trust and loyalty.

CLEAROMISERS – Ideally, they should be changed after every two bottles of e-liquids, or every time a flavour or brand is switched, to provide the optimum vaping experience. They can also be a great way to upsell and drive additional sales and margin.

AVAILABILITY – If a product isn’t available, your customers may go elsewhere and not return, so ensure you’re always fully stocked. Regularly check stock levels to make sure you don’t run out and be prepared for seasonal vape spikes around Stoptober, New Year and VApril.

VISIBILITY – Remember, it’s not against the law for you to display, advertise and promote vaping products in-store. Countertop units, impactful backwall displays and point of sale materials located in and around the store can be a great way to drive visibility.

UNPLANNED ABSENCE ‘CORROSIVE TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT’

S

taff that fail to turn up for work has long been a serious problem in local retailing, but a new survey suggests those effects could be even more wide-ranging than retailers think.

The poll of retail managers – ‘What Came First: Retail Absenteeism or Low Engagement?’

– by workforce management firm Kronos was designed to help better understand the negative effects that unplanned absences can have on areas as diverse as employee engagement, staff productivity, morale and stress, and how poor engagement can then lead to further absenteeism.

Some key findings included: Q 63% of UK retail managers believe that poor employee engagement has a big impact on increasing employee absence 24

SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

Q 55% of UK retailers see a direct correlation between poor employee engagement and increased staff turnover Q 47% of global retailers see absenteeism as having a big impact on customer satisfaction, and 42% see it having an impact on store revenues Q 62% of retailers recognise that a greater focus on work-life balance would have a positive impact on productivity While four out of five retailers worldwide (78%) say employee engagement is important to organisational success, many are challenged by the corrosive impact that rampant unplanned absence has on staff productivity (58%), manager stress (55%), and team morale (46%). And it’s a vicious circle:

more than half agree that poor employee engagement causes increased absenteeism.

Pauline Bennett, Retail Labour & Planning Manager at Sainsbury’s, said: “The impact of absenteeism can be felt at all levels – from individual store results to the corporate bottom line. Sainsbury’s is addressing the issue by analysing its root cause through labour analytics. We look at what factors can be driving unplanned absence – Is consistent understaffing leading managers to overwork employees? Do colleagues feel they lack flexibility in their schedules? – and work to address those factors one by one. With the ability to track absence patterns at each location, store managers can take swift action to reduce absenteeism, improve employee morale and meet the forecast.” www.slrmag.co.uk

Inside Business

2 Minutes | Stuart Ramsay, Imperial Brands

STUART RAMSAY The tobacco category rarely stands still, with the latest piece of legislation set to impact on local retailers being ‘Track & Trace’. SLR caught up with Imperial Brands’ Operations & Project Manager to find out what the new legislation will mean in practice.

SO, THE NEXT CHALLENGE FOR THE TOBACCO CATEGORY IS TRACK AND TRACE. WHAT IS IT? EUTPD2 introduced secondary legislation on Track and Trace (T&T) and Security Features (SF) for all tobacco products. The legislation requires all packs to be marked with a Unique Identifier (UI) for tracking purposes, along with five Security Features designed to combat illicit products entering the legal tobacco supply chain.

FACTFILE Stuart Ramsay is Operations & Project Manager for Imperial Brands in the UK & Ireland and is currently leading the company’s preparations for the impending Track & Trace regulations.

He has worked for Imperial for almost eight years in supply chain related functions and has experience in both tobacco and Next Generation Products.

WHEN WILL IT BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE UK? T&T and SF applies to all tobacco products but will be rolled out at different times for various product types.

Factory Made Cigarette (FMC), Roll Your Own (RYO), and Make Your Own (MYO) products must be compliant from 20 May 2019. However, non-compliant FMC and RYO products already on the market before this date can remain on sale until 20 May 2020.

Other tobacco products (like cigars and pipe tobacco) must be compliant by May 2024 and products made before this date can remain in the retail trade until May 2026. Vape products are not affected by the legislation.

WHAT WILL IT MEAN FOR RETAILERS? All retailers who currently receive tobacco deliveries or collect via cash and carrys will need to have a facility ID setup to legally receive tobacco products. This will require retailers to apply and register with the relevant ID Issuer.

WHAT DO RETAILERS NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH THE NEW LEGISLATION, AND BY WHICH DEADLINE? Every tobacco retailer will need to register and apply for a facility ID to be able to receive tobacco from their suppliers or to collect stock from cash and carry depots. HMRC will appoint an independent ‘ID Issuer’ and all operators, facilities and machines involved in the system will need to obtain an ID to comply with the new requirements.

It is the responsibility of independent retailers, wholesalers, and cash and carrys to ensure that they 26

SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

comply with the regulations by the deadlines stated. We will continue to work with all our customers to help them understand and implement the new requirements.

HOW CAN RETAILERS BE SURE THAT ALL TOBACCO THEY BUY AFTER THE DEADLINE IS LEGAL AND COMPLIANT? The UI, along with some SFs, will be visible on every pack, making it easy to identify T&T compliant stock.

As FMC and RYO products manufactured before the 20 May 2019 deadline can remain on sale until 20 May 2020, retailers are likely to see a mixture of T&T compliant and non-compliant stock in the market for a while.

IS TRACK AND TRACE LIKELY TO RESULT IN EXTRA COSTS TO RETAILERS? Retailers will be required to register and apply for a facility ID through the ID issuer. HMRC has not yet confirmed whether there will be a cost incurred for registration and/ or application of a facility ID.

WHAT EFFECT DO YOU THINK THE DIRECTIVE WILL HAVE ON TOBACCO SALES? We do not believe the implementation of T&T will have any discernible impact on tobacco sales in independents, wholesalers or supermarkets. However, due to the traceable element of the regulations, the system will help identify illicit tobacco products in the supply chain more easily and help government, tobacco manufacturers and law enforcement bodies combat the growing trade in illegal tobacco.

HOW IS THIS GOING TO BE POLICED? WHAT WILL THE PENALTIES BE FOR NON-COMPLIANCE? HMRC is leading the implementation of T&T and SF in the UK and sanctions will be issued for non-compliance.

Final confirmation around enforcement has yet to be issued by HMRC, but traditional penalties for noncompliance include imprisonment, a fine, or both. www.slrmag.co.uk

Inside Business

SLR Rewards 2018 |Reward Winners Review

THE MOST REWARDING EVENT IN RETAIL! As entries for the 2019 SLR Rewards start to pour in, we thought it was time to look back at the Rewards that last year’s winners picked up at the most rewarding event in the game.

Scottish Local Retailer of the Year Dennis and Linda Williams, Premier Broadway Convenience Store, Edinburgh Linda Williams drew the short straw on this one with Dennis graciously accepting the invite to fly to Las Vegas for the NACS Conference 2018. He reported back: “Honestly, it’s hard to even begin to describe NACS because it’s mind blowing. More than 50,000 people go from across the globe and it’s certainly the most astonishing retail event I’ve ever been at in all my years as a retailer, the SLR Rewards aside of course!

“It’s also difficult to summarise what I learned because I learned so much from watching presentations, wandering around the exhibitions and just talking to retailers from all over the world. A couple of the biggest trends, just like over here, are coffee and food-to-go. Coffee is massive in the States, just massive. Chicken is a big thing over there too – it’s a far more important part of many c-stores’ business than it is over here and I think we can learn from that. Fried chicken, spicy chicken, grilled chicken, you name it.

When I came back we quickly added a couple of chicken burgers to our deli menu and they’re flying already – so it works!

“Vaping is also huge in America and they seem a lot further down the track than we are. It’s very much part of everyday life over there and I think that’s the way it’s going to go here too.

“But as I say, it’s too difficult to explain how impressive NACS is. I would just advise every retailer to go if they get the chance. Thanks for the opportunity SLR!”

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Food-to-go Retailer of the Year David’s Kitchen, Glenrothes

Team of the Year Day Today Bourtreehill, Irvine

Aptly enough for winning a Reward for serving food to people all day, store manager Keith Fernie’s prize was a posh night out for four where he and his team could be on the receiving end of some top-notch service and food for a change. Keith told SLR: “We used the Reward to have a little team night out to reward some of the people who have consistently made this store so successful. We had a very lovely night and it was nice to get a bit of recognition for a good job well done.”

Manager Imran Ali is very proud of the team he has built in Bourtreehill and rightly so because they do him proud all day every day. The store collected a shiny new iPad to help them provide even better service to their customers and stay organised.

SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

www.slrmag.co.uk

Reward Winners Review | SLR Rewards 2018

Lottery Retailer of the Year Premier Linktown Local, Kirkcaldy A true community-minded retailer, Premier Linktown Local owner Faraz Iqbal generously donated his Reward of four tickets to the Gymnastics European Championships in Glasgow to local club Sandra’s Gymnastics. Sandra herself is a former Scottish gymnastic champion and was delighted to have the chance to take some of her pupils along to see how the world’s best do it.

She even donated money to the local Youth Club to say thanks, so it was a true community initiative. Nice work Faraz!

Inside Business

Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year David’s Kitchen, Falkirk An amazing £500 voucher for the experience of a lifetime was the Reward for manager Diane Greenough, a well-deserved prize for what is an outstanding store that hits the highest standards consistently.

Fresh & Chilled Retailer of the Year Penny Petroleum, Jet Kirkmuirhill (Spar) Vicky Hennessy collected a superb indulgent two-night escape for two people for coming top of the pile in this category, a great Reward for a store that blew the judging panel away after a top drawer refit.

ThinkSmart Retailer of the Year Family Shopper, Blantrye Serial award-winner Mo Razzaq added another to the collection with this Reward which included a funky Apple Homepod. Being a community-focused retailer, Mo used the Reward as a prize for a great charity raffle in store to raise funds for a local charity. That’s just fine with us!

Biscuit Retailer of the Year Redding Road Supermarket, Falkirk Shabaz Ali jetted off to Amsterdam for an all-expenses paid trip to see the fair city.

The Reward even included spending money and a tour of sponsor pladis’s factory in Zaandam, including all the biscuits he could eat! He told SLR: “It was a fantastic trip, it really was. We were treated really well, put up in an amazing hotel and driven around like kings. The factory tour was actually really interesting and getting to spend some time in Amsterdam was brilliant. Thanks to everyone involved.”

Confectionery Retailer of the Year Lifestyle Express, Rutherglen A Virgin experience of a lifetime worth £500 was the Reward for Kesh Bagha for winning out in this highly important category.

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Inside Business

SLR Rewards 2018 |Reward Winners Review

Newstrade Retailer of the Year Premier Turriff Turriff retailer Ian Smith and his wife Shona were treated to a money-can’t-buy night as guests of News Scotland in their posh box at the SSE Hydro to see the one and only Kylie Minogue. Ian told SLR: “What a night! Shona absolutely loved it and the people at News Scotland couldn’t have been nicer. We felt like we had the best seats in the house and News Scotland put us up in town too, so we had a really wonderful evening.

Thanks to SLR and News Scotland.”

New Store of the Year Costcutter Dundee Road, Forfar Shahbaz Majeed collected a great prize from sponsor Bolt Learning: a year’s worth of free online training for all store staff, including the choice of five separate modules. Ideal for keeping the staff and already top-notch store moving even further forward.

Best Refit of the Year Spar Hillfoot, Bearsden Also benefiting from a year’s worth of free online training from Bolt Learning for all his staff was Ian Gillespie whose refit saw his store transformed.

Community Retailer of the Year Premier Smeaton Stores, Kirkcaldy

Beer & Cider Retailer of the Year Spar Renfrew Saleem Sadiq is another serial award-winner with a fantastic team around him that allows the store to continually hit the heights. His Reward lets him treat the team to a very special night out: a tour of WEST Brewery followed by a meal at WEST on the Green for 10 people!

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SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

Asif and Abada Akhtar have made this award their own recently with a commitment to the local community that is mind-blowing. For their efforts this year, they picked up an iPad with smart keyboard. Asif told SLR: “The iPad is used for all sorts within the store, it’s become a handy companion.

We use it for social media activities and to organise and schedule dates and events. Apps also help with bookkeeping and accounts.

Outwith the store I can access its CCTV and EPoS systems remotely, so we can always keep an eye on things and place orders with suppliers for delivery if need be.”

www.slrmag.co.uk

Reward Winners Review | SLR Rewards 2018

Inside Business

Forecourt Retailer of the Year Jet Ardeer (Nisa)

Spirits Retailer of the Year Doonfoot Day Today

Former Scottish Local Retailer of the Year, Mahmood Saleem picked up a Ferrari F430 track day for winning this category. Who wouldn’t like the chance to rattle round the race track in a Ferrari?

Ross McPherson’s store is a gin lover’s heaven with hundreds of gins available, as well as a massive array of vodkas, whiskies, rums and more. Let’s hope he doesn’t sample too many before he takes to the skies on his High-Flying Aerial Adventure where he will have the chance to pilot the plane himself.

Responsible Retailer of the Year Family Shopper, Blantyre No stranger to winning this particular category, Mo Razzaq once again demonstrated how committed he is to responsible, progressive retailing – and to help him keep that up he bagged five places on sponsor TLT’s SCPLH personal licence training courses.

Crisps & Snacks Retailer of the Year Premier Broadway Convenience Store, Edinburgh Dennis Williams got the trip to NACS in Las Vegas so it’s only fair that Linda claims the microlight Reward on offer for this category. With a hectic few months behind them Linda hasn’t actually been able to use the Reward yet, but SLR will definitely be there when she does. No way we’re missing that one!

E-cigs Retailer of the Year Spar St George’s Cross A brilliant Red Letter Day was the Reward for Iqbal Sadiq in this category, courtesy of blu, who were really impressed with Iqbal’s commitment to the category.

www.slrmag.co.uk

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TAKE THE FIRST STEPS TO WINNING A TRIP TO ATLANTA!!

With entries for the SLR Rewards now open, it’s time for retailers across Scotland to take the first steps towards potentially winning a trip to NACS in Atlanta, as well as a host of other fantastic Rewards. To help you prepare your entry, we are working with SLR Rewards Partners to help offer some great, practical advice on perfecting your offer in-store as well as your entry for this year’s Rewards.

IMPORTANT DATES ENTRY DEADLINE 15 MARCH 2019 SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED EARLY APRIL 2019 THE AWARDS 19 JUNE 2019 As always, if you have any other questions, please contact the SLR Events team: Cara Begley, Events & Operations Manager, 0141 222 5381, events@55north.com

Entries are now officially open for the most Rewarding awards programme in the UK local retailing industry! The search for the winners of the SLR Rewards 2019 is officially off and running.

The top prize this year will once again be a trip to the phenomenal NACS Conference in the United States, the biggest convenience retailing event in the world. Over 50,000 people are expected to attend this year’s event in Atlanta – and you could be among them.

The only way to win it is to be in it, so set aside some time and make sure you give yourself the chance of being among the winners on 19 June in Glasgow at the plush Radisson Blu. To help you enter, as well as develop your in-store offer, we are working with our Rewards Partners to share some great advice and support that will help you boost footfall, sales and profits and assist you in putting together the strongest possible entry.

With another astonishing array of Rewards up for grabs this year, you’d be mad not to give it a go!

General Information

The SLR Rewards 2019 are open to all independent and symbol convenience stores in Scotland. The content of your entry should cover the 12-month period running up to March 2019 and your store, or the project you are submitting in your entry, should have been operational throughout that period.

CATEGORY REWARDS Beer & Cider Retailer of the Year Confectionery Retailer of the Year Crisps & Snacks Retailer of the Year E-cigs Retailer of the Year Food to Go Retailer of the Year Fresh & Chilled Retailer of the Year Newstrade Retailer of the Year Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year Spirits Retailer of the Year SPECIAL REWARDS Community Involvement Retailer of the Year Forecourt Retailer of the Year Scottish Brands Retailer of the Year NEW Post Office Retailer of the Year NEW Best Refit/ New Store of the Year Responsible Retailer of the Year ThinkSmart Innovation Award Team of the Year

+

All category winners will be considered for the overall Scottish Local Retailer of the Year

Entry forms can be completed directly at: www.slrawards.com This is the preferred entry method.

Alternatively, you can request entry forms by emailing events@55north.com and listing the categories you wish to enter. You will then be sent Microsoft Word versions of the entry forms.

A GUIDE TO BECOMING

SCOTTISH BRANDS RETAILER OF THE YEAR

XXX RETAILER OF THE YEAR xxx

PROUDLY SUPPORTED BY

SCOTTISH BRANDS DRIVE RETAILER SALES Scottish shoppers are loyal to Scottish brands Scots take pride in choosing local, regional and national products Top 30 Scottish brands sell 30% of sales value through Scotland*

TOP 30 BRANDS IN SCOTTISH GROCERY 1

IRN-BRU

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

BAXTERS WISEMAN’S BELL’S PIES TUNNOCK’S McLELLAND MCINTOSH MALCOLM ALLAN BARR FLAVOURS SCOTTY BRAND ROWAN GLEN MACKIE’S HALL’S TENNENT’S

xxxxxx 2 GRAHAM’S DAIRY

Q xxx

CRITICAL TO GET SOFT DRINKS CATEGORY RIGHT Scotland’s soft drinks convenience category worth £284 million, growing at 11%*1 Second highest bought category in Scottish convenience after newspapers*2 Barr Soft Drinks’ brands play a key role by offering choice, quality and innovation

*Kantar Worldpanel Scottish Brand Footprint 2018 *1: IRI Marketplace, Value Sales, MAT to 02/12/18, Scotland Convenience *2: HIM, 2017

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

SIMON HOWE ALBERT BARTLETT BORDERS BISCUITS NAIRN’S MAC B HIGHLAND SPRING PATTERSON’S GLEN’S FAMOUS GROUSE SCOTTISH BLEND SCOTT’S GENIUS McEWAN’S WHYTE & MACKAY CRAWFORD’S

THINK AMBIENT AS WELL AS CHILLED TAKE HOME

DRINK NOW

30%

70%

Source: IRI Marketplace, Drink Now Volume Sales, MAT to 01.12.18, Scotland Convenience

GET THE BALANCE RIGHT WITHIN THE CHILLER SPORTS & ENERGY

FLAVOURED CARBONATES

WATER

COLAS

FRUIT DRINKS

21%

21%

19%

7%

TOTAL - 32% STIMULATION 19%

GLUCOSE 5%

SPORTS 8%

Source: IRI Marketplace, Drink Now Volume Sales, MAT to 01.12.18, Scotland Convenience

PROMINENTLY STOCK KEY SCOTTISH BRANDS

IRN-BRU No.1 Scottish Grocery Brand*

BARR STRATHMORE Scotland’s most No.1 brand popular range in the on-trade*** of flavours**

*Kantar Worldpanel, Value Sales, Take home non-alcohol brands, MAT to 09.09.18, Total Scotland ** IRI Marketplace, Value Sales, MAT to 02/12/18, Total Scotland *** Strathmore No.1 on trade - CGA Data, Value Sales, Water Brands, MAT to Jun 18, Total Marketplace

OFFER LOW CALORIE NEXT TO REGULAR

85% of shoppers say they are actively trying to improve their diet**** Low calorie options growing in popularity ****IGD, 2018

JUDGING POINTERS ARE YOU A SCOTTISH BRANDS CHAMPION? - Provenance is obviously important in today’s c-store.

- How well do you leverage the power of local, regional and nationally sourced products.

- What do you buy?

- How do you engage with shoppers around what to stock?

- How do you buy it?

- How do you merchandise in-store?

- How do you communicate to shoppers?

SLR Rewards 2019 Post Office

HOW TO DELIVER SUCCESS WITH A POST OFFICE A Post Office can be a hugely beneficial asset to your business and can have a major impact on driving footfall, sales and profits.

Monitor success with employee performance scorecards and offer small prizes as an incentive to maintain standards.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

To deliver first-class customer service, as store owner you need to decide on some standards for the team – it’s as simple as “Wear your name badge, a friendly greeting for everyone, eye contact with customers and always offer to help”.

PERFORMANCE

PROMOTE IN-STORE SERVICES

“A Post Office in your store is a perfect way to increase footfall, and you’ll find customers will travel much further to visit your shop” according to Donna Morgan from Brownlies of Biggar.

“We use Facebook and Instagram to promote our store and Post Office, to tell customers about new products, and our longer opening hours.”

Home shopping returns is a very competitive market. Customers are often young so target them with social media and show how easy it is to send parcels back at your shop, so they choose you next time.

BOOSTING SALES

Set up-selling targets for your staff so they encourage customers to move to premium mail services. Remind them to use the five W’s: “Where’s it going; what’s in your item; would you like it to arrive tomorrow; what’s the value; would you like a signature?”

Allocate specific employees to take responsibility for maintaining different sections, including the Post Office, making sure it is always kept stocked and tidy; they will be more invested in its success, ensuring things run smoothly.

INNOVATE

Postmaster Mo Razzaq at High Blantyre Family Shopper has introduced a onehour home delivery service, unlike most supermarkets which only offer next day delivery at the earliest.

Mo said: “There are lots of people who want home delivery – they may be elderly or ill or have a houseful of children or people may be really busy with work with no time to visit a supermarket.”

COMMUNITY

Agree with your team which community activities to support; make a plan for the year and set aside a small budget. Remember to tell the local paper what you’re doing and use social media to share photos.

Bringing you more customers with money to spend “I was delighted to have the opportunity to add a new Post Office branch to my shop, which is in the heart of my local community; it’s making it more convenient for customers to access a wide range of essential products and services.”

Jim Earley Crown Stores and Post Office, Inverness

runapostoffice.co.uk

SLR Rewards 2019 LRS

HOW TO STACK UP MORE SALES FROM SOFT DRINKS Soft drinks can generate massive sales for your store if you follow some simple category guidance. favourites quickly. The range should be regularly reviewed on sales performance and shopper feedback to make sure the best possible selection of drinks, including all the top-selling brands, are offered.

CROSS-CATEGORY SALES

Soft drinks is a highly impulsive category so don’t miss out on the chance to trade shoppers up with meal deals and cross-category offers. If you have the space, create smaller soft drink displays across the store to disrupt the shopper journey and increase sales. Try siting dump bins and other POS in high-footfall areas such as food-togo sections and near the entrance.

THE HEALTHIER SHOPPER

CATEGORY ADVICE

With a typical c-store store making in excess of £42,0001 a year from soft drinks, it’s important that independent retailers make the most of this profitable category. We advise retailers follow simple category advice to focus on Layout, review their Range regularly and Stock up frequently. SKUs should be brand-blocked with a minimum of two facings per flavour, and more for a best-seller like Lucozade Energy.

Availability is essential – with each shopper spending up to £2322 a year on soft drinks, every person who walks through the door is a profit opportunity. Top-sellers should be placed at eye level to help find

Just like other categories, we have seen a long-term trend towards soft drinks with lower sugar as consumers become more interested in living healthier lifestyles. We also know shoppers still want greattasting drinks, so our development team has worked hard to deliver on both counts.

We have lowered the sugar in our recipes so our core range is all under 5grams sugar per 100ml. The drinks are also available in low or zero sugar alternatives in the form of Lucozade Zero, Lucozade Sport Low Cal and Ribena Light to offer consumers a full range of choice.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIG BRANDS It’s essential that established, popular brands make up the foundation of your range. Big brands such as Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport and Ribena signpost the different segments in the chiller to help shoppers find the brands they know and love.

LRS SLR Rewards 2019

Finally, Ribena is the largest juice drink brand in the independent and symbols channel10. Stocking a range of flavours alongside popular Ribena Blackcurrant will allow you to target different consumers, particularly those looking for a fruity drink to enjoy alongside food. Don’t forget about Ribena Light, a lowersugar option for health-conscious shoppers.

SOURCES

THE ROLE PLAYED BY FLAVOURS

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Flavours are an important addition to the range alongside core variants to help bring in incremental sales. Popular fruit flavours such as cherry, apple and raspberry from established brands grab the attention of shoppers who wouldn’t usually buy from the category and encourage them to try.

Currently growing at 13%3, Lucozade Energy – the UK’s number one energy brand4 – is a fundamental part of any retailer’s chiller. We offer a range of flavours and formats to target different types of shoppers, including PMPs to help demonstrate value for money.

Similarly, Lucozade Sport, the best-selling5 sports drink in the category, should form the basis of a sports drink range. In the past year, Lucozade Sport grew by over 3.5m litres6 in the symbols and independents channel, the largest growth of any sports drink brand. It’s essential several facings of the brand’s popular flavours – including shoppers’ favourite Orange7 and the fastestgrowing variant Raspberry8 – are included in the chiller.

Already worth £4.3m since its launch in 20179, Lucozade Sport Fitwater was launched to help retailers grow bottled water sales with a new functional offering. Lucozade Sport Fitwater contains electrolytes such as Magnesium which helps electrolyte balance.

Lucozade Cherry, for example, is growing rapidly at 74%11, and recently launched Lucozade Apple is now the brand’s most popular flavour in the independent channel after core favourites Orange and Original12.

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EXT IRI Symbols & Independents, GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 HIM CTP 2017. IRI Data Symbols & Indies 52 wks to 20.10.17 EXT IRI MarketPlace GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 – Litres Sold EXT IRI MarketPlace, GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 EXT IRI MarketPlace, GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 EXT IRI MarketPlace, GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 EXT IRI MarketPlace GB, latest 52 week data ending 27/11/17 and 25/11/18 EXT IRI Symbols & Independents, GB, latest 13 week data ending 25.11.18 EXT IRI MarketPlace, GB, latest 52 week data ending 25.11.18 EXT IRI MarketPlace GB, latest 13 week data ending 25.11.18

BUSINESS BUILDING GETTING MORE OUT OF EPOS

PUTTING YOUR STORE

IN YOUR POCKET USING THE DEDICATED PAYPOINT ONE APP, NOW AVAILABLE ON BOTH APPLE AND ANDROID PLATFORMS, MAKES RUNNING YOUR STORE EASIER AND QUICKER THAN EVER BEFORE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WITH INSTANT ACCESS TO A WHOLE RANGE OF GREAT FUNCTIONALITY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS.

L

et’s face it, the pace of convenience retailing in the 21st century is faster and more frenetic than it has ever been – which is why the ability to manage your entire store through a smartphone app from anywhere in the world is the perfect solution for an increasing number of retailers.

When PayPoint launched the PayPoint One EPoS solution in November 2017, the accompanying mobile app was quickly recognised by users as a game-changing evolution. The technology meant that for the first time you could carry ‘your store in your pocket’.

PayPoint One is the market-leading, allin-one retail services platform that delivers EPoS, contactless card payments and PayPoint services – such as bill payments and Collect+ – to retailers.

The PayPoint One app allows users to access the functionality of their PayPoint One EPoS system direct from their smartphone.

Whether they are in the cash and carry, on the shop floor, in the office, at home or even on holiday on a beach somewhere, the app allows retailers to instantly analyse how the store is performing and take important real-time actions quickly and easily with a few taps on their smartphone.

“THE APP GIVES ME ACCESS TO ALL THE POWER OF MY PAYPOINT ONE SYSTEM FROM MY PHONE – WHICH IS ALWAYS IN MY POCKET.” SAJID NAZIT, COSTCUTTER, GATESHEAD Given that smartphones are now ubiquitous, the app provides convenient, intuitive access to sales data and allows users to manage prices and promotions, and book in stock from any location and at any time.

Just as important in today’s data-sensitive environment, all data within the app and EPoS system is stored securely and backed up in real time, making lost or compromised data a thing of the past.

PayPoint recently increased access to the benefits of the app by adding an iOS version which means that retailers with iPhones can now use the app, as well as those on the

PAYPOINT ONE MOBILE APP The PayPoint One app is free to all PayPoint One users and is now available on both Android and iOS platforms. The app allows users to access their store from anywhere in world and allows them to perform a wide range of activities from their smartphone, putting ‘your store in your pocket’.

Change prices and promotions instantly Stock control from anywhere

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE

PAYPOINT ONE APP NOW ON IOS

SEE SALES IN REAL TIME Q TOTAL SALES Q DAILY SALES OVER THE WEEK Q SALES BY TENDER TYPE Q SHOP GOODS TOP SELLERS Q PAYPOINT SERVICE TOP SELLERS Q PROMOTION SALES Q TILL CONTROLS CHANGE PRICES AND PROMOTIONS INSTANTLY Q BARCODE SCAN PRODUCT RECOGNITION Q PRODUCT SET UP: INCLUDING MIN STOCK LEVEL, PRICE & COST Q PRICE CHANGE Q PRODUCT EDIT Q SHELF EDGE LABEL PRINT STOCK CONTROL FROM ANYWHERE Q ORDERS Q DELIVERIES Q STOCK COUNTS Q GAP CHECKS

PayPoint has introduced a free iOS mobile app for the many PayPoint One retailers who use iPhones, to complement the existing Android app. The app helps retailers connect to their stores from anywhere via PayPoint One. Over 12,000 retailers across the UK now use PayPoint One to help them save time, get valuable business insights and grow profitability.

The smart phone app enables store owners to have their ‘store in their pocket’ with the ability to manage their businesses from anywhere in the world. The app gives PayPoint One retailers access to business management tools such as a real-time sales dashboard. Retailers with the PayPoint One Core and Pro packages can use additional features, including advanced product, price and promotion features, stock inventory management and supplier orders.

Lewis Alcraft, Commercial Director of PayPoint said: “We know Apple devices are extremely popular with our retail partners so the rollout of the iOS PayPoint One app is a key part of the evolution of the platform. We’re excited to give even more people the freedom and flexibility to manage their stores from anywhere and will continue to expand and improve on PayPoint One so that retailers are prepared for the technology landscape of the future.”

Android platform.

To find out more about the benefits of the PayPoint One app, we spoke to a couple of retailers who use it on a daily basis. Read on to find out what they said…

SAJID NAZIT, COSTCUTTER, GATESHEAD

“I’m an iPhone user so I was delighted that the PayPoint One app was recently made available on iOS. I’d heard a lot about it from other retailers and how useful and powerful it is, so I couldn’t wait to download it and start trying it out. The reality is, even though I’ve only been using it a few weeks, it’s already fundamental to how I now run the store. I don’t know how I lived without it before!

“I use it every day and I find that I’m using it more and more often as I get more familiar with the functionality and all the things that I can do with it.

“I’ve become a bit of an addict when it comes to checking how sales are going and I do that more often than I’m prepared to

E ABOUT PAYPOINT ONE, CALL 01707 537 014.

admit, but it’s so useful. I’ve also started using it to check and change prices while I’m on the shopfloor. Doing that used to be a real pain because I’d often see little issues when I was on the shopfloor and make a mental note to fix them later, but nine times out of 10 I’d forget.

Now I just whip out the phone and deal with it there and then. It takes seconds. Perfect!

“I’m also starting to use the tagging functionality more and more often and I’m finding lots of ways to use tags that help me save huge amounts of time. One thing that tags are brilliant for is managing promotions.

Adding products into a specific promotion or removing them used to be a complicated, timeconsuming process. Now it takes seconds. I can also amend the prices of promotions or tweak them as I see fit, all while standing in front of the fixture.

“For me, PayPoint One is a great EPoS system. It’s very powerful and it’s getting better all the time. The great thing about the app is that it gives me access CONT.

BUSINESS BUILDING GETTING MORE OUT OF EPOS

“THE PAYPOINT ONE APP EFFECTIVELY LETS ME BE IN THE STORE WITHOUT BEING IN THE STORE.” BOBBY SINGH, BOGHAR BROS, PONTEFRACT to all that power from my phone – which is always in my pocket. It’s helping me save time and money and it’s helping to drive real efficiencies in the store which is undoubtedly helping me increase sales, profitability and footfall.”

BOBBY SINGH, BOGHAR BROS, PONTEFRACT “I help run a multi-site, family-owned business and what we’ve been trying to do over the last couple of years is basically move away from being a family-run business

towards being a professionally-run business.

Moving to PayPoint One was a big part of that.

“We have been using PayPoint One for about a year and it has genuinely helped us gain far better insight into how the business is performing, as well as help us make quicker, better decisions right across the store.

“The launch of the app in iOS is great news because I’m a die-hard Apple fan so having ‘my store in my pocket’ has made a huge difference to me. It effectively lets me be here without being here, which is vital as I spend a lot of time at the cash and carry or out and about on business, not on the shopfloor.

“What I like best about the app, and about PayPoint One, is that everything is in the one place. I can get access to every piece of information and data I need, all from the same system. With the app, it means I can now get access to all that information by simply reaching into my pocket.

“I use the app constantly – and I mean constantly – for everything from checking sales and changing prices to managing promotions and checking orders. Before, doing all these things required me to set time aside to go and do them on the computer; now I just get the phone out when I’ve got a few minutes and do them all that way. It saves huge amounts of time and lets me make use of what used to be wasted time.

“I also really like that PayPoint are always working on improving both PayPoint One and the app. It’s just keeps getting better which in turn helps me keep moving my stores forward and improving that all important bottom line.”

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT MORE ABOUT PAYPOINT ONE, CALL 01707 537 014.

SUSTAINABILITY IN LOCAL RETAIL

Doing Good Is Good For Business ...27TH MARCH, GLASGOW...

A new event from SLR exploring how retailers can boost their bottom line as well as their environmental credentials.

To reserve your place, email events@55north.com

A #ThinkSmart Event from

GroceryAid is the trading name of the National Grocers Benevolent Fund. A registered Charity Reg. No 1095897 (England & Wales) & SC039255 (Scotland). A company limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales no 04620683

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Nom Stop | Food-To-Go

Inside Business

NEW FOOD-TO-GO SOLUTION GOES LIVE IN MILLERSTON

Premier Millerston in the north of Glasgow has become the first store in Scotland to install the Nom Stop solution from Lomond Wholesale. SLR visited on launch day to find out more Retailer Shabana Chaudhry.

BY ANTONY BEGLEY

All equipment is provided.

www.slrmag.co.uk

P

remier Millerston in the north of Glasgow has become the first c-store in Scotland to install a comprehensive new food-to-go solution from Lomond Wholesale.

Known as Nom Stop, the innovative ‘plug and play’ solution provides retailers with everything they need to launch a fully-fledged food-to-go station.

The package includes all equipment, training, POS, marketing materials and all the ingredients required to make a large array of popular food-togo products from baguettes and hot morning rolls to soups and popular dishes like macaroni cheese to biscuits and cakes.

Run by Shabana and Usman Chaudhry, the store has been in the family for almost 60 years and recently joined Premier. It has never had a full food-to-go offering in the past but the pair feel the time is right to capitalise on the huge consumer interest in the category. Shabana tells SLR: “We’ve been looking at foodto-go for a little while now. We knew we needed to bring it into the store, but we wanted to do it

Freshly made baguettes are already popular.

properly. Today’s shoppers want high quality, freshly prepared food that they can consume immediately, and Nom Stop gives us everything we need to provide a fantastic offer to our shoppers.”

The pair did their homework over several months, looking at a whole array of options and solutions before finally plumping for the newly launched Lomond Wholesale option. “We were very keen to find a solution that allowed us to target all parts of the day including breakfast, lunch, evening meal and continuous snacking,” says Shabana. “Nom Stop lets us do all of that and we are confident that it will be a fantastic addition to the store.”

All ingredients are ordered direct from Lomond Wholesale with up to three deliveries a week available. A full set of recipes is also provided to retailers to help manage portion control and ensure consistency of product.

One factor that really impressed Shabana was the way that allergens are handled.

She explains: “With all of the issues around allergens and cross-contamination these days we wanted to be sure that the

A range of sweet treats is available

solution we went for took this into account. The team from Lomond couldn’t have been more helpful and the allergen control protocols that they have put in place are fantastic.”

“The full installation was completed in a single night shift by the shopfitters and after a day’s training we were ready to officially open,” says Shabana.

“The recipes are easy to follow and use high quality ingredients, including thaw and serve breads, and we’ve been selling product from the unit within minutes of opening, so we are hopeful that it will really help drive footfall, sales and profits. We don’t really have any competition near us in terms of food-to-go so I’m quietly confident.”

Leaflet drops, exterior signage and an in-store digital screen, which comes as part of the Nom Stop package, are all helping to bring the new offer to customers’ attention.

Judging from the number of sales from the new unit in the hour or so that SLR was there, it seems like the new Nom Stop will indeed prove to be a profitable addition to Premier Millerston.

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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Hotlines

Product News & Media Watch

M&M’s Eggs Mars Wrigley Confectionery M&M’s Eggs feature a crunchy speckled shell with a milk chocolate filling and are available now with RSPs of £1 for an 80g bag, £2.50 for a 250g bag and £3.50 for a 315g bag. The launch will be backed by Facebook and Instagram advertising throughout February. Chirag Shah, Seasonal Brand Manager for Mars Wrigley, said: “This new treat brings a seasonal twist to everyone’s favourite crunchy chocolate.”

Vegan fishless fillets Quorn Two new vegan frozen fishless products – Battered Fishless Fillets with a Salt and Vinegar Batter and Breaded Fishless Fillets with a Lemon Pepper Breadcrumb – are available from March in 200g packs with an RSP of £2.99. Quorn’s fishless range will benefit from specific TV ads as part of 2019’s £12m brand investment. For further information, contact customer. services@quornfoods.com.

I Heart U doughnut Aryzta Food Solutions Aryzta’s new limited-edition I Heart U Valentine’s Doughnut is filled with mixed fruit jam, dusted with a light powder finish and is supplied frozen. Heating time is 90 minutes.

Cases of 60 are available now for £24 – a unit price of 40p per doughnut. The RSP of 70p yields a retailer margin of 43%. A POS pack to support the launch that includes posters and barkers is available to download.For further information call 0845 437 9593, email retail. ordersGB@aryzta.com or visit aryztafoodsolutions. co.uk.

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SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

McCoy’s puts fun into snacking with Muchos McCoy’s has unveiled new Muchos: a crescent-shaped folded tortilla crisp that taps into the growing popularity of Mexican food.

Muchos is a corn, wheat and potato-based snack made with a blend of six spices and beans then coated with a Mexicanstyle seasoning.

It is available now in a sharing bag pack size of 180g (RSP £1.99, outers of eight) in three flavours: Smoky Chilli Chicken, Nacho Cheese and Sour Cream & Onion.

Exclusively for convenience, the Smoky Chilli Chicken and Nacho Cheese variants will also be available in an 80g Grab Bag (outers of 14) as a £1 PMP from 17 March.

As KP Snacks’ largest NPD launch to date, the introduction of McCoy’s Muchos will be supported with a £4m investment including advertising and in-store campaigns later in the year.

Claire Cooper, Marketing Manager for McCoy’s, commented: “Sharing is now the second-largest area within Crisps, Nuts and Snacks, and continues to grow. We are very excited to launch such a new and unique Mexican-themed product into this arena, a much-needed injection of fun, flavour and innovation for the tortilla market.”

Cadbury Bournville Orange Mondelez

Mondelez has relaunched Cadbury Bournville Orange. It is available now in cases of 18 x 100g bars, RSP £1.49. The bar was first revived in 2009 and now been brought back for good.Cadbury has also launched a £1 PMP version of its Bournville tablet, again in cases of 18 x 100g bars. For stock enquiries, retailers can telephone Mondelez on 0870 600 0699, email retailer. services@mdlz.com or visit www. deliciousdisplay.co.uk.

Maryland Sugar Free Cookies Burton’s Biscuit Company Burton’s Biscuit Company has unveiled Maryland Sugar Free Cookies (outers of 12 x 230g packs, RSP £1.39). Burton’s is backing the launch with a targeted social media and PR campaign.

The roll-out follows Burton’s sugar reduction programme on core Maryland products last year. For further information call Burton’s Biscuits on 0330 6600 196 or visit burtonsbiscuits.com.

Bacofoil Elasti-Fit Bin Liners Melitta UK Bacofoil Elasti-Fit Bin Liners are available now with an RSP of £2.49 for 10 x 50-litre (outers of 18) or 12 x 30-litre (outers of 20) liners. The new liners have a built-in elastic fastening system, are triple-layered to prevent leaks and are sealed at the side, rather than the bottom, to prevent the bag from splitting under the weight of rubbish. The bags also feature drawstring handles for easy closing and carrying. For more information on stocking Bacofoil products, visit www.bacofoil. co.uk.

www.slrmag.co.uk

Product News & Media Watch Superfood Vitality Mix Florette



Freshlay Golden Yolks Noble Foods

Florette has partnered with Diabetes UK for the launch of Superfood Vitality Mix, with three pence from every pack sold to be donated to the charity. A 120g pack includes baby spinach, ruby chard, kale and carrot and carries an RSP of £1.50.

For stock enquiries, retailers can call Florette on 01543 250 050, email madewithsunshine@florette.com or visit www.florettesalad.co.uk.

Freddo Treasures Mondelez

Noble Foods has introduced Freshlay Golden Yolks, a new brand that promises “a deep golden, naturally delicious yolk”.

Golden Yolks are available now to convenience retailers in outers of eight with an RSP of £1.75 for six and £2.20 for 10 mixed weight eggs respectively. For stock enquiries, retailers should email Isabelle.

Berger@Noblefoods.co.uk. The eggs are produced on a small collection of familyrun farms, by free range hens.

Tropicana Immune Support PepsiCo

Cadbury Dairy Milk Freddo Treasures (14.4g/28g with toy) is available now in outers of 24 with an RSP of 90p. It consists of a purple chest filled with ‘treasure’ in the form of Dairy Milk Buttons alongside one of 17 different toys.

The launch is supported by a £6m campaign, which includes Freddo’s first ever TV ad. For stock enquiries, retailers can telephone Mondelez on 0870 600 0699, email retailer. services@mdlz.com or visit www. deliciousdisplay.co.uk.

The latest Tropicana variant contains a blend of carrot, orange, pineapple and ginger. It is available now in 750ml (RSP £2.99) and 330ml (RSP £1.99) formats. The brand says it “meets consumer demand for functional benefits”. Tropicana has also added three new flavours to its core lineup: Apple, Raspberry & Redcurrant; Apple, Pear & Apricot; and Watermelon & Starfruit.

The new flavours launch with updated packaging, which encourages recycling.

Hotlines

‘More Than Water’ Lucozade Sport has launched a new campaign for its functional water brand, Fitwater. The campaign includes social media activity, out-of-home advertising and influencer partnerships. It runs until early March and focuses on a ‘More Than Water’ message, encouraging shoppers to purchase Fitwater to replace electrolytes lost during exercise.

Bacofoil wraps up Sunday mornings Bacofoil is sponsoring ITV’s Sunday morning cooking shows to support its Non-Stick Kitchen Foil. The campaign runs until 31 March, with spots every Sunday across two 60-minute episodes of Ainsley Harriott’s Caribbean Kitchen and Parveen Ashraf’s Indian Kitchen. Further TV activity is planned for April and May.

Spotlight on Kikkoman Kikkoman is on TV, video-on-demand and online with a new campaign for Chinese New Year. The ads run until mid-February and look to “remind consumers of Kikkoman’s versatility as an all-purpose seasoning as well as a dipping sauce”. Kikkoman said the campaign puts the spotlight firmly on the soy sauce brand ahead of Chinese New Year.

Kelly telly slot for Nestlé Cereals Sterling Dual Triple Green JTI

Doritos Flame Grilled Steak Walkers

Sterling Dual Triple Green (RSP £9.35) is the first triple menthol cigarette in the UK tobacco market. Available now, the mentholated cigarette has two capsules, one peppermint and one spearmint, and builds on the brand’s 2018 single and double capsule launches. JTI has also unveiled new B&H Blue Dual Double Capsule (RSP £8.35), which enters the market as the UK’s lowest priced double capsule offering.

Available now, the latest flavour from Doritos is available in 180g (RSP £2) and 80g (RSP £1 and £1 PMP) formats. For more information, telephone 0800 274 777 or fill in the form on the Walkers trade website at countsformore.co.uk/contact-us.

The launch will be supported with TV, digital and shopper marketing activity from March. The brand is also launching bigger 230g packs of its ‘lighter’ flavours.

Nestlé has teamed up with queen of breakfast TV Lorraine Kelly in a year-long partnership that sees its cereals sponsor her ITV weekday mornings show, Lorraine. The campaign will reach Lorraine’s 1.6 million viewers every day. Nestlé Cereals will receive a total of 50 seconds of accreditation every day, Monday to Friday.

Mind-blowing stuff from Nakd The year started with a bang for Natural Balance Foods, as its Nakd brand launched its first-ever TV ad. This kickstarted the £1.5m ‘Mind. Blown.’ campaign, which will run throughout 2019 at key points in the year.

The ad features a couple of unsuspecting consumers who get more than they bargained for after biting into a Nakd bar.

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

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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Energy Drinks

Feature

ENERGY QUICK TO ADAPT TO CHANGING MARKET The massively important energy drinks category has been quick to react to a rapidly evolving marketplace with shifting consumer demands and legislative changes.

S

ales trends over the last year have unquestionably been shaped by the introduction of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in April last year and the huge energy drinks category has certainly felt the effects.

Mark Bell, Strategy and Planning Manager at Red Bull UK, comments: “With the heightened importance placed on the health agenda over the past year and the Soft Drinks Industry Levy in place, consumers are swaying more towards sugar-free options.

Therefore, it is imperative that retailers offer a low kcal alternative – meaning that a higher proportion of space is being dedicated to low kcal products.”

Bell highlights that diet is now worth £144m, which equates to 11.3% of the sports and energy category, increasing by 1.7% from 2017 [IRI, Jan 2018]. Growing at 7% to £31.9m, Red Bull Sugarfree 250ml is the number one low kcal sports and energy drink.

“The extension of the Red Bull Sugarfree range is designed to drive value within the energy drinks category, with the brand-new range offering choice and removing the current taste and health barriers to trial,” says Bell.

SPACE ALLOCATION One challenge that all retailers face is the allocation of scarce space in the chiller. Matthew Gouldsmith, Channel Director, Wholesale at Lucozade Ribena Suntory, advises: “In order to mirror what shoppers will be looking for, SLR | FEBRUARY 2019

space in the soft drinks chiller should be allocated according to what sells best.

The bulk of each segment should be made up of the biggest brands, including the UK’s number one energy brand, Lucozade Energy and category-leading sports drink Lucozade Sport.”

Red Bull also advises retailers to stock the most efficient range to drive the greatest value, whilst category space should be aligned with share of sales to maximise sales.

LOOKING AHEAD It seems clear that the majority of NPD and key trends will continue to focus on low kcal products, but it’s vital not to forget that the core remains crucial to category success.

Bell suggests that “taste and refreshment are always going to be key drivers in the sports and energy drinks market” and that “busier lifestyles and increasingly time-poor consumers mean that the market is looking for more all the time”.

He predicts that products that deliver added www.slrmag.co.uk

Energy Drinks

11.4%

Diet’s share of the total energy drinks market RED BULL RANGING & MERCHANDISING ADVICE

www.slrmag.co.uk

7%

value for a range of occasions, such as multivitamins, protein or a functional energy boost, will be important in the future.

Overall, Red Bull is growing +8.4% in value and +12% in volume [IRI, Apr 2018]. It is performing well across all channels within the UK, particularly Take Home (+8.0% by value) and Symbols (+7.0% by value) [IRI, Jan 2018].

Bell comments: “Red Bull value growth is being driven by the iconic 250ml Energy Drink pack, Sugarfree range and Energy Drink alternative size options, all up +7.7%, +14.9% and +26.1% respectively vs YA. [Red Bull, Oct 2018]. As the number one single serve soft drink, Red Bull Energy 250ml is a must stock for retailers planning their adult soft drinks offering.”

Varied pack formats are also playing a more important role with Red Bull 355ml and 473ml cans growing at 27.6% and 5.4% [IRI, Jan 2018] respectively.

Growth of Red Bull Sugarfree 250ml

Space can be a big challenge for retailers as many look to consolidate their range in-store.

Red Bull advises retailers to stock the most efficient range to drive the greatest value, whilst category space should be aligned with share of sales to maximise sales.

Stocking the packs from the bestselling brand and sugar-free options – such as Red Bull’s Sugarfree 355ml, which continues to perform well and has grown 65.9% [IRI], and Red Bull Energy 250ml, the number one single serve soft drink, worth £137.5m and growing +3% [IRI] – will help maximise sales from limited space.

Feature

Sugar or no Sugar?

Consumers want choice.

Are you stocking up on the number one?

WINGS WITH SUGAR

NO.

With the heightened importance placed on the health agenda over the past year and the sugar levy in place, consumers are swaying more towards healthier options.

As the UK’s number one low kcal functional energy brand, Red Bull has expanded its sugarfree range to support retailers following the sugar tax.

Red Bull Energy 250ml is the number one single serve soft drink, worth £137.5m and growing +2.7%

WINGS WITHOUT SUGAR NO.

Retailers should think about stocking a range of sugarfree options alongside their core range to ensure they are giving consumers choice.

The extension of Red Bull’s Sugarfree range will ensure shoppers can choose a sugarfree alternative for every Red Bull pack. Whether it’s Red Bull’s top performing 250ml can – which remains the bestseller – or a Red Bull Edition 250ml, shoppers can reach for their favourite sku and expect to see the sugarfree option sitting right beside it.

Retailers should stock the sugarfree range side-by-side in all three sizes to offer shoppers what they demand.

Work with your Red Bull representative to help maximise your soft drink sales, or visit www.redbull.com

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No.1 Diet Energy

44% Shoppers are purchasing 44% more low kcal functional energy big cans than last year...

…and 28% more low kcal functional energy flavours.

SOURCE: IRI – VALUE 52WK vs YA – RED BULL 250ML ENERGY DRINK SINGLE. TOTAL COVERAGE – DATA TO WE 20.01.2018 / IRI VALUE SALES TOTAL FUNC. DIET BIG CANS TOTAL COVERAGE| DATA 52 W/E 21.10.17

FEBRUARY 2019 | SLR

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Feature

Impulse Must Stocks - Tea

MAKE TIME – AND SPACE – FOR TEA Despite the global fascination with coffee, tea remains the UK’s undisputed favourite hot drink with market share of over 45% – a fact that should be reflected on your shelves.

TETLEY CHECK LIST TO MAXIMISE SALES

I “Independent retailers remain over-reliant on black tea sales; in grocery multiples noneveryday black teas account for 44.5% of category value sales.

This drops to just 17.5% in impulse.”

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f you were to judge by the amount of media coverage it has generated over the last few years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that coffee is the only hot drink in town – but you’d be wrong. Tea continues to be the nation’s favourite hot beverage, and by some distance.

Peter Dries, Director Of Customer And Shopper Marketing at Tata Global Beverages, comments: “Tea has a 45.1% volume share compared to coffee at 30.5%. [KWP Usage Study, Aug 2018].”

That’s not to say that the tea market hasn’t evolved. Dries says: “The tea category has been changing, marked by a shift to non-black teas.”

To exploit the opportunities in tea, retailers need to understand the changing dynamics of the tea shopper.

“It’s about encouraging customers to take a fresh look at what is on offer and add more to their basket,” says Dries. “Data shows independents remain over-reliant on black tea sales. In grocery multiples non-every day black teas account for 44.5% of category value sales, this drops to just 17.5% in impulse.”

The tea shopper is a valuable shopper to business. Repertoire tea drinkers who drink different types of tea drink more tea more often.

Of everyone buying hot beverages, research shows

that tea buyers are more likely to buy complementary products with their tea purchase like milk, bread, cakes and biscuits. [HIM, CTP 2018].

GETTING THE TEA MIX RIGHT Everyday black: 87% of shoppers say brands are important when buying tea. For everyday black, big brands do 80% of sales.

Decaf: Decaf drinkers won’t choose an alternative, so if one isn’t available, they won’t buy.

Green: Within Green, Tetley has two of the big four SKUs Tetley Green 20s and Tetley Green and Lemon 20s. and both are in growth.

THE APPEAL OF HEALTH Tea’s good fit with health continues to be a draw and tea shoppers often look for something a little different and this is reflected in sales. Value sales are up across the board in Impulse for products that fit the bill here: Fruit & Herbal (up 9.3%); Green (up 9.8%) and Redbush (up 9.8%).

With more shoppers keen to take additional vitamins through their diet, functional food and drink has become a major trend.

A Kantar study found 31% of consumers select products for their health benefits, naturalness and positive nutritional content.

Tetley has led the way in the development

Q Complement black with a range of teas that suit your customers best Q Stock the top sellers Q Block best-selling brands together merchandise from every day black through to decaf, greens, fruit and herbals and speciality Q Sign post different types of tea and highlight anything new Q Offer a mix of pack sizes for different shopper missions Q Demonstrate value with PMPs Q Don’t over promote. Leave room for higher value sales from non-discounted products Q Think of different tea occasions where you can bring products together in a theme and benefit sales across difference categories Q Keep on trend with products like functional teas and new cold infusions

of a suite of Tetley Super teas with added vitamins and EFSA approved health claims, ranging from immune system support to reducing tiredness and fatigue.

Spanning Green Tea, Fruit and Herbal and new Super Squash, the award-winning Tetley Supers range includes 20 variants with seven different health benefits.

Tetley Supers have brought new customers into both the Green and Fruit & Herbal segments while delivering strong sales and repeat purchase.

Extending tea occasions, Tetley is embracing the market for cold infusions with its Tetley Cold Infusions range available in four flavours. Each infusion is made from premium-grade ingredients with pieces of real fruit to deliver on taste. They have just two calories per 100ml and are free from caffeine, artificial flavours, added sugar and sweeteners. www.slrmag.co.uk

Feature

Biscuits

BISCUITS BOOSTED BY HEALTHIER OPTIONS The biscuits category is in growth over the last year with that growth at least partly fuelled by growing consumer demand for healthier and ‘free-from’ options.

I

t may seem incongruous in today’s increasingly health obsessed world that the traditionally treat-focused biscuits category is actually in growth over the last 12 months – but that is indeed the case.

The twist in the tail, however, is that much of that growth has come through increasing demand for healthier biscuits.

Jeremy Peters, Head of Category & Insights at Burton’s Biscuit Company, explains: “Biscuits in Impulse are ahead of last year in both YOY (+1.5%) and latest 12-week (+2.4%) timeframes. [Nielsen, Nov 2018]. This is being driven by Everyday and Treat biscuits but also

by Healthier biscuits.

“The increased focus on quality, health and free-from options has had a major impact on the sweet biscuits category in the last 12 months. Whilst everyday and treats are driving growth in sweet biscuits, cereal bars and healthier options have made an impact, with the ‘health’ segment expected to grow by 14% to 2021 [Kantar Worldpanel, 2018] as consumers look for lower fat, salt and sugar options that don’t compromise on quality, in addition to their usual favourites.”

The message here is that shoppers still like

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IN-STORE BAKERY DRIVING SALES Offering customers a range of freshly-baked cakes and biscuits is a simple, cost effective way for retailers to attract new shoppers - and increase basket spend. “In convenience, in-store bakery shoppers spend more than average shoppers and shop more frequently,” says Mary Byrne, Trade Marketing Manager – Retail at Aryzta Food Solutions.

Aryzta offers a range of thaw & serve and bake-off products, including individually wrapped cookies, biscuits and cake bars. In addition, The Grab a Treat range features a selection of individually wrapped everyday treat favourites including cookies, muffins and cake slices, perfect for shoppers eating on the move.

The company offers a range of solutions to cater to all shapes and sizes of stores as well as high quality POS.

to indulge every so often and ‘treatier’ biscuits are helping drive the market Everyday treat biscuits are growing over twice the rate of the market [Nielsen, Nov 2018] - but stocking a range of healthier options is now a must for all retailers.

Peters says: “An increasing amount of space is now being given to healthier options and cereal products, with space for chocolate biscuit bars (CBBs) being reduced in some retailers. The trend towards health as well as provenance and traceability has also led to an influx of up and coming brands into the biscuit aisle, challenging traditional biscuit manufacturers, whilst demand for value has driven interest in Retailer Brand products.”

Unsurprisingly, manufacturers have been quick to respond to growing demand for ‘free from’ alternatives, with a rising number of brands tapping into the market for those with food intolerances, or those experimenting with gluten/lactose-free diets.

Burton’s Biscuit Company has been quick to react, as Peters explains: “Earlier this year, we responded to demand for portion control and reduced calorie options by re-formatting

and signposting our range of Kids Minis products to be 100 calories or less. This includes Maryland Minis, Maryland Minis Double Choc and Jammie Dodgers Minis (growing ahead of the market at 3.6% MAT, but since reformulation latest 12 weeks at 13.5% [Nielsen, Nov 2018].

Peters also advises retailers to include a range of price-marked packs (PMPs) to reassure shoppers they are getting the best value as economic uncertainty is likely to continue. He says: “The market for PMPs remains hugely important for the impulse sector, with many shoppers looking to them as a source of value, and PMPs of bestselling brands also providing them with the quality assurance they are seeking.”

Biscuit shoppers are impulsive, so utilising PMPs to drive impulse purchases us a great way to boost profits. Burton’s offers an extensive range of PMPs, including right across its core range of products such as Maryland, the nation’s favourite cookie, and Jammie Dodgers, as well as the iconic Wagon Wheels brand.

All are available in PMP and plain pack formats and are performing ahead of the impulse market [Nielsen, Nov 2018]. www.slrmag.co.uk

BEST SELLERS No.1 Cookie brand** 5th largest brand in Sweet Biscuits** Bought by over 1 in 4 households*

In a nationwide poll, Jammie Dodgers was voted Britain’s 3rd favourite biscuit† Bought by 1 in 5 households* Sales over £19m RSV***

Sales now over £18m RSV growing +10% in volume sales YOY*** Low cross shop, stock both flavours to maximise sales

STOCK UP NOW! burtonsbiscuits.com *Kantar w/e 03.11.2018. **Nielsen w/e 03.11.2018. ***Nielsen Mults & Kantar Value w/e 03.11.2018. †Channel 5 - Dec 2017.

UTC

BURGALURS BEWARE

You can never be too safe when protecting your business from the sundry layabouts, no-users and vagabonds that populate this great nation, so UTC doffed his flat cap to a retailer in Falkirk (who shall remain nameless) for this fantastic and highly realistic dummy alarm box.

UTC would like to thank Premier retailer Robert Kirkwood for bringing this fine example of retail security to his attention.

We think you’ll agree that it’s the attention to detail that makes this alarm so convincing. No self-respecting burgalur would even dare try his luck at this shop, we reckon.

IT’S WRITTEN IN THE SPEARS Who needs Uri Geller when you’ve got “world-famous asparamancer and international TV celebrity Jemima Packington”? That’s what the press release refers to her as at any rate. And if, like UTC, you find yourself in the embarrassing position of not even knowing what an asparamancer is, fear not. We’re here to help.

An asparamancer predicts the future using asparagus spears. No, really. But Jemima allegedly has some previous on this front, having predicted Brexit, Trump’s presidential win and Macron’s success in France.

So what do the spears say? Well, you’ll all be relieved to learn that fears over Brexit will prove largely unfounded, the trade war between China and the US will end but an American recession will affect us all, Big Brother WILL be back and, presumably most relevant for the purposes of the press release, asparagus will see an all-time high in sales.

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‘VEGANISM’ SPARKS ‘FLOOD’ OF ‘APOSTROPHES’

Being something of an old-school pedant when it comes to grammar, UTC has rather taken the hump with the flood of veganism that has swept the nation of late. Despite being a confirmed carnivore who views Gregg’s vegan sausage roll as a crime against humanity, he has no problem per se with veganism.

But what really gets on his wick is the spate of unnecessary apostrophes that has accompanied the rise of veganism.

A recent release from Crussh Fit Food & Juice Bars, for example, offered ‘cheese’ for sale, specifically ‘feta’, as well as a whole range of ‘fit foods’. You can also get ‘sausages’, ‘bacon’ or ‘steak’.

The auld yin’s main problem is that he can’t read words with these apostrophes around them without involuntarily imagining someone doing those annoying mid-air apostrophe signs with their fingertips. It apparently makes him want to shove one of those ‘sausages’ up their ‘arse’.

www.slrmag.co.uk