Retail News June 2015

JUNE 2015

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www.retailnews.ie|June 2015|Contents|3

Contents sponsoring the Small Producer of the Year Award at the 2015 Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards.

News Ireland Leads the Way THE news that Topaz’s service station at Ballacolla, Co. Laois, was named the NACS Insight 2015 International Convenience Retailer of the Year Award is a fabulous endorsement for the quality of Ireland’s convenience retail sector.

Indeed, seven of the 15 short-listed stores for this high profile worldwide award were Irish stores.

Topaz Ballacolla is a state-ofthe-art service station which was only opened four months ago, and its win marks the second time that Topaz has lifted the award, having taken the 2011 title for its site at Cashel, also on the M8. At the same Awards, Musgrave Group won the 2015 NACS Insight European Sustainability Retailer of the Year Award, recognising the Group for its leadership in sustainable resource strategies and inspiring other businesses to implement sustainability initiatives of their own.

See full story on Page 6.

In further good news for the sector, Kantar’s annual ranking of Ireland’s most chosen FMCG brands has shown strong consumer support for the nation’s homegrown brands (Page 28), while we report from the Barry Group’s fabulous 60th birthday celebrations in Cork (Page 8), the IGBF Midsummer Ball (Page 24), where Irish rugby coach Joe Schmidt proved a wonderful guest of honour, and the AGM of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (Page 50).

As we go to press, the news has just come through that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has cleared BWG’s €23m acquisition of ADM Londis. Ireland’s FMCG market has gone through some tough years, but it is a very resourceful sector and seems to be finally showing signs of resurgence.

Kathleen Belton Editorial & Marketing Director. kathleenbelton@retailnews.ie

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Calls for Fat Tax to be introduced.

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Honey controversy shines light on food fraud; €20m sales at BWG Foods Trade Show.

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Topaz named NACS Insight 2015 International Convenience Retailer of the Year; Musgrave Group wins top sustainability award.

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The rugby-themed IGBG Midsummer Ball proved a roaring success.

Impulse Purchasing 27

28 Barry Group celebrates 60th birthday; Irish consumers crippled by excise on wine.

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Tesco reclaims top spot in retail wars; Aldi wins case against Dunnes.

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Law Society dismisses retailers’ concerns over insurance claims; New CEO at BIM.

Restricting the in-store display of alcohol; Recovery strengthens despite falling prices.

The Retail News Interview 20

Matthew Tisdall, Commercial Manager, and Paul Adeleke, Corporate Affairs Director, Philip Morris, discuss the changing face of tobacco in Ireland, the growth of the value category and how legislation is shaping the industry.

50

New research into impulse purchasing habits in C-stores makes for interesting reading.

Irish brands have come out on top in Kantar Worldpanel’s latest ranking of the nation’s favourite FMCG brands.

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The Show Me I.D Awareness Week 2015 kicks off on Monday, June 22 and will involve activities in nearly 3,000 stores right across the country.

Origin Green 34

Taking place on September 16 and 17 at the Citywest Events Centre, this autumn’s Food & Hospitality Ireland trade expo is an event that’s not to be missed.

Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards 40

The CSNA Annual General Meeting took place recently at Clontarf Castle, and saw the election of the Association’s National Executive.

Legal Matters 52

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 is the most important development in Irish employment law in years, writes solicitor Einde O Donnell.

Bloom 2015 54

Bord Bia’s Bloom Festival attracted 94,000 visitors over the June Bank Holiday Weekend.

56

Origin Green is a unique programme that unites the entire food and drink industry and government in a national sustainability initiative.

Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015 38

A significant step-up in enforcement activity on waste management regulations is on the cards. Are you compliant?

CSNA AGM

Tobacco Retailing

Retail Ireland: Monthly Update 18

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IGBF Midsummer Ball

Kantar Brand Footprint

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Waste Management

Tesco Ireland are

Forecourt Focus: News 56

Applegreen to raise €70m with share offer; Topaz Play Or Park winner; Maxol invests €1.1m in five new stores.

Shopping Behaviour 58

Stephen Rust, CEO engage Ireland, discusses the transformation in shopping behaviour and how canny suppliers and retailers can use it to their advantage.

REGULARS & REPORTS

facebook.com/RetailNews1 Managing Director: Patrick Aylward Editorial Director: Kathleen Belton kathleenbelton@retailnews.ie Editor: John Walshe johnwalshe@tarapublications.ie Advertising: Brian Clark brian@tarapublications.ie Chief News Reporter: Pavel Barter Wine Correspondent: Jean Smullen Graphics: Catherine Doyle Production: Ciara Conway Printed by: W&G Baird

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Industry News Drinks News Pet Care Market News Shelf Life

4|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

News

Calls for Fat Tax to be Introduced RETAILERS are facing a new challenge to their business in the form of growing calls for a sugar tax on products. The Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) and Social Justice Ireland recently published a sevenpoint plan on methods to tackle obesity, which included a soda tax on soft drinks, as well as front of pack ‘traffic light’ labelling.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil has called for a sugar tax as part of its health policy document. The party is proposing a 20% tax on Fianna Fáil health sweetened products, which spokesperson, Billy Kelleher it says would generate €58m TD. every year. In an interview with Retail News, Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher TD said that potential health benefits outweighed benefits for the exchequer.

“We proposed [a sugar tax] simply because we have an issue to address in regard to obesity,” he said. “Ireland is facing an obesity epidemic. The onset of obesity is happening in early stages of childhood development. Sweetened drinks and other fatty foods are contributing factors, along with the sedentary lifestyle that people are now involved in.”

“Unfortunately, food taxes affect people’s wealth, not their health,” argued Shane Dempsey, Head of Prepared Consumer Foods, FDII. “The evidence around the world shows that food taxes doesn’t reduce obesity in the population. It’s not smart regulation as it doesn’t target particular at risk groups well.”

Calls for action on sugary food and drink products came after a World Health Organisation study, which warned that Irish people are on course to become the most obese in Europe by 2030. Food lobbyists have been calling for a “fat tax” for a number of years. Some Oireachtas committee members have called for plain packaging on snacks. It is an issue that large confectionery and soft drink brands dread.

“If we are forced to remove our branding, this will have an impact,” Sophie Anger, Associate General Counsel at Mars, recently said. “It will make it harder for us to enforce our brand, distinguish ourselves from our competitors and it will make counterfeits easier to produce.”

“There’s a lot of effort being put in by regulators in terms of the information that needs to be on pack. That information is there to allow the consumer to be informed by all aspects of the product, not just the nutrition. Plain packaging flies in the face of those objectives,” Shane Dempsey warns.

Fianna Fáil does not consider plain packaging a viable option. “I don’t think plain packaging is a runner.

You saw the pressure the government was put under in the context of plain packaging for cigarettes. There’s nothing wrong with sugar-sweetened drink if it’s consumed in small Shane Dempsey, Head of Prepared Consumer Foods, amounts. No matter what FDII. level of tobacco you consume, it’s bad for you,” Kelleher said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health told us it was “exploring all options” to combat the obesity crisis and that there are “no proposals” for a sugar tax. Health Minister Leo Varadkar said that research into sugar tax shows it to be an ineffective measure.

In 2011, for example, Denmark introduced a fat tax on butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food.

However, the government abolished the tax the following year, after it failed to change eating habits and instead encouraged cross border shopping.

This simply damaged the competitiveness of food companies for no return in terms of health benefits, claims Shane Dempsey: “The Danish sat. fat tax was shown to drive cross border shopping and resulted in lost jobs in the food sector with no drop in obesity levels.”

There is also an argument that since the poor spend a greater proportion of income on food, a sugar tax could be regressive. “[Lower economic groups] should be protected from these products as well,” argued Kelleher. “I don’t want to penalise people, but at the same time, you cannot use that as reasoning to dismiss the case. That’s like arguing you should make cigarettes cheaper to poorer people. I don’t think anybody would advocate that.”

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|5

News

Honey Controversy Shines Light on Food Fraud HONEY produced

by Julia Holmes appeared genuine, a retailer almost duped by the convicted fraudster has told Retail News. “There was nothing about the product to indicate it was fake,” said Luke Anthony, General Manager at McCambridge’s Deli and Fine Foods Shop of Galway. “Her labelling and everything seemed sound. The product was interesting and different: cherry soaked in poteen.”

The honey, called Irish Bee Sensations, was labelled with the Federations of Irish Beekeepers (FIBKA) seal. According to FIBKA, Tom Ruttle, who was found dead alongside Holmes in a Limerick farmhouse last month, was a respected beekeeper “of long standing and highly regarded by all who knew him”, so there was little reason to doubt the honey’s integrity.

However, according to a Garda insider, the volumes of honey that Holmes and Ruttle produced could not have been supported by the number of their hives. “People seem to think, when she started out, she was using honey from her own hives,” he told Retail News. “It was pure Irish honey.

It looks like they became victims of their own success and couldn’t keep up with demand. That’s when they started repackaging supermarket honey.”

Retailers could not have known about Holmes’ scheme, say insiders. After all, she successfully outwitted the FBI, the PSNI and An Garda Síochana. However, the affair has exposed the perils of food fraud and raised questions amongst retailers about how to combat it. Last year, concerns were raised about the quantity of Manuka honey on the market in comparison to volumes being produced.

According to Dr Pamela Byrne, CEO at the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), areas of fraud include “substitution of product, stolen product, enhancement of

product, counterfeiting of products, diluting of products, and mislabelling”.

While the horsemeat scandal raised awareness of this issue, other potentially suspect products include cheap wine and olive oil that are labelled as premium. “A number of years ago, we ran a monitoring programme, looking at species substitution in the fish area. We saw that a number of different species of fish were being substituted and labelled as cod,” Byrne told us.

The FSAI advises retailers to be vigilant. “If there’s anything retailers see that they are absolutely not sure about, notify us. They can make a complaint on our website, via our complaints forum, or phone our advice line. For retailers, the message is to make sure you have robust traceability systems in place, and you’re working with reputable suppliers. Be vigilant and wary of offers of cheap food, where it doesn’t seem quite right.”

Vigilance is Dr Pamela Byrne, CEO at the Food Safety perhaps easier Authority of Ireland. for smaller supermarkets who deal with artisan producers on a oneto-one basis. “Our biggest seller is Corrib Irish Honey. Our producer has hives a mile from my house. I’ve been out there collecting honey with him,” said Anthony.

McCambridge’s chose not to work with Holmes because of her dubious character, rather than her brand. “She told me she had hives spread from Oranmore to Limerick. When I asked where her hives were in Oranmore, she was sketchy about it,” the General Manager revealed.

The European Commission has begun a programme testing the authenticity of fish and honey products and is exploring opportunities to introduce more severe penalties for food fraud.

€20m Sales at BWG Foods Trade Show A TOTAL of €20m in sales were generated at the Convention Centre in Dublin recently in a one-day Trade Show hosted by BWG Foods, operators of the SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE, and XL brands. Over 150 suppliers, Irish and multinational, were given exclusive access to sell to more than 1,000 independent retailers from across Ireland, who have a combined annual turnover of €1.6 billion, at BWG Foods’ fifth annual Trade Show.

Earlier in the day, Leo Crawford, CEO of BWG Group, had addressed retailers, including ADM Londis retailers, on BWG’s future plans. BWG has offered €23m to buy ADM Londis and the move has just been cleared by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. “Londis is a great food retail brand with a rich heritage in Ireland spanning over 60 years,” said Leo Crawford, BWG Group CEO. “Following today’s very positive decision, BWG’s focus will now be on growing and developing Londis in Ireland as part of our portfolio of market leading convenience brands, and we look forward to working with our newest retail partners around the exciting plans we have for Londis retailers and the brand.”

Pictured are (l-r): Willie O’Byrne, MD, BWG Foods; Leslie Codd, Marketing Manager Codd Mushrooms; Philip Morrow, MD, PRM Group; and Leo Crawford, Group CEO, BWG Group.

6|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

News

Topaz Named NACS Insight 2015 International Convenience Retailer of the Year TOPAZ has won the NACS Insight 2015 International Convenience Retailer of the Year Award for its Re.Store convenience forecourt at Ballacolla, Co. Laois. Topaz opened its Re.Store concept in January 2015, at its Manor Stone Ballacolla forecourt, located at junction 3 on the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway.

Competition for this year’s Convenience Retailer of the Year Award was incredibly strong, with nine extraordinary companies – four from Ireland, two from the UK, and one each from Norway, Switzerland and Argentina – selected by convenience and fuel retailing industry peers as finalists.

“Judging the winner this year was very challenging in such a competitive field,” said Dan Munford, managing director of Insight. “Topaz is looking to redefine convenience retailing with this new format and I genuinely feel it deserves the accolade ‘next generation’. Thanks to the scale of its recent capital investments, Topaz has not simply built one stunning flagship store; it is rolling it out at considerable pace.”

Since opening its doors six months ago, food accounts for a significant portion of Re.Store’s sales. Customers can choose from a variety of fresh options such as salads and sandwiches, as well as gluten-free foods and protein-rich porridge pots. The store’s coffee program, complete with trained baristas, is also a key contributor to Re.Store’s bottom line, accounting for one third of coffee sales.

NACS President and CEO Henry Armour said: “Topaz demonstrates that great, nutritious and healthy foods

Pictured are Henry Armour, President and CEO of NACS; MJ Tierney, PR and Marketing Co-ordinator, Topaz; Paul Candon, Group Corporate Services Director, Topaz; Niall Hurley, International Development Manager, Topaz; Alan Sheedy, Category Manager, Topaz; Sean Moriarty, Retail Director, Topaz; Ramon Kuijpers, international key accounts manager at Imperial Tobacco Group; and Dan Munford, MD, Insight.

are meeting today’s shopper needs along with traditional convenience store offers. This is a movement taking shape across the globe and we are thrilled that companies such as Topaz are leading the way.”

Musgrave Group Wins Top Sustainability Award MUSGRAVE Group has won the 2015 NACS Insight European Sustainability Retailer of the Year Award, sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company. The award recognises Musgrave Group for its leadership in sustainable resource strategies and inspiring other businesses to implement sustainability initiatives of their own. Musgrave Group believes that sustainability also goes hand in hand with the overall health of the community. With a strong focus on environmental responsibility, the company continues to reduce its carbon footprint, reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, minimise energy use and expand its use of renewable energy. Through the implementation of consistent sustainability policies and clear targets, Musgrave Group has developed an extremely impressive business model that encourages healthier living and enriches the lives of its customers.

“Musgrave richly deserves this European sustainability accolade,” said Dan Munford, MD of Insight. “Consumers who do much of their shopping online are looking for a more compelling, differentiated and engaging retail proposition in bricks-and-mortar locations. The work Musgrave does with local producers and in local communities not only enriches lives, but also serves as a terrific point of differentiation for the business.”

Chris Martin, Musgrave Group CEO, said that the Group were delighted to receive this international recognition for their sustainability strategy. “Supporting local communities is in our DNA,” he said. “Shopping is about more than just getting the products you need, when you need them. It is about community, social interaction and contributing to the local economy. By developing a business

Pictured at the award presentation are (l-r): Henry Armour, President & CEO, NACS; Sharon Buckley, Group Commercial and Supply Chain Director, Musgrave Group; John Curran, Head of Sustainability, Musgrave Group; Ern Sherman, Vice President, Industry Affairs, The Coca-Cola Company; and Dan Munford, MD, Insight.

that helps support the social, economic and environmental ‘health’ of communities we operate in, we are in a position to improve the quality of our customers’ lives.”

Meanwhile, Musgrave Group has announced the appointment of William Mackeown as Non-Executive Director on the board of Musgrave Group plc. William Mackeown, great great grandson of Thomas Musgrave, a co-founder of the Musgrave business, will succeed his cousin Philip Mackeown in January 2016.

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8|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

News

Barry Group Celebrates 60th Birthday BARRY Group celebrated their milestone 60th year in business recently with a gala dinner at the Radisson Hotel in Cork. It was very much a family affair for the Mallow based wholesale distribution company, with Managing Director Jim Barry’s daughters Holly and Amy MC’s for a night that saw a number of glowing tributes paid to Barry Group founder and guest of honour James A Barry.

Barry Group Managing Director Jim Barry with son Jamie, daughters Amy and Holly along with his wife, Niamh, and the founder of Barry Group, Jim’s father, James A. Barry.

Celebrating 60 years of the Barry Group are company founder, James A. Barry, and Managing Director, Jim Barry.

A video montage of messages from some of James’ colleagues in business, along with a feature on the history of the company preceded a speech by Jim Barry in which he paid his own tribute to his father and family and thanked his team at Barry Group for the continued growth of the company. Invited guests were then treated to a special video tribute from members of the Barry family and staff at Barry Group, which brought the house down in style.

A magnificent diamond ring worth €5,000 was won by

Nigel Scully of ARYZTA Food Solutions, while guests took a turn on the tables as a casino was unveiled at the end of the night.

Earlier in the day, Fota Resort in Cork was the venue for Barry Group’s annual Supplier Golf outing, while nongolfers were treated to the fantastic Jameson Distillery tour in Middleton.

This year has already seen the Barry Group mark their 60th year in business with a number of accolades. Jim Barry was honoured to be named ‘Ireland’s Most Trusted Leader’ at the 2015 GPTW awards, while the company was also named as a Great Place To Work, along with being named as one of Deloitte’s Best Managed Companies.

A number of other events have been planned to mark the milestone year for the Mallow company.

Irish Consumers Crippled by Excise on Wine IRISH wine drinkers are paying on average 624% more excise on wine then their European counterparts. This striking statistic was unveiled by the National Off-Licence Association (NOffLA) as part of its Budget 2016 pre-budget submission to the Department of Finance.

As part of the submission, NOffLA has also released the results of its 2015 members survey which shows that 51% of off-licences across Ireland will struggle to remain open if the current level of excise is increased in Budget 2016, jeopardising thousands of jobs.

78% of independent off licences do not expect an increase in turnover in 2015 in the current economic climate and taxation regime, thus preventing investment in the local economy and broader community. Of those asked, 70% stated they would hire one or more additional staff members and 42% would increase staff pay if the excise increases of Budget 2013 and 2014 were reversed.

Since 2008, the independent off-licence industry has lost 3,000 jobs and NOffLA is calling on the Government to protect the remaining 5,800. In its pre-Budget submission to the Department of Finance, NOffLA has called on the Government to reverse the Budget 2014 excise increases on alcohol, restore parity to wine taxation in relation to domestic alcohol, reintroduce a ban on the below cost

selling of alcohol and establish tighter control on out-of-state imports in terms of VAT and excise collection, thereby ensuring out-of-state Evelyn Jones, Government Affairs Director, and online NOffLA. retailers cannot sell directly to Irish consumers without paying the required tax and VAT. Evelyn Jones, Government Affairs Director, NOffLA, said that Ireland’s “punitive levels of taxation make it impossible for independent retailers to forecast with any certainty in terms of expansion and investment in new employees, their premises and new products, thus inhibiting their long-term viability.”

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10|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

News

Tesco Reclaims Top Spot in Retail Wars TESCO has reclaimed its position as Ireland’s number one retailer, having lost out to Total Take Home Grocery - Ireland Consumer Spend SuperValu in previous 12 Weeks to 05 Jan 2014 12 Weeks to 04 Jan 2015 change** months. The latest %* %* % supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Total Grocers 100.0% 100.0% 1.2 Ireland, for the 12 weeks Total Multiples 88.4% 88.9% 1.8 ending May 24, show that Tesco 26.3% 25.2% -3.0 across the overall market, Dunnes 21.3% 21.9% 4.1 sales grew by 1.2% year on Total SuperValu 24.8% 24.8% 1.2 year.

Total Discounters 16.0% 17.0% 7.5 “Tesco has reclaimed Aldi 8.0% 8.6% 8.0 the top-spot, capturing Lidl 7.9% 8.4% 7.1 25.2% of the grocery Other Outlets** 11.6% 11.1% -3.4 market, but the retailer is still seeing sales decline as *= Percentage Share of Total Grocers their performance remains **= Includes stores such as M&S, Boots, Spar, Centra, Greengrocers, Butchers And Cross Border shops behind the market,” explains Georgieann Harrington, Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel. have added more items to their baskets while visiting “However, Tesco’s value initiatives online and in-store have Dunnes and have also increased their basket spend by €3.40 helped boost the number of visits to its stores by 1.4%. The this period. retailer has also seen a spend increase of 0.5% from families Elsewhere in the market, Aldi and Lidl grew sales with children. However, the grocer still has some ground to by 8.0% and 7.1% respectively. Aldi and Lidl now hold recover to regain the 26.3% share of the market it had a year a combined share of 17%. Both retailers have seen their ago.” growth slow over the past few months, but remain in SuperValu, the number two grocery retailer, captured a strong position, given the overall market growth of 24.8% of the grocery market over the past 12 weeks. While 1.2%. Aldi continues to win shoppers with its ‘As Irish as’ the retailer held the top spot for just a short period, the campaign, with an impressive 43,000 additional shoppers battle for dominance will continue over the summer months, this period. Lidl also benefits from a shopper boost, with a traditionally strong season for SuperValu. Its share of the the average shopper increasing their spend by €8 over the market is consistent compared to a year ago and its sales period, in part down to its recent voucher activity. also grew by 1.2%. Indeed, SuperValu is the only retailer “With shoppers paying 0.6% more for their groceries among the big three to consistently win new shoppers. compared to last year, competition is fierce between the Initiatives such as ‘Good Food Karma’ have had a positive retailers as they battle it out to offer best value for money,” impact for the retailer and helped it attract over 12,000 new concluded Georgieann Harrington. Grocery market inflation customers this period. stands at 0.6% for the 12-week period ending May 24, 2015, Dunnes Stores posted the strongest sales growth among up from 0.2% last period. the big three retailers at 4.1%, bringing its share to 21.9%.

For further information, see This is the retailer’s sixth consecutive month of growth, www.kantarworldpanel.com. despite some negative publicity in recent months. Shoppers

Aldi Wins Case Against Dunnes ALDI has won a High Court case against Dunnes Stores, which found that Dunnes had engaged in misleading commercial practices which were likely to deceive the average consumer in its comparative advertising with certain products from Aldi, contravening the Consumer Protection Act 2007 and the European Communities (Misleading and Comparative Advertising) Regulations 2007.

Aldi maintains that the High Court judgement from Mr Justice Brian Cregan “underscores customers’ entitlement to clear, transparent and accurate information in comparative advertising to help them make properly informed decisions about what they buy”.

Aldi claim they took legal action in respect of the Dunnes Stores advertising campaign after receiving no response to complaints made in writing to Dunnes Stores regarding this campaign and a number of other similar campaigns over a two-year period.

The company subsequently issued a statement, welcoming the “strong judgement”, which it says “confirms all

of Aldi’s complaints in this case, including that the ‘calculated, and protracted nationwide’ misleading comparative advertising campaign would be likely to cause consumers to make decisions they would not otherwise make... Aldi is, of course, fully in favour of comparative advertising but any comparative advertising must be lawful and not misleading to customers.”

“The grocery retail market is highly competitive and in order to find the best value, consumers must have confidence that the advertising information with which they are being presented is transparent, accurate and true,” said Finbar McCarthy, Aldi’s Group Buying Director. “Today’s ruling benefits consumers, clarifying their protection under the law.”

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|11

News

Law Society Dismisses Retailers’ Concerns Over Insurance Claims THE Law Society has described retailers’ worries about bogus or spurious claims as misplaced. Responding to RGDATA’s concerns, CEO Mr Ken Murphy claims the Law Society can “hardly remember” investigating a complaint in relation to a solicitor involved in taking a spurious or bogus case.

“While we have a number of cases involving solicitors that we can proceed to bring to the attention of a number of authorities, we need to hear more from our retailers on this issue,” said Tara Buckley Director General. “If you have been the victim of a bogus or spurious claim, please let RGDATA know so that we can raise these matters with the Department of Justice and the Gardaí directly.”

Buckley argued that “it would seem that the Law Society will not be proactive in weeding out solicitors who are knowingly advancing claims which are try-ons, spurious or dubious and almost want to be presented with a book of evidence before they get involved.”

RGDATA is meeting with the Insurance Federation shortly to outline issues highlighted by members in relation to large insurance payouts and the reason for them. “The persistent complaint from retailers is that insurance companies are too eager to settle claims for a nuisance value and do not vigorously resist claims that are spurious or bogus,” Tara Buckley maintained. “It is important that insurers invest in resisting claims, rather than settling them for a nominal or nuisance value.”

Meanwhile, RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley represented the interests of Irish independent family owned shops and supermarkets at a special debate in Brussels organised by MEP Dennis De Jong and Independent Retail Europe.

MEP de Jong called on the retail groups present to

give him a practical “shopping list” of things the EU needs to do to assist independent shops to compete and survive in the competitive EU marketplace.

Topics covered included better regulation for smaller independent shops; how groups of RGDATA Director General, Tara Buckley. independent retailers can face the challenge of online retail; and what the EU regulators are doing to assist smaller retailers.

Contributors to the debate included representatives from the EU Commission; the UK’s Better Regulation Delivery Office, MEP de Jong and representatives from independent retail associations and Independent Retail Europe.

Retail and business representatives presented practical information to the EU commission representatives on the how the burden of EU regulation impacts on small independent businesses. There were also short presentations on some of the tools being used to assist SMEs to be compliant with business regulations.

“RGDATA will certainly contribute some key points to MEP de Jong’s shopping list,” Tara Buckley said after the meeting. “The revival of rural town centres and the survival of locally owned shops are key issues throughout the EU. The Commission needs to adopt policies and regulations that contribute to their survival and must stop adding to the red tape burden for SMEs.”

New CEO at BIM

BIM has announced the appointment of Tara McCarthy as Chief Executive Officer. McCarthy, who will take up the position in September, is currently Director of the Food and Beverages Division in Bord Bia and has led a team of Senior Executives on the development of the seafood, dairy, prepared foods; alcohol and small business sectors.

BIM’s Chairman, Kieran Calnan said; ‘I am delighted that Tara McCarthy is taking up the position of Chief Executive of BIM. I am confident that Tara will do an outstanding job for BIM and the wider seafood industry. Tara has already demonstrated she has the necessary energy, determination and leadership qualities to drive the development of an industry that is on the cusp of change and has the potential for significant growth.”

Tara McCarthy, newly appointed CEO of BIM.

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12|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Industry News CENTRA CHAMPIONS HEALTHY LIVING WITH GAA CENTRA ‘Champions of Healthy Living’ ambassador and GAA legend, Henry Shefflin, lined out with Cork’s Patrick Horgan and Dublin’s Conal Keaney in Herbert Park, Dublin, as Centra launched its GAA endorsed product range and its new community event summer tour, which will spread Centra’s healthy living message across Ireland. A selection of the finest inter-county stars, past and present, will travel the length and breadth of the country to give healthy eating and training tips to the next generation of hurling stars. This summer, Centra has introduced a special new GAA endorsed product range, perfect for all budding Henry Shefflins, including a variety of low calorie sandwiches, along with delicious ‘Fruit Pots’ and nutritious strawberry and mango smoothies – one of your 5 a day. Patrick Horgan, Henry Shefflin and Conal Keaney are pictured with Hannah Mahony, Sean Whelan and Rebecca Moriarty, at Centra’s ‘Champions of Healthy Living’ hurling launch.

Tesco’s Supermarket Sweep of Shopping Habits TESCO has analysed the most popular products frequently added to customer shopping baskets across Ireland and has found interesting regional preferences in the nations’ shopping habits. Donegal shoppers display a preference for a healthy start to the day, buying proportionally more berries and probiotic drinks than the rest of the country. Breakfast cereals and porridge are the morning fuel of choice for Monaghan and Cavan shoppers prefer cooked breakfasts, buying more breakfast meats than the rest of the country. Dubliners purchase proportionally more bagged salad, eggs, cheese and salad ingredients, including avocados, beetroot, radish and spring onions. Bread is most popular in Leitrim and Cork, with Leitrim stocking up on sliced pan and more shoppers in Cork opting for in-store bakery bread, such as baguettes.

“It’s interesting to see such diversity across the country when it comes to product preferences,” noted Christine Heffernan, Tesco Ireland Corporate Affairs Director. “We’re committed to giving our customers the best overall value, range and experience every time they shop in Tesco.”

SPAR Cooks up €120,000 Sponsorship SPAR Ireland is set to continue its long term partnership with Donal Skehan after agreeing a new €120,000 deal to sponsor RTE’s Kitchen Hero programme, hosted by the popular young cook (pictured). The theme of the current season is Donal’s Irish Feast, which features visits to seven counties across the country in search of Ireland’s greatest ingredients and some of the most exciting food producers behind them, promising to revive our fascination with the Irish feast. Viewership for the last series peaked at more than 299,000 viewers. “We’re delighted to be entering into our sixth year of partnering with Donal Skehan, who is a great ambassador for our brand and for Irish food,” said Marketing & Communications Director for SPAR Ireland, Suzanne Weldon. “The show has always been about celebrating the best of Irish food and culture, and as an Irish brand which actively supports local suppliers, SPAR is particularly excited that this series will highlight the offerings of some of the best indigenous food companies on our doorstep.”

BIM and Seafish UK Deliver Advanced Fish Quality Course

BIM and Seafish UK recently joined forces to run a five day Advanced Fish Quality Assessment Course for the seafood industry in BIM’s Seafood Development Centre in Clonakilty, Co. Cork. This is the first time such an extensive course has been organised for the industry and both agencies were delighted with the demand for this level of training, with places booked well in advance. Participants came from all sectors of the seafood industry, including representatives from Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co–op, Green Isle Foods, Keohanes Seafoods as well as BIM’s Young Fishmonger 2015, Gerard Collier. Many of the participants were already competent in fish quality assessment and this course provided an opportunity to assert and enhance their knowledge and skills, as well as providing formal training on the Torry and the Quality Index Method (QIM) assessment schemes.

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14|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Industry News NEW IRISH BISCUIT BAKER FOR DROGHEDA

A NEW Irish biscuit company, East Coast Bakehouse, has been launched, announcing an investment in a new large scale commercial biscuit manufacturing facility located on Ireland’s east coast in Drogheda and the creation of 100 jobs. The €15m investment will transform a recently renovated 50,000 square feet food production facility at Donore Rd business park in Drogheda, Co. Louth, into a state of the art bakehouse, innovation facility, warehouse and offices. The founders of the new business are the management team that successfully established the Jacob Fruitfield Group before it was sold in 2011 to Valeo Foods, including CEO, Michael Carey. Pictured are Minister for Business & Employment at the Dept. of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Ged Nash, TD, with Michael Carey, CEO, East Coast Bakehouse, and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD.

Compass Group Helps SMEs’ Ideas to Work COMPASS Group Ireland has launched the second annual Idea Works, an initiative which encourages SMEs with cutting-edge products, solutions and applications that could be used in the foodservice, hospitality and facilities management industry to come forward. The initiative aims to find the best innovative new concepts and helps get them off the ground.

Companies across Ireland who believe they have a new or novel product to offer can submit their ‘winning’ concepts via a dedicated website www.compass-ideaworks.ie. Compass Group Ireland will then shortlist the best ideas and invite those selected to pitch their big idea before a judging panel at the Aviva Stadium on July 23. If finalists get three yes votes from the judges, Compass Group Ireland will support them on the introduction of their idea to the Compass Group Ireland business and potentially to the wider market, opening up a wealth of opportunities. Pictured is this year’s juding panel: Mark Lee, Commercial Director, Compass Group Ireland; award winning TV chef, Neven Maguire; and Maureen Gahan, Foodservice Specialist, Bord Bia.

ISO Accredictation for Guinness Storehouse GUINNESS Storehouse, Ireland’s number one international visitor attraction, has completed a quartet of European ISO Management System Standards, having recently been awarded two additional industry standard achievements. These most recent achievements; ISO 20121 and ISO 9001, were awarded in recognition of the Guinness Storehouse’s environmental processes and procedures. Combined with the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications, which were achieved in previous years, these achievements acknowledge the Guinness Storehouse’s ongoing commitment to sustainability and responsible environmental impact standards. Pictured are Michael Brophy, CEO of Certification Europe, and Paul Carty, Managing Director of the Guinness Storehouse.

Breast Cancer Ireland Great Pink Run

AVONMORE Slimline Milk is delighted to announce its support as sponsor of the Breast Cancer Ireland Great Pink Run. The event, now in its fifth year, calls on all men, women and children around Ireland to get in line for The Great Pink Run 2015 which takes place on Saturday, August 29, 2015, at the Phoenix Park, Dublin, where they can join Sonia O’Sullivan and a host of other serious and not so serious runners. “Slimline is a brand that understands the needs of Irish women, is dedicated to helping support research into breast cancer and is proud to be title sponsor,” said Michael Buckley, Brand Manager at Glanbia Consumer Foods. “The Great Pink Run is a vibrant and exciting event aimed at getting people out and exercising for a very worthy cause: Slimline Milk’s natural health credentials together with the added Iron and vitamin C not to mention the colour co-ordination with the event make it a perfect fit!” Model Karena Graham is pictured at the launch. See www.greatpinkrun.ie for more information.

Slam Dunk For Subway SUBWAY stores throughout Ireland will be taking to the court as they announced that they will become title sponsors of the Subway All Ireland Schools Cup. In a partnership with Basketball Ireland, Subway stores will sponsor the schools tournament for a three-year period. The brand, which now has 237 stores throughout Ireland, will engage with franchisees all over the country and encourage them to support their local school when the season re-commences later this summer. The sponsorship will be supported with a full activation plan, which will include Low Fat Sub sampling, sports equipment for schools, training sessions with international players and nutritional advice from professional dieticians. Pictured are Abbie Keirns, from St Louis Rathmines, and Jason Killeen, Templeogue BC.

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16|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Industry News WINNING STREAK RETURNS

A NEW season of Europe’s longest running TV game show, the National Lottery’s Winning Streak game show, is back on our screens from June 20 on RTÉ One. Scratch Cards for the RTÉ favourite, once again hosted by Marty Whelan and Sinead Kennedy, are available now in National Lottery agent stores nationwide for just €3. This new season is Winning Streak’s 26th year, and gives not one but two players the life-changing opportunity to spin the iconic Winning Streak Grand Prize Wheel and win up to half a million euro each. One Golden Spin symbol will be hidden at random in the Wheel Reveal game and if a player is lucky enough to reveal the Golden Spin during the game, they automatically get to spin the Grand Prize Wheel at the end of the show. “Since Winning Streak began in September 1990, the National Lottery show has been enhancing the lives of Irish players, with over €157m in cash, cars and holidays given away so far,’ commented Dermot Griffin, CEO, National Lottery, pictured with Sinead Kennedy and Marty Whelan.

Keogh’s Launch New Multipack Teeling Whiskey KEOGH’s hosted a Keogh’s Farm Perfect Picnic Distillery Opens event recently at the Avila Carmelite Centre Orchard, Donnybrook, where they launched a new Multipack of crisps just in time for picnic season.

Its Doors The new Keogh’s Multipack brings together three of their fans’ most loved flavours in one pack: two Dubliner Cheese and Onion, two Atlantic Sea Salt and Irish Cider Vinegar and two Roast Beef and Irish Stout. Share-size bags and individual packets are also available and perfect for smaller picnics or even for a snack in the car on the way to your perfect picnic destination. Keogh’s recently found that sunshine and crisps make for a perfect picnic combination, when they surveyed almost 1,500 Irish people about Ireland’s favourite picnic habits. For further information on the Keogh’s #PerfectPicnic campaign and new Keogh’s Multipack, visit www.keoghs.ie.

Tesco and Bord Bia Open UK Door for Irish Firms EIGHTEEN Irish food and drink companies recently visited the UK to discuss opportunities with Tesco UK stores. Now in its fourth year, the annual trip is organised as part of Taste Bud, the Tesco supplier development programme run in partnership with Bord Bia. Participating suppliers are hand-picked

by Bord Bia and Tesco Ireland and the trip involves one-to-one meetings with key Tesco UK grocery buyers and the opportunity to showcase products to the wider Tesco UK team. “The purpose of this trip is to support these companies through the process of getting their produce from Ireland onto the shelves of Tesco UK stores,” noted John Paul O’Reilly, Commercial Director, Tesco Ireland. “We are seeing an increased demand for quality Irish produce in the UK, and through our Taste Bud programme, we continue to give Irish producers the opportunity to export to the UK and our other international markets.” Pictured on the UK trip are James Flahavan, Manager, and John Noonan, Sales & Marketing Director, Flahavan’s.

THE Teeling Whiskey Company (TWC) has officially opened its brand new distillery and visitor centre in The Liberties, Dublin.

The €10m distillery is the first in Dublin in over 125 years and the only fully operational distillery in the city at present.

As well as a fully functioning distillery, there is a state-of-the-art visitor centre which will host whiskey tasting tours, a café, a bar, a private event space for hire and a gift shop. Founded by Jack Teeling in 2012, TWC was set up to revive his familyold trademark of Irish whiskey and bring distilling back to Dublin, where Walter Teeling had a distillery on Marrowbone Lane in the 18th century. The opening of this new distillery means that TWC has complete control of all aspects of its whiskey production, from grain to bottle. The Teeling Whiskey Company is run by Jack (right), together with his brother Stephen (left), pictured in the new distillery.

See www.TeelingWhiskey.com for more information.

SuperValu Honours Excellence in Food Microbiology THE SuperValu Award for Excellence in Food Microbiology has been presented to Damhan Scully at a ceremony in UCC. The award, which is now in its second year, is an acknowledgement by SuperValu of the vital contribution UCC makes to primary food research. As part of the award, Damhan will receive a bursary of €2,000 to continue his research. Damhan has also recently been awarded a Walsh Scholarship to undertake his PhD research jointly with UCC and Teagasc later this year in the area of food safety. Pictured are: Norma Twomey, Food Safety & Quality Team, SuperValu; Ray Bowe, Head of Food Safety & Quality, SuperValu; Lucy O’Connor and Maureen O’Mahony, Food Safety & Quality Team, SuperValu; award winner Damhan Scully; Professor Colin Hill, Head of Microbial Food Safety, UCC; and Professor Gerald Fitzgerald, Head of UCC’s School of Microbiology.

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18|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Retail Ireland: Monthly Update RESTRICTING THE IN-STORE DISPLAY OF ALCOHOL? RETAIL Ireland continues to work closely with our members and our partners at Responsible Retailers of Alcohol in Ireland in ongoing debates on the proposed enactment of Section 9 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act 2009, namely the ‘structural separation’ of alcohol products in mixed trading premises.

During his appearance before the Joint Oireachtas Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar TD. Committee on Health last month, Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar TD, was pressed on the issue of Section 9. While fully acknowledging the prohibitive cost to retailers of introducing full structural separation and highlighting his willingness to engage with retailers on the matter, the Minister suggested that the existing RRAI code is not restrictive enough and that his officials are working to devise a strengthened approach.

As a follow up, Retail Ireland secured a private meeting with Jerry Buttimer TD, the Committee’s chairperson. Deputy Buttimer advised that the final report compiled on the basis of the Committee’s series of hearings will be presented to Minister Varadkar during the month of June. This report is intended to inform the Government’s approach to the final shape of the legislation. Deputy Buttimer advised that the issue of structural separation will be addressed in the report: however, it is not likely to be afforded as high a priority as some of the other issues discussed by the Committee – that of Minimum Unit Pricing, sport sponsorship and labelling of alcohol products.

Meanwhile, on May 27, Minister Varadkar joined us to address the Ibec National Council, at which he again referenced the need to better separate alcohol products in mixed trading premises and stated that Government was continuing to examine the best method of doing just that. The Minister insisted that enabling legislation in the form of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill would be finalised before the Dáil’s summer recess.

Thereafter, Retail Ireland met with Minister Varadkar’s senior advisor, who reiterated that it is the intention of the Department of Health to agree the principles of the Bill over the coming weeks with a view to bringing it to Cabinet by the end of June or early July at the latest. The specific details of the Bill, particularly around the statutory rules for in-store separation of alcohol, will then be debated in the second half of 2015, with a view to enacting the Bill before the end of the year.

In short, Minister Varadkar is eager to see a tightening of the rules around the display of alcohol in mixed trading outlets. His Department remains concerned that the current code does not go far enough and that only a statutory code will empower the Government to sanction noncompliant parties. That said, the Minister appears to recognise that full separation, at least that currently proposed under Section 9, is likely to be too onerous.

Retail Ireland will continue to engage closely with our contacts at the Department of Health, the Department of Justice and all other stakeholders to ensure that retail’s interests are properly considered during these crucial debates on the future of alcohol sales in Ireland.

RECOVERY STRENGTHENS DESPITE FALLING PRICES THE CSO recently published its official retail sales statistics for the month of April 2015, with very positive results. When compared to April of last year and when sales of new cars and sales in bars are excluded, the total value of Irish retail sales rose by 4.1%, with volumes soaring 8.3% over the same period.

April saw a sharp acceleration in sales across almost all sectors, with non-food categories (+15.2%), Department Stores (+9.2%) and fashion outlets (+7.1%) returning particularly strong growth. It appears that consumers are finally feeling more certain about their personal finances and this is translating into increased spending at the tills.

Whilst April’s figures are certainly encouraging, overall retail sales remain some 17% below pre-crisis peak levels and volume growth is running at twice the level of sales values, suggesting that heavy discounting continues to play a significant role in driving footfall and sales.

Meanwhile, deflation is also challenging retailers’ margins, with latest data indicating that the average combined value of Irish consumer goods fell by 3.4% in the year to the end of April.

Sliding consumer prices are further proof of the extremely competitive environment in which Irish retailers are operating and the effect of this trend is particularly stark given the worrying decline in the value of the euro, which is leading to sharp increases in the cost of sourcing products from outside the Eurozone. April’s annualised consumer price data saw particularly sharp falls in the price of personal and home computing (-14.2%), diesel (-11.3%) and home entertainment systems (-9.4%), while books and tobacco both recorded an increase of 5.4% in average prices, with newspapers and magazines up by 1.3%.

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20|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

The Retail News Interview

The Marlboro Men Matthew Tisdall, Commercial Manager, and Paul Adeleke, Corporate Affairs Director, Philip Morris, discuss the changing face of tobacco in Ireland, the growth of the value category and how legislation is shaping the industry.

IT’S almost impossible to discuss the tobacco category in Ireland without talking about legislation. The last decade in particular has seen the two go hand-in-hand, as the industry reacts to new laws that have seen huge changes introduced, including high taxes, a ban on the display of tobacco products and the introduction of large graphic health warnings on cigarette and tobacco products.

“The growth in regulations and the discount category are clearly linked,” says Paul Adeleke, Corporate Affairs Director of Philip Morris Ltd, whose portfolio includes the worldleading Marlboro brand.

As excise hikes push the price of cigarettes ever higher, consumers are turning in increasing numbers towards value products.

“It’s a huge challenge for us and every tobacco company, when you have an illicit trade that’s operating at a price point so far below the legal price for tobacco products,” explains Matthew Tisdall, Commercial Manager, Philip Morris. “Identifying that growth in the value segment was key for us and has led us to the portfolio we have today.”

Diversified Portfolio Philip Morris has recently diversified its portfolio to address changing consumer needs, and now includes L&M, the best value brand on the market, with an RSP of €8.35.

While the premium category remains the dominant choice amongst adult smokers, the discount category has steadily increased. “Since 2008, value has been absolutely key,” Matthew explains. “As time went on, however, value was still expected but not at the expense of quality. This was a challenge not just for tobacco but one that every FMCG organisation needed to address. If we look at the tobacco category, even since 2013, the value segment has almost doubled in size, growing from 11% to almost 22% share. This is a place where Philip Morris needed to have brands, hence

Matthew Tisdall, Commercial Manager, Philip Morris.

Paul Adeleke, Corporate Affairs Director, Philip Morris.

the growth of L&M.” According to the Commercial Manager, the rise of the value sector has been at the expense of both premium tobacco brands and the middle ground. “The consumer is shopping across categories and will dip in and out of premium,” he explains. “For example, we introduced Marlboro Gold Touch into the market, which has a slightly thinner stick than the premium Marlboro Gold, but offers what the Marlboro smoker is looking for with a lower price point. We see that smokers are switching between Marlboro premium and Marlboro Touch, as well as trading in from competitive brands.”

The L&M brand is attracting smokers of premium and discount brands who are looking for quality and value, according to Matthew, but L&M has a unique challenge:

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The Retail News Interview

Marlboro: the best selling cigarette brand in the world continues to innovate.

“We launched L&M as a reaction to the growing demand for value products, but we’re facing a big problem, because criminal gangs are smuggling it in from other less taxed jurisdictions and can sell it for half the price. So we’re losing business to the gangs and left with the negative consumer perceptions that L&M is an illicit brand.”

So why are so much of L&M’s Irish sales illicit? Philip Morris attribute its huge illicit presence to the fact that L&M is the second largest brand in Eastern Europe, where the official price can be as little as between €3 and €4, so smugglers have found it “relatively easy” to get product from those markets into Ireland.

“From our point of view, L&M is the right product for the Irish market: but we need to position it as a ‘premium quality product at a value price’,” Matthew explains.

Since its introduction to the Irish market in August 2010, L&M has grown rapidly. “There is a huge appetite for L&M in Ireland,” Matthew says. “We have seen sales roughly double year-on-year after launch, and even now we are seeing growth rates of 30%. The challenge for Philip Morris with the L&M brand is to dispel the illicit trade label that has stuck to it, while growing our availability and distribution across the market.”

So how do you do those two things?

“I think they’re both linked,” muses Matt. “Availability and convenience are massively important in the tobacco category, particularly in tackling the illicit trade. From a consumer’s point of view, with the illicit trade, they often have to buy in bulk and they are never sure when they are going to get their preferred brand. We know there is a demand for L&M in the market, and as we are growing availability and distribution of the brand, we are seeing exponential levels of growth as well. Where L&M is getting into stores, it is selling well. For me, that’s how we can address the illicit trade: by making L&M more available through legitimate trade channels.”

Shutting Down the Illicit Trade Price is a still huge factor, however, with consumers buying the same product on the street often for less

than €5 per pack. Surely, more needs to be done to shut down the illicit trade?

“Absolutely,” agrees Paul. “There is no question that there is a correlation between price and illicit trade.

Even Revenue has acknowledged a number of times that they have gone beyond the level of taxation that is going to return more money to the government’s coffers, but that hasn’t necessarily stopped government from being tempted to make significant increases to excise duties year-on-year. We have to remind them that there is a very significant problem here.

“There is also an ongoing job to be done in informing the consumer about the illicit trade and the types of criminal enterprise that might well be involved, as well as what might be in the product. If it is product smuggled in by so called ant smugglers, that might be a genuine product from another jurisdiction and that indeed should be reduced as much as possible - but if it’s counterfeit, there is nobody to stand behind the quality or the product. Tobacco is inherently a dangerous product: we all acknowledge that. But some of the things that have been found in counterfeit products are incredibly dangerous, and it is important that consumers are made aware of that. Additionally, illicit tobacco increases the likelihood of youth purchases, due to significantly lower price points by sellers who don’t care who buys their products, adults or children.”

Some Done, More To Do While acknowledging that the Irish Government is taking steps in the right direction to tackle the illicit trade here, both men are adamant that more can be done.

“First of all, you have to congratulate to some degree the Government on the numbers of seizures that have been made,” Paul notes. “Last year, there were double the amount of seizures made than in 2013. However, does that mean that they are stopping the illicit trade or that there is even more illicit product making it into the market than there was previously? Revenue and customs officials need more dedicated resources at points of entry.”

The second key element in tackling the illicit trade is price, the Corporate Affairs Director insists: “We saw a 40c

The Philip Morris portfolio includes L&M, the best value brand on the market, with an RSP of €8.35.

22|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

The Retail News Interview increase in the last Budget and we are still tracking how that has affected the market. We understand why Revenue wants to increase price, but there is a point of diminishing return on that and we would caution them about ongoing significant increases. The high price of tobacco today in Ireland is clearly fuelling the illicit trade. If Revenue is going to continue to raise the tax, make the increases steady and predictable, like they do in Germany, for example, rather than just introducing huge price increases overnight, which is playing into the hands of organised crime syndicates, which sell cigarettes at half the official price.”

The argument that fines and sentences handed down to tobacco smugglers and sellers of illicit tobacco are not high enough remains true today.

“The big tobacco smugglers are gangs that might well have been involved in human trafficking or hard drug trafficking, with very strong custodial sentences. But they can now make as much money, or perhaps even more, from smuggling tobacco, with very little consequences, comparatively,” Paul explains.

Brand Loyalty Across the FMCG market, brand owners believe that the impact of the last seven years is here to stay and the search for value is now ingrained in the Irish psyche. In the main, the once brand loyal Irish consumer has switched irrevocably to cheaper and own label products. Tobacco, however, demonstrates many consumers continuing to be loyal to their chosen brand.

“In our category, brand loyalty remains strong,” Matthew reveals. “It is one of those few categories where a brand can influence how a consumer views a store. If I go into a store and I cannot get my brand of cigarettes, I may not return.

We estimate that 50% of consumers who cannot find their tobacco brand on multiple occasions do not return to that store.”

Innovation is also key to retaining brand loyalty, Matthew admits, citing the introduction of new formats like Big Box, the advent of capsule technology and the explosion in popularity of Roll-Your-Own. Philip Morris recently upgrade their Marlboro brand worldwide, including updating the packaging, changing the paper design, introducing a technology to reduce the amount of ash that falls off the cigarette and the development of a new filter that reduces the transfer of ash scent to fingers when a cigarette is stubbed out. Marlboro is such an iconic brand, is there a worry that you cannot mess with a winning formula?

“It’s always about finding a balance,” Matthew smiles. “Through all the innovation around the Marlboro brand, we never change the taste. That is sacrosanct, because the taste is an important factor in why we are the number one cigarette brand in the world. But the innovations we bring are to further enhance the experience for the adult smoker.”

The L&M pack and cigarette have recently been upgraded as well, as Marlboro Touch offers what the Matthew explains: “Value Marlboro smoker is looking for for money is crucial but we with a lower price point.

Phillip Morris launched its new iQOS smokeless device and Marlboro HeatSticks in Japan and Milan, which involves heating rather than burning tobacco.

also need to ensure we continue to offer the highest quality products to the consumer to ensure brand loyalty.”

It could be argued that there has been more innovation in the tobacco market in the last three years than in the previous decade, which Matthew attributes to the pressures on the category, such as the explosion in popularity of e-cigarettes, as well as changing consumer tastes within tobacco.

Philip Morris are currently testing a new product in other markets, which involves heating rather than burning tobacco. “Three years ago, this product was just a concept, so this shows how rapidly the market is changing,” Matthew reveals. “For Philip Morris, this is very exciting and it means that we have to be very agile in our business. When you are talking about a global network of 97,000 people and the number one brand in the world, being agile can be challenging but it is absolutely our objective.”

Ireland: A Test Market for Legislation Another factor that is fuelling changes within tobacco is undoubtedly legislation. Aside from curtailing how you can advertise, sell and smoke tobacco, forthcoming laws will ban certain types of cigarette products, including menthol products. Looking at Ireland from a global perspective, there is an argument that we are being seen as a test case for tobacco legislation.

“There is no question that over the last decade or two, Ireland has been described as the poster boy for tobacco control and the country prides itself on that,” Paul states.

“Some of the innovations that Ireland has introduced have been copied around the world, like the smoking ban and the display ban. What seems to be happening now is that we are starting to dance on a pin-head in terms of the curious regulations that are coming downstream, which have no basis in terms of an evidential footprint. One wonders what will happen in Ireland if it continues like this, in areas like increased illicit trade or investment decisions by other multinationals, whether some of these regulations could bleed out to other sectors other than tobacco.”

The introduction of plain packaging is a case in point.

Evidence from Australia, which introduced plain packaging two years ago, suggests that the introduction of plain packaging does not reduce smoking rates and only pushes more consumers into discount brands and the illicit trade.

“It has not had an impact in terms of decreasing

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|23

The Retail News Interview smoking, including youth smoking rates, which is the very One unintended area it was supposed to impact,” agrees the Corporate Affairs consequence of plain Director. “We have also seen illicit trade increase very packaging would be significantly in Australia, where there has been an explosion the expected surge of illicit whites, which simply did not exist before. So adult in illicit tobacco Australian consumers are still trying to attach themselves sales. “Currently, to some kind of branded product but unfortunately, they’re counterfeiters are doing it to product that has no legal basis.” likely to be able to As reported in the pages of Retail News in recent produce only one SKU months, the world’s biggest tobacco companies, including at a time, but with Philip Morris, have taken a legal route to fighting the the advent of plain introduction of plain packaging, which is due in the UK packaging, they may in May 2016 and potentially the following year in Ireland. be able to produce all The Philip Morris case went before the British courts, and brands,” Paul notes. was subsequently referred to the Court of Justice of the “There is significant European Union (CJEU), with a decision expected in early risk, particularly 2016, which it is felt will be applicable to all EU Member in Ireland, where States, including Ireland. there is already a “We are looking for as swift a decision as possible,” says thriving illicit trade.

Paul, “and hopefully before plain packaging comes into effect The Government has in Ireland and the UK. suggested that the “But any legal case we take, we do so reluctantly,” Paul illicit trade in Ireland continues. “We have a portfolio of brands that we have built has been decreasing a over a long period of time and we want to continue to use little. Even if that is those brands to differentiate our products for adult smokers, the case, why on earth Innovations like Marlboro Ice Blast have impacted on the Irish tobacco those who have chosen to continue to smoke. We don’t think risk something that that’s too far-fetched to defend that principle.” could throw all that good market.

The protection of property rights, including intellectual work away?” property rights, is something which Ireland has traditionally been very proud of, but the move to plain packaging The Future essentially waters down Ireland’s position on this, which With all this talk of regulation and illicit trade, it’s easy to various industry bodies, including the US Chamber of forget that we are still dealing with a legal product, and one Commerce, warn will negatively affect Ireland’s reputation which contributes up to 40% of a retailer’s turnover. So what internationally as a good place to do business. advice do Philip Morris have for the besieged retailer?

“If you look at the line-up of organisations and groups Tobacco retailers need to focus on three areas, according who have made that point, you have to take it seriously,” to Matthew: range, availability and training: “If an adult Paul warns. “Ireland is very sensitive to international smoker comes into your store and doesn’t get their brand, investment decisions, particularly you risk losing that customer not from the US, so it needs to tread very only for their tobacco purchase but all “Any legal case we take, purchases. So you need to carry a full carefully about the message that [plain packaging] gives out. There’s the we do so reluctantly. We range to offer smokers the brands they slippery slope argument that says that have a portfolio of brands want, from value for money to premium this isn’t just a tobacco issue. Already and you must maintain that we have built over brands, we have seen some legislators and TDs, availability of those brands. If an adult a long period of time who have been to the forefront about smoker cannot consistently get their the plain packaging of tobacco, making and we want to continue brand in-store, they will go somewhere noises about other products, like to use those brands to else. Yes, it is an expensive category alcohol, sugary foods and drinks etc. but managing stock turnover and You also have other countries beginning differentiate our products availability will reap rewards for you. for adult smokers, those to react. Indonesia has a case in front “I think training is often overlooked of the World Trade Organisation who have chosen to in retail,” he continues. “Everybody who (WTO) on the issue of plain packaging continue to smoke. We is serving the customer, particularly in in Australia and is already talking of the tobacco category, should understand don’t think that’s too retaliating by putting alcohol products, the category. They should know, for far-fetched to defend that example, that L&M is the best value like wines from Australia, in plain packaging. Once the precedent is set principle.” cigarette on the market. They should that you can, for public health reasons understand that menthol cigarettes are and without a robust evidence base, growing. Tobacco is a very interactive strip away IP and branding rights, category, because consumers tend to ask questions like ‘what where do you stop?” is your cheapest cigarette?’, ‘what does that brand taste Philip Morris and other tobacco manufacturers have like?’ or ‘what does the capsule technology mean?’ These continuously called on legislators here to await the result of questions are key not only for the retailer themselves but the WTO hearing, due in 2016, before proceeding down the everybody who serves the tobacco customer in-store.” plain packaging route.

In closing, Matthew predicts that “there is likely to “Once it’s done, you cannot put the genie back in be an adult smoker for many years to come. So while the the bottle,” Paul warns. “Even if Ireland has no plans to future is very hard to predict, I think it will be a mixture of introduce plain packaging for other products, other countries traditional tobacco products, e-cigarettes and perhaps some may and they may target some products that Ireland is new platforms, like the ones that we are already testing in protective of.” other markets.”

24|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

IGBF Midsummer Ball

Answering Ireland’s Call for the IGBF

Noel Keeley, IGBF President of Appeals and Managing Director of Musgrave Wholesale Partners, with Ireland rugby coach, Joe Schmidt, and Paul Nimmo, Vice Chairman of the IGBF and Senior Trading Controller at Musgrave.

The rugby-themed IGBF Midsummer Ball was a roaring success, and proved one of the social highlights of the year.

THE Irish Grocers Benevolent Fund (IGBF) Midsummer Ball, held at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel on Friday, June 5, proved a magnificent success.

Over 260 of the biggest names from Ireland’s FMCG sector stepped out in style at what was the social event of the summer and raised over €107,500 for the Fund in the process.

Themed ‘Ireland’s Call’, the event looked forward to Ireland’s participation in September’s Rugby World Cup, and guest of honour on the night was Ireland head coach, Joe Schmidt, who entertained everybody with a witty and engaging speech that included his experiences in Ireland, the inclusiveness of Ireland’s rugby community and some hilarious anecdotes from his time with Ireland’s elite rugby players.

Musical entertainment was provided by The Three Irish Tenors, who had flown in specially from the US for the event and began proceedings with a rousing rendition of ‘Ireland’s Call’.

Incredible Support In his address, Noel Keeley, IGBF President of Appeals and Managing Director of Musgrave Wholesale Partners, paid tribute to the event’s sponsors, including Guinness, Kellogg’s, Musgrave Group, Coca-Cola Jim McNeill, MD, Kellogg’s, and his wife Hellenic, Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Valeo Foods, Yvonne.

John Paul O’Reilly, Commercial Director, Tesco Ireland, and his wife Vanessa.

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|25

IGBF Midsummer Ball Nestlé, Largo Foods, Mondelez International, Findlater Wine & Spirit Group and Edward Dillon.

He also thanked the Musgrave Board for all their help and support, as well as Paul Nimmo, Vice Chairman of the IGBF and Senior Trading Controller at Musgrave, for his tireless work in organising the Midsummer Ball, and paid special tribute to guest of honour, Joe Schmidt, who he called “a national hero”.

Noel also paid tribute to the sterling work of Michelle Thornton and her team at Hotel Solutions for organising such a magnificent event.

A Vital Role Keeley explained how the IGBF in 2015 continues to help in the region of 265 families around the country. He stressed the importance of the Fund and its vital role in helping those in our industry who have fallen on hard times. “The IGBF unites us all in a common cause,” he said, “and has done for over 35 years.”

The raffle on the night saw lucky winners leaving with some incredible prizes, including trips to all of Ireland’s group games in the Rugby World Cup, as well as an Ireland rugby jersey, signed by the team and framed. There was also a silent auction for a Ford Fiesta, sponsored by Kellogg’s Ireland, which was won by Séamus Scally, who retired as Musgrave Chairman in January of this year.

All in all, the event proved a resounding success and Retail News hopes it will become an annual fixture in the IGBF calendar.

Chris Martin, CEO, Musgrave Group, and his wife Jo.

Former IGBF President of Appeals, Leonard Hegarty, G&M Industrial Cleaning, and his wife Una.

Pictured are Brian Magennis, Director of Symbols and Wholesale, Britvic Ireland Ltd, Cllr. Margaret Magennis, Deirdre Donnelly and Kevin Donnelly, Country Director Ireland, Britvic Ireland Ltd. Jenny Webb and Eoghan Webb, Regional Territory Manager, LR Suntory.

Pictured are (l-r): Carol Nimmo, Noel Keeley, IGBF President of Appeals and Managing Director of Musgrave Wholesale Partners; Martha Keeley; Joe Schmidt, Ireland rugby coach, Kelly Schmidt; and Paul Nimmo, Vice Chairman of the IGBF and Senior Trading Controller at Musgrave.

Chris Musgrave, Non Executive Director, Musgrave Group, and Sarah Musgrave.

26|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

IGBF Midsummer Ball

Donal O’Shea, Chairman, IGBF and Nature’s Best, and his wife Catherine Bleahene.

Pictured are Claire Smart, Neil Finlayson, Head of Retail Channel, Diageo Ireland, Michele Bridgeway, Karen Smith and David Smith, Country Director and Chairman, Diageo Ireland.

Paul Toner and Nina Byrne, Sales Account Manager, Topaz.

Mel Drohan, CFO Island of Ireland at Coca-Cola Helenic, and Lumi Drohan.

Sheena Forde, Trading Director, Musgrave Wholesale, and Geoff Noonan.

Enjoying the Ball are (l-r): Catherine Halligan, Musgrave Wholesale Partners, and her husband Richard Crean, event MC Marty Whelan, guest speaker Joe Schmidt, Ireland Head Rugby Coach, and Paul Nimmo, Vice Chairman of the IGBF and Senior Trading Controller at Musgrave.

IGBF Executive Secretary, Peter O’Connor with Chris Martin, Musgrave Group CEO.

Adam Smart, Take Home Trade Channel Director, Diageo Ireland, and Claire Smart.

Enjoying the Ball: Ray Cosgrove, Sharon Buckley, Group Commercial Director, Musgrave Group, Michael Cullen, Commercial Director, Kerry Foods, and Sandra Cullen.

Marie McGarry Paddy McGarry, consultant at ADM Londis, Irene Prenderville and Tony Prenderville, Londis.

Niall Kenna, Director, Helen Kenny, Convenience Channel Lead, and Kieran Slevin, Finance Director, all from Mars Ireland.

GET your tickets early for the 2015 IGBF President’s Ball, which takes place on October 17 in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin 4. The theme for this year’s event is ‘We Remember’, as we remember those in need in the FMCG trade, while also remembering the strong heritage of Irish brands. For more information, see www.igbf.ie.

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|27

Impulse Purchasing

Controlling Shoppers’ Impulses NEW research conducted last month across convenience stores in Dublin shows that those of us who frequent our local convenience store are heavily influenced by the role of advertising on the path to purchase.

While the top three products purchased in convenience stores were unsurprisingly found to be milk, bread and confectionery, it is our unplanned choices which reveal interesting shopping habits.

Convenience Shopping Habits The research, conducted by Kinetic, the Out of Home agency, in conjunction with GroupM, used a combination of eye-tracking technology and interviews to determine the shopping habits of a selection of 200 convenience store (C-store) shoppers. 50 shoppers were intercepted before entering the store, and asked to wear eye-tracking glasses which measured point of gaze, length of gaze and eye pupil fixation at various points during the shop. Furthermore, 150 shoppers were asked to take a virtual visit to a convenience store by watching video footage of a typical shop from the shopper’s perspective.

The research found that ’impulse’ shoppers, or those who enter the store without having determined what exactly they will purchase (for example, those who wish to purchase a snack, but are undecided as to what type), will be more heavily influenced by out of home advertising throughout their shopping journey. Formats influencing these shoppers range from on-street billboards to bus shelters, as well as in-store advertising.

However, those who entered the store with a product or products in mind, known as ‘essentials’ shoppers, had a much shorter path to purchase, responding particularly to advertising in-store.

61% of those who wore the eye-tracking device admitted to purchasing an item on impulse, with more than a third of these purchases being sweets or chocolate. For those that did purchase on impulse, it accounted for 38% (€3.18) of the overall spend (€8.30).

Path Of Purchase “Following on from our Grocery shopper research last October, this latest piece gives a real insight into the path of purchase for convenience shoppers and the influence of Out of Home on their shopping habits,” explained Grainne Dilleen, Communications Director at Kinetic. “Using the latest in research methodologies, we uncovered that 86% of shoppers were able to correctly recall one or more of the formats from their shopping trip, showing real impact.

Advertising was seen to be influential particularly to impulse purchasers, with 14% claiming that advertising

New research into impulse purchasing habits in C-stores makes for interesting reading.

influenced them to purchase.”

Digital Out of Home formats along the Path to Purchase performed particularly strongly, with animated content drawing the eye.

“While the motivations for a convenience shop compared to a main shop may be different, the role of Out of Home formats on the path to purchase is similar,” noted Hilary Tracey, Business Planning Director from GroupM/Mindshare. “However, we did uncover that the path to purchase is different for each shopping need. The implications for planning Out of Home campaigns for our clients will ultimately depend on two questions: (1) What need does the product fulfil? and (2)Who are we targeting/ who will buy the product? Having an integrated, multiformat campaign, as well as a combining digital and static OOH formats on the path to purchase results in increased recall.”

Research was conducted by iReach in March 2015.

Convenience Shopping Habits: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

68% of convenience shoppers shop at a convenience store to do a top-up shop, 64% to buy Meal Solutions and 42% for Special Treats; 69% travel by car to the C-Store, 31% walk; 63% live nearby to the convenience store they visit; Location is the most important factor in the choice of convenience store at 69%, followed by price at 31%; 10% of eye-tracked shoppers were influenced to stop and shop by an ad format; Milk, bread and confectionery are the top three products purchased most often in C-Stores; Late afternoon /evening is the busiest time for C-Store shopping, with 53% of respondents visiting during this time; Average spend at a convenience store is €8.30; The average impulse spend is €3.18; Average spend rises in the evening time – 28% will spend more than €20; Shoppers frequent their local convenience store on average 19 times per month; 61% of eye-tracked respondents purchased an item on impulse; 38% of impulse purchases were sweets or chocolate; Top-up shoppers are more likely to be male and aged 18-34; Impulse shoppers are more likely to be female and aged 18-34.

28|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Kantar Brand Footprint

Irish Brands Beguiling Irish brands have come out on top in Kantar Worldpanel’s latest ranking of the nation’s favourite FMCG brands.

KANTAR Worldpanel’s annual ranking of Ireland’s most chosen FMCG brands has shown strong consumer support for the nation’s home-grown brands, with Avonmore, Brennans and Denny leading the top 10. The ranking shows domestic products are consumer favourites, with half of the top 10 being traditional Irish brands.

The 2015 Brand Footprint ranking measures which brands are being bought by the most consumers, the most often. At the top of the table is Avonmore, which has seen its products picked an average of 27 times a year by 77.8% of the population. Backed by a national campaign featuring a number of Ireland’s leading sports personalities, Avonmore’s new Protein Milk range has helped it retain the top spot for the third year in a row.

Dublin-based bread maker, Brennans takes second place in the Irish ranking, purchased 24 times a year by 69.9% of the population, followed by Denny (17 times by 76.3%).

Jacob’s comes in fifth place (17 times by 81.7%), while canned food specialist Batchelors is tenth, bought 11 times a year by 70.3% of the population.

Knorr is the only brand to appear in both the Irish and global Brand Footprint top 10, lying in eighth place worldwide and securing the fourth spot in Ireland. While the top 10 Irish ranking is made up exclusively of food and drink brands, the global ranking paints a different picture, with a more diverse range of FMCG brands, including health and beauty favourites such as Colgate and Dove, as well as household and hygiene products.

Domestic Bliss “With home-grown brands leading the way as the nation’s favourites, Irish consumers have demonstrated where their loyalties lie,” explains David Berry, Director at Kantar Worldpanel Ireland. “Despite strong competition from a number of major global names, domestic brands and their traditional offerings are resonating with shoppers as they look to choose the products that they know and trust.

Enduring brand loyalty has offered Irish FMCG producers the opportunity to successfully expand into new product lines, even in well established markets, the Kantar

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Kantar Brand Footprint McVitie’s Breaks the Top 10

ENJOYED by Irish families for generations, McVitie’s has a large biscuit portfolio of much-loved iconic brands, including McVitie’s Digestives, Jaffa Cakes, Rich Tea, Hob Nobs and Penguin. Last year, United Biscuits embarked on a major re-launch of its McVitie’s brand to rejuvenate and drive awareness of its top sweet biscuit brand and has continued this support with increased marketing investment spend in 2015.

The re-launch has been successful year to date and continues to deliver growth despite a declining biscuit market, with McVitie’s value share growing by +0.7pts to 18.6% (MAT) and it’s volume share growing by +1.1pts to 22.4% (Source: AC Nielsen, April 26, 2015).

This year, UB plans to modernise and grow the McVitie’s brand further by unlocking new occasions and creating fresh interest in biscuits with the launch of a new biscuit variant, McVitie’s DeliChoc, a slab of thick Belgian chocolate atop an amazingly crunchy biscuit, available in milk, dark and white chocolate.

Supported with a brand new television advertisement which aired in May; shoppers are already snapping DeliChoc up as they enjoy the intensely crunchy sensation that only DeliChoc can deliver.

For more details, contact County Manager: Barry Maloret, maloretb@unitedbiscuits.com or see www.mcvities.co.uk.

The top 50 Irish FMCG brands revealed by the Brand Footprint study are: Rank

David Berry, Director, Kantar Worldpanel Ireland.

Worldpanel Director reveals.

“Avonmore’s new Protein Milk range has helped to give it the edge this year, with its memorable ‘Be ready’ campaign connecting with customers on a more personal level,” Berry noted.

Focus on Innovation Robert Jordan, Head of Beverages and Innovation at Glanbia, said: “We’re delighted that Avonmore remains Ireland’s most bought grocery brand. With a major focus on innovation over the last year, from new Protein Milk, to ‘one-twist’ open milk cartons, and a major ‘vitamin D’ campaign for Super Milk, it’s great to see that consumers have responded so well to these initiatives.”

Elsewhere, Birds Eye has been the biggest mover in the top 10, rising four places to sixth position – thanks in part to the launch of its ‘Inspirations’ product range. The brand has seen the highest growth

Brand name

Penetration %

Frequency

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Avonmore Brennans Denny Knorr Jacob’s Muller Birds Eye Heinz Mc Vitie’s Batchelors Coca-Cola Galtee Irish Pride Tayto Cadburys Dairy Milk Pat The Baker Flora Glenisk Walkers Green Isle Dairy Gold Keelings 7-UP Connacht Gold Erin Colgate Goodfellas Fairy Odlums Nescafe Kerry Low Low Dolmio Flahavans Florette Nivea Pedigree Lyons Hellmann’s Yoplait Johnston, Mooney & O’ Brien Nicky

77.8 69.6 76.3 82.7 81.7 68.2 70.2 82.4 77.9 70.3 66 65.9 63.8 70.5 72.2 58.7 44.2 44.8 62 68.1 36.9 51.8 57.2 27 62.9 73.8 53.7 71.1 57.7 51.8 40.9 52 49 43.5 63.3 27.5 51 64 41.6 48 50.5

27.3 23.5 17.1 12.9 12.1 13.7 12 10 10.5 11.3 11.6 11.3 10.9 9.5 9.1 11 12.7 11.6 8.2 7.4 13.3 8.7 7.7 16.3 6.8 5.7 7.6 5.6 6.9 7.3 8.9 6.9 7 7.8 5.2 11.7 6.3 5 7.7 6.5 6.1

Consumer Reach Points (Million) 36 27 22 18 17 16 14 14 14 13 13 13 12 11 11 11 9 9 9 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5

42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Pringles Schwartz Clonakilty Barry’s Bradys Kit Kat Yoplait Petit Filous Staffords John West

50.7 64.8 39.1 38.4 38.8 55.4 34.3 34.3 45.2

6.1 4.7 7.7 7.8 7.6 5.3 8.5 8.4 6.3

5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

30|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Kantar Brand Footprint in frequency of purchases among the top of the ranking, increasing by 13.4% to an average of 12 times a year. Biscuit brand McVities is a new entry to the top 10, moving up two places to ninth position.

The International Angle Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint Ranking reveals the strength of brands in 35 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors. It uses an insightful metric called Consumer Reach Points, which measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often (the number of times shoppers acquire the brand).

This unique calculation of penetration and frequency helps FMCG manufacturers to clearly understand their global reach in terms of actual basket reach and provides a vital guide on which regions present the biggest opportunities.

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint is based on research from 63% of the global population; a total of 956m households across 35 countries, and 68% of the global GDP. The complete ranking comprises over 200 FMCG categories tracked around the world by Kantar Worldpanel across the beverages, food, health and beauty, homecare, alcoholic drinks, confectionery and nappies sectors. The data for this year’s ranking was collected over the 52 week period between October 2013 and October 2014. All data relates to purchases that are brought into the home.

“Brand Footprint is the most comprehensive study on FMCG brands across the globe, providing key findings for driving growth and success,” says Josep Montserrat, Global CEO of Kantar Worldpanel. “This year, we reveal that growing FMCG brands follow one simple rule, growth is about penetration: retaining and increasing the number of shoppers choosing the brand.”

To access the full global, regional, country and sector rankings and a complete index of the brands included in the Global Top 50, please visit http://www.brandfootprint-ranking.com

The Global Top Ten 1.

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Coca-Cola Colgate Maggi Lifebuoy Nescafé Pepsi Lay’s Knorr Dove Tide

Knorr Savours Its Performance

KNORR is proud to have been ranked amongst the most chosen FMCG brands in Ireland for a second year running, coming in fourth. This makes Knorr the top purchased savoury brand in Ireland, demonstrating the trust that Irish consumers put into Knorr products every day.

“With over 175 years of culinary expertise in making great quality soups stocks and meal solutions, Knorr has been a favourite of Irish consumers for several decades now, and we’re thrilled to be amongst Ireland’s most chosen brands of 2014,” said Hayley Slater, Brand Manager for Knorr Ireland.

With a wide selection of delicious soups, stocks, sauces and Mealmakers, Knorr has a great tasting product to suit every meal occasion.

Global Trends KANTAR Worldpanel’s Global Brand Footprint has identified four common trends globally, that transcend borders and tastes.

Demographic Shifts Rising affluence across Asia is changing how brands are positioned and bought. In India, the rise of e-commerce is partly fuelled by more middle-class women going out to work.

The boom of the Millennial generation in developing markets brings consumers with different needs and attitudes. India’s Engage, for example, offers couples matching deodorant pairs such as Rush & Blush, Frost & Drizzle.

In the West, L’Oreal Paris is using older models to appeal to mature customers, and smaller households are targeted by products such as Loyd Grossman For One sauce in the UK. The Health Parallel Some brands are moving beyond reactive health to proactive and restorative, with anti-ageing properties and nutritional boosts: Activia yoghurt’s ‘happy tummy’ is one example.

The trend extends to personal care. Premium Chinese toothpaste YunNanBaiYao uses a traditional medicine to help with pain relief.

Brands and retailers are in step with the fight against obesity: discounter Lidl made a strong statement in 2014 by removing sweets and crisps from the checkout in 600+ stores in the UK, a similar move to that by Tesco Ireland.

In Brands We Trust In an age of abundant choice, consumers are drawn to brands with a commitment to deliver their promises. Confidence lost is hard to win back, as recent meat scandals in Europe and Taiwan showed.

Consumers are looking for sustainability as part of a brand’s quality promise, in response to complex FMCG supply chains. French food producer and grocer Fleury Michon unveiled its #venezvérifier campaign so consumers can follow its surimi (fish and meat paste) range, from fishing vessels in Alaska to the supermarket shelf.

October 2014 saw Unilever launch its first TV ad to associate sustainability with the Unilever logo. Downy and Comfort single rinse fabric conditioners have thrived in South East Asia, saving precious water, good for the environment and good for the consumer.

Me, Not We Consumers demand the unique and unexpected. Ferrero’s Nutella partnered with premium British store Selfridges, allowing shoppers to create a jar with their name on it. Crowd sourcing is popular, with brands such as Downy and Lay’s developing new variants. Blends for Friends in the UK lets consumers design and name their own tea, while Concoction shampoo does the same personalisation for haircare.

Make it a saucy summer with Heinz Stock up today!

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Show Me I.D - Be Age Ok is supported by Retail Excellence Ireland, Ireland’s trade associations RGDATA, CSNA, NFRN and also by VFI, NOffLA, ITMAC and the South Dublin Chamber.

Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie|33

Tobacco Retailing

Retailers Campaign for Responsible Tobacco Sales The Show Me I.D Awareness Week 2015 kicks off on Monday, June 22 and will involve activities in nearly 3,000 stores right across the country.

THE Show Me I.D – Be Age Ok campaign is Ireland’s largest youth access prevention campaign and aims to assist retailers in preventing minors from accessing tobacco and other age restricted products.

Over the last four years, the Show Me I.D campaign has grown from strength to strength and to date nearly 7,000 retail staff have clicked onto www.showmeid.ie to check out the free online training on age restricted sales.

As part of Awareness Week 2015, which begins on June 22, Show Me I.D Retailer Responsibility Packs will be sent out to nearly 3,000 retail outlets across the country containing useful information materials and Point of Sale materials. The aim of these materials is to provide retail managers and staff with all the information and tools to assist in the prevention of sales of age restricted products to minors.

The Awareness Week will also involve a concerted effort by retailers and trade associations across the country to make sure that their staff and members are up to date on the do’s and don’ts when it comes to the sale of age restricted products.

Social Media Campaign Consistently looking for ways to innovate, Show Me I.D recently launched a comprehensive social media campaign across both Facebook and Twitter to communicate the key training messages to retail staff around the country to prevent sales of age restricted products to minors. Following the campaign on FB and Twitter, retail store owner, Aaron Massey stated, “While the majority of Ireland’s retailers are compliant when it comes to tobacco sales, there is still some work to be done to ensure all retailers and their staff comply with age restricted sales.

“However, this level of compliance can only be maintained by the retail trade implementing effective initiatives,” he continued. “Show Me I.D – Be Age Ok is currently the only youth access prevention programme

available to retailers to ensure that their staff are trained on exactly what they can and can’t do when it comes to age restricted products. The programme also empowers them to deal with those difficult conversations around refusal.”

The store owner insisted that retailers do a terrific job in preventing underage access, as shown by the results of inspections by the Health Service Executive in 2012, which shows an 84.8% compliance rate.

“However, there is always room for improvement and the Show Me I.D Awareness Week is a fantastic opportunity to remind retailers of the importance of staff training in this area,” stated Massey. “As part of the Show Me I.D Awareness Week, over 15,000 people actively engaged in retail will be contacted through the in-store and social media aspects of this campaign to get the message across that properly trained staff are key to complying with age restricted sales.”

Excellent Training Opportunity David Fitzsimons, CEO of Retail Excellence Ireland, believes that the Show Me I.D – Be Age Ok campaign “provides retailers with an excellent training opportunity to ensure that their staff know exactly what they can and cannot sell to minors and how to deal with difficult situations arising from the non-sale of age-restricted products. This protects minors but also retailers and their staff.”

In 2014, Show Me I.D became the industry standard in youth access prevention. Show Me I.D – Be Age Ok is supported by Retail Excellence Ireland, the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA), the Retail Grocery Dairy and Allied Trades Association (RGDATA), the National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC), the Vintners Federation of Ireland (VFI), the National Off-Licence Association (NOFFLA) and the South Dublin Chamber of Commerce (SDC).

34|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Origin Green

Highlighting our Green Credentials Origin Green is a unique programme that unites the entire food and drink industry and government in a national sustainability initiative.

THE Origin Green programme makes Ireland the first country in the world to introduce a sustainability initiative for its entire food and drinks industry, uniting government, the private sector and food producers through Bord Bia. Independently verified, it enables Ireland’s farmers and producers to set and achieve measurable sustainability targets – reducing environmental impact, serving local communities more effectively and protecting the extraordinarily rich natural resources that our country enjoys.

Right across Ireland, ever-growing numbers of Origin Green members are fully committed to developing more stringent ways of working, which will see 100% of Ireland’s food and drink exports on the road to sustainability by next year.

Sustainability is a driving force for many businesses and is increasingly a factor in choosing the suppliers or companies with whom to do business. All Origin Green

members – farmers and food producers – have a proven and independently verified commitment to sustainability.

Measuring Sustainability The Origin Green programme extends across all sectors from farms and fisheries to food and drink manufacturers.

It has grown to include areas as diverse as energy usage, emissions, waste, water use, animal welfare, biodiversity and social sustainability.

At its heart is the Origin Green charter, a guideline document to the workings of the Origin Green programme.

Ireland is not new to this. Since 2011, we have been carbon footprinting our beef farms with a system of measurement, feedback and continuous improvement, which has made us a world leader.

The Origin Green Charter directs companies to set meaningful and measurable sustainability goals that are then independently verified.

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Origin Green Once a producer has signed up to the Origin Green Charter, clear objectives are agreed across three key areas: Raw Material Sourcing, Manufacturing Processes and Social Sustainability. Together, the producer and Origin Green (via Bord Bia) create a comprehensive and challenging five-year plan, committing to sustainability improvements that are relevant to the individual business. These plans are independently verified by SGS, a third party agency, and monitored on an annual basis.

RAW MATERIAL SOURCING • Supplier Certification • Sustainability Initiatives

MANUFACURING PROCESS • Energy • Water

• Emissions • Biodiversity

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY • Health & Nutrition • Community Initiatives • Employee Wellbeing Raw Material Sourcing Sourcing is a key part of the sustainability strategies of leading customers. Most have set targets in relation to enhancing the sustainability of their supply chain. Therefore, it is important for Irish food and drink manufacturers to be able to show their commitment to enhance the sustainability credentials of their supply chain, whether it is farmers or other raw material supplies such as packaging. As part of each plan, companies are asked to source from suppliers with recognised certifications in terms of Quality Assurance or broader sustainability measures. Where this is already the case, companies are asked to look at developing initiatives with suppliers over the period of the plan.

Targets under the raw material sourcing could include:

• •

Commitment to source from suppliers with recognised certifications; Development of sustainability initiatives with suppliers (farm or other inputs).

Plans must include at least one target under this heading.

Manufacturing Processes The areas to be considered under this heading are as follows:

• • • •

Energy: Reduction initiatives; Renewable Investment Emissions: Reduction of GHG emissions; Waste: Initiatives to reduce packaging; Water: Reduce consumption, minimise contamination, prevent pollution;

Ballymaloe Pickles a Winner PICKLED Beetroot holds a place in many an Irish person’s heart. A jar of this dark purple vegetable bathed in sweet vinegar evokes feelings of nostalgia and images of hard boiled eggs, butter head lettuce and chunky homemade chips. No tea table is complete without some! Now there is finally an Irish grown, cooked and packed pickled beetroot available: Ballymaloe Irish Beetroot.

Last year, Yasmin Hyde, owner of Ballymaloe Foods and daughter of Myrtle Allen, wanted to bring an Irish made pickled beetroot to shop shelves around the country.

One day Yasmin was delivering an order to a local supermarket when she met a farmer, Joe Hartnett, delivering some beautiful vegetables. “Well, here’s a man” she thought “who could grow me some beetroot”. Yasmin mentioned her idea to Joe and this chance encounter led to Joe accepting the challenge and planting eight acres of beetroot.

Shortly after, Ballymaloe Foods purchased a large food grade washing machine and installed it on Joe’s farm so that the beetroot could be cleaned before being delivered, thus enabling Joe to get many more customers for the beetroot that he grows.

Pictured are: Minister for Agriculture, It’s no easy task to Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney cook and pack this vibrant TD; Yasmin Hyde, Ballymaloe Foods; and coloured vegetable, so each farmer Joe Hartnett. jar is carefully hand filled with the perfectly piquant cubes. In place of the usual spirit vinegar, Ballymaloe have chosen a high quality white wine vinegar for a smoother tasting pickle.

This is a locally made product using Irish beetroot and top quality ingredients. It is a nice example of how to add value to a crop that grows easily here in Ireland, a fact which was noted recently by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD: “This product made by Ballymaloe Foods using a specially developed recipe brings the taste and story of Irish Beetroot grown on Joe Hartnett’s farm in Cork to a new generation of foodies and of consumers who simply enjoy great food.

Provenance, quality, craft and adding value from farm to fork mark out Irish food as something to enjoy. I congratulate Yasmin Hyde for her vision, hard work and ambition for Irish food. I wish Ballymaloe Foods and Joe Hartnett great success with the project locally - where all good stories begin - and then in markets further afield.”

Available in 450g jars from SuperValu stores nationwide priced at Ballymaloe Diced Irish Beetroot: a real winner from Ballymaloe Foods. €2.99

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Origin Green •

Biodiversity: Development & conservation of ecosystems on site.

Plans must include at least two target areas from those above.

Social Sustainability Social sustainability captures a number of the broader components of sustainability. The main areas for consideration under this heading include: • Health & nutrition of products; • Company role in their local community; • Employee wellbeing.

Plans must include at least one target under this heading.

For each target area, each company must set out a baseline, decide on short, medium and long term targets and commit to reporting progress on an annual basis.

At least one issue must contain ‘stretch’ targets, an ambitious target that represents a significant increase on current levels of improvement.

Membership of Origin Green There are three stages before full membership of Origin Green is achieved: registration, application and membership. Registration is defined as the stage where companies commit to participating in the initiative. At this stage, companies commence developing their plan, identify the issues they wish to address, begin to set targets, consider the resources required to achieve those targets and define the impact of their achievement. Registrations are only accepted on foot of a statement of commitment by the CEO/MD of the company. The name of the company and date of their registration are then published online by Bord Bia. If a company doesn’t progress to the application stage within one year of their registration date, they are subsequently withdrawn from this published list.

The formal application stage is where the completed Sustainability Plan is lodged with Bord Bia for assessment.

Identifying the baseline and the data collection requirements to facilitate progress reporting is an important part of the preparation of an application. Bord Bia provides companies with guidance on developing their Sustainability Plan, including case studies from other companies, guidance on deciding on target areas and setting targets. Once submitted, each application is independently assessed by an external third party appointed by Bord Bia. The membership stage is the period where companies are working towards the achievement of their Sustainability Plan. Progress reporting is a key requirement in order to retain membership status. To facilitate progress reporting, Bord Bia provides an internet platform whereby participants can securely upload their Sustainability Plan documentation, and progress is determined by a Bord Bia retained independent third party.

Showcasing Origin Green Bord Bia is justifiably proud of Origin Green and has been showcasing its success at food fairs and exhibitions across the world, including Gulfood in the United Arab Emirates, Biofach 2015 in the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg and EXPO 2015 in Milan.

The government designated Origin Green as Ireland`s flagship initiative to respond to the Milan EXPO theme, ‘Feeding the Planet – Energy for Life’, which allows Bord Bia to demonstrate to two million visitors over six months its programme for sustainable food production.

Aidan Cotter, Chief Executive of Bord Bia, explained

Connacht Gold REAL butter is back and Connacht Gold’s butter is performing well ahead of the category, with continued growth year on year. Connacht Gold has become firmly established as an innovative and popular brand in the yellow fats category. Their range features a number of award winning products, including Connacht Gold Softer Butter, winner of the ultimate Great Taste Awards accolade, 3 Gold Stars; multi-award winning Connacht Gold Garlic and Herb butter, a Blas na hEireann and Great Taste winning product; Connacht Gold Creamery butter, yet another Blas na hEireann and Great Taste winner; Spreadable and Spreadable Light options and a popular Unsalted Butter. Connacht Gold continues to innovate in the category, with two new products launched towards the end of 2014, a gourmet Butter with Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Butter.

The brand’s most prolific product, Connacht Gold Low Fat Butter is also a Great Taste award winning butter. Results from an independent sensory analysis competitor benchmarking report conducted by St Angela’s Food Technology Centre saw Connacht Gold Low Fat Butter deemed the number one choice for taste and texture versus competitor brands in a blind tasting.

Connacht Gold has invested in its Low Fat Butter through an integrated ‘real butter’ campaign over the past two years and continues to invest in the brand throughout 2015: the first campaign earlier this year featured Connacht Gold Low Fat Butter on national and regional radio, along with press, online and in-store tastings right across the country. The key message of the campaign highlights that Connacht Gold Low Fat is real butter with half the fat and all the taste.

For more information, see Connachtgold.ie, facebook.com/ConnachtGold or call Seamus Hannon, National Sales Manager, on (071) 9186500.

how Origin Green at EXPO “provides us with an ideal platform to demonstrate to the consumer and business worlds the innovative nature of Origin Green, how it responds to the EXPO challenge and how sustainable food production, which is increasingly ‘top of mind’ with food companies and consumers, can become a reality, with Ireland as a leading player.”

Don’t miss your chance to experience the latest in Irish food & drink, meet with colleagues and keep up to date with the latest trends

New to FHI this year is Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland – a unique opportunity to see the best of Irelands artisan producers

Find out more and register today at www.foodhospitality.ie

ORGANISED BY

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Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015

‘Fresh’ Additions for Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015 Taking place on September 16 and 17 at the Citywest Events Centre, this autumn’s Food & Hospitality Ireland trade expo is an event that’s not to be missed.

THIS year’s Food & Hospitality Ireland already boasts an exhibitors’ list that’s brimming with a wealth of awardwinning artisan producers, now incorporating the first-ever Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland and the Great Taste Pavilion.

For exhibitors, the show offers a platform to meet with new customers and make new contacts. Many previous exhibitors are returning from last year and it’s no wonder, as in 2014, visitors to Food & Hospitality Ireland placed over €10m worth of orders!

Bobby Kerr, Insomnia MD, pictured at last year’s Food & Hospitality Ireland event, where visitors placed €10m of orders.

From chocolatiers to cheese producers, the Great Taste Pavilion is a tasty new addition to the event and it’s already attracted many of Ireland and Northern Ireland’s top producers, including Cashel Blue, Suki Tea, West Cork Pies and Burren Smokehouse. Created in association with the Guild of Fine Food, the Great Taste Pavilion will be a showcase of 24 Great Taste winners from the last three years.

Facilitating Business Organised by Fresh Montgomery, one of Ireland and the UK’s largest event organisers, who also organise IFE, Hotelympia and IFEX, Food & Hospitality Ireland will be an event that’s been specifically tailored to facilitate business within the food and hospitality sectors.

Working in conjunction with the Craft Butchers and Retail Ireland, Food & Hospitality Ireland is focused on ensuring that the two-day expo is a melting pot for new business and contacts, innovative products and solutions, and for new learning within the sectors.

One of the other partners for the event is the Coeliac Society of Ireland, who will be on hand, advising retailers and those in the hospitality sector on how they can better cater for Ireland’s thousands of Coeliacs. As one of the countries with the highest percentage of Coeliacs worldwide, there’s a huge opportunity for Irish businesses to appeal to this growing sector.

Content-Rich Features In addition to the hundred-plus exhibitors, Food & Hospitality Ireland is tapping into the requirements of the industry, and will be home to a number of contentrich features, all of which are free to attend.

• Catering for butchers, the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland will be holding its annual ACBI awards, which include the announcement of the coveted ‘Shop of the Year’ title. The ACBI

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Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015 • • •

will also be hosting the finals of its National Sausage & Puddings Competition and its Speciality Foods final at the show.

Supported by the CSNA, the Profit Shop will highlight how retailers can maximise the profitability of their shop though effective layout, signage, by using the latest technologies and stocking the most relevant products.

The Spotlight Stage and The Skillery are becoming one this year, ensuring a stellar line-up that’s rich in content for both retail and hospitality visitors. Speakers and demonstrations will be released over the coming months.

Show partner, the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards, will be showcasing the finalists and winning products from the final of the IQFDAs, which are taking place at a gala event on Wednesday, September 16. Visitors will have the first opportunity to see and taste the award winning products.

For exhibitors, Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015 offers a platform to meet with new customers and make new contacts.

Supported by the CSNA, the Profit Shop will highlight how retailers can maximise the profitability of their shop

Foods, Red Dog Artisan Product, Asgaard Packaging Ltd, Timepoint, CBE Ltd and Hugh Jordan & Co., amongst others.

For a whistle-stop visit of the very best products at F&HI, check out the Product of the Show feature area. It’ll be a showcase of the award-winning products and solutions that are on offer from exhibitors, with products awarded gold, silver or bronze accolades by an expert panel of judges.

Exciting New Elements “We’re thrilled to be introducing two new elements to this year’s show – with the launch of the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland and the Great Taste Pavilion, thanks to our association with the Guild of Fine Food,” enthuses Toby Wand, Managing Director of Fresh Montgomery. “These new additions have already been well received within the trade, and with months to go, over 50% of space at the Great Taste Pavilion is already secured.”

Commenting on the involvement of industry bodies, he adds: “Food & Hospitality Ireland is a trade event that’s been created to directly benefit the Irish food and hospitality sectors. That’s why the involvement of our trade partners is so important. Over the next few months, we’ll be working with the Craft Butchers, Retail Ireland and the Coeliac Society of Ireland to ensure our event meets the needs of their members and of the industry as a whole.”

Confirmed exhibitors include the Tipperary Food Producers Network, Taste Kerry, Corleggy Cheese, The Chocolate Shop, Invest Northern Ireland, Montgomery Food Consulting and the Butchery Excellence Scheme, Rosie & Jim Gourmet Chicken Products, Pathos Continental

The Perfect Platform The 2015 event is set to become a ‘one stop shop’ for discovering and tasting some of the best food and drink products that Ireland has to offer. With Food & Hospitality Ireland growing in stature, the show will provide the perfect platform for companies in the food, drink and hospitality sectors to exhibit their products and services to thousands of visitors.

Food & Hospitality Ireland, incorporating the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland, is taking place on September 16 and 17, 2015, at the Citywest Events Centre, Dublin. To keep updated on new features, exhibitors and partners, follow the show on twitter @FHIexhibition or log onto www.foodhospitality.ie.

For further information on the event, please contact Caroline McCusker on +44 (0) 28 9068338. Or email Caroline.mccusker@freshmontgomery.co.uk.

Food & Hospitality Ireland boasts an exhibitors’ list that’s brimming with a wealth of award-winning artisan producers.

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Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards

Tesco Sponsors Prestigious Award

helping the company to secure, grow and maintain a listing with Tesco.

Repeating last year’s trade-media partnership with Retail News magazine, and consumermedia partnership with Easy Food magazine, the Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards 2015 place your food and drink products onto the tables The Irish Quality Drink Awards you need for success. celebrate the finest alcoholic The awards themselves drinks for the retail sector. are organised into two distinct sections: Quality Food Awards, products for the multiple and independent grocery retail market, and Quality Drink Awards, alcoholic drinks for the retail sector.

“We are absolutely delighted with the growing success of these awards and so pleased to be organising a just-asJudging for the 2015 Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards will take exciting event for 2015,” notes Helen Lyons, group publisher place over three weeks in July at the Dublin Institute of Technology’s of Awards organizer, Metropolis Business Media. “As former School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology. winners can testify, picking up an Irish Quality Food and TESCO Ireland has been announced as sponsor of the Drink Award is a powerful marketing tool, with many prestigious Small Producer of the Year Award as part of winners using the awards’ logos on their packaging and in this year’s Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards – open to national press, television and outdoor advertising. all retailers, food producers and manufacturers across the “This year, we’ve listened to our partners in the industry Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. and introduced new categories which we hope will encourage These prestigious accolades, now in their third year, even more people to enter and enjoy showcasing their set out to recognise excellence in food and drink product success.” development from a wide variety of companies across Ireland.

Recognising Excellence Once again, the judging will take place over three Commenting on the sponsorship, Tracey McDermott, Head weeks in July at the Dublin Institute of Technology’s School of Trading Law and Technical, Tesco Ireland, said, “As the of Culinary Arts and Food Technology. The results will world’s biggest buyer of Irish food and drink, our support be announced at a gorgeous gala dinner in the fabulous for Irish suppliers is central to our business and is growing surroundings of the Round Room at The Mansion House in year on year. We are proud to support over 13,000 Irish Dublin on September 16, 2015. farm families and 480 Irish SMEs. We are delighted to A team from Tesco Ireland will judge all the shortlisted sponsor the Small Producer of the Year Award at this year’s small producer products and choose a winner based on Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards and to play a role in the best in quality, taste, aroma, price point, innovation, recognising excellence in food and drink development among packaging, ingredients and aims in the market. Small small producers in Ireland.” companies can enter for the reduced fee of just €125 plus Judging for the awards, which are once again headline VAT. sponsored by innovative packaging company The Benson Group, will take place from July 1-17. The awards are also Supplier Development Programme sponsored by the Coeliac Society of Ireland, who will play In addition to the award, Tesco Ireland will provide the an important role during the stringent judging process of winner with a prize of €2,500 and a place on the next the ‘Free From’ categories, Dairymaid and Invest Northern Tesco Taste Bud supplier development programme, run in Ireland. partnership with Bord Bia. Since its launch in 2012, nearly A selection of shortlisted and winning products, 70 Irish food and drink companies have joined the supplier announced in August, will be showcased at the Food & development programme, recording over €30m worth of Hospitality Ireland exhibition on September 17 in Dublin. sales in Tesco stores, with nearly a quarter of this revenue Full entry details are available at generated in the UK, highlighting the export opportunities irishqualityfoodawards.com. Make sure you stay realised through the programme. The winning small up to date with the latest news and competitions producer will receive mentoring from the Taste Bud team via the IQFA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ and participate in a seven-month programme of workshops, IrishQualityFoodAwards and on Twitter @IrishQFAs.

Tesco Ireland are sponsoring the Small Producer of the Year Award at the 2015 Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards.

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Drinks News ORCHARD THIEVES STEALS THE LIMELIGHT TO launch Orchard Thieves, the new cider brand from Heineken, an innovative tease and reveal Out of Home campaign ran across Dublin. The campaign, implemented by Out of Home agency, Kinetic and media agency Starcom, with creative from Rothco, used innovative technology to grab the attention of passers-by for the reveal element of the campaign. A selection of bus shelters (Adshels) on Leeson Street, Camden Street and Pembroke Road were fitted with new digital screens which displayed creative relating to the new cider brand. In addition, a 48 sheet billboard special ran on South Richmond Street. 10 high definition digital screens were added to the billboard, covering an area of 180mm in height and 4,500mm in width.

Footage showing the golden cider liquid was displayed behind the fox character, diecut in c-bond material. Pictured with one of the innovative ads are (l-r): Gemma Adams, Innovation Manager, Heineken; Aoife Hudson, Account Manager, Kinetic; Colum O’Hara, Client Director, Starcom; and Fiona Curtin, Senior Innovation Manager, Heineken.

SENIOR APPOINTMENT AT FEBVRE FEBVRE Wine Distributors have announced the appointment of Therese O’Toole as National On-Trade Key Accounts Manager. Therese previously held the title of Commercial Brand Manager in Febvre. Therese is a WSET Diploma Graduate and is extremely passionate about the wine industry.

CORONA EXTRA SUNSET SESSIONS THE launch of Corona Extra’s summer initiative, Sunset Sessions took place across two floors at the Morgan Hotel in Dublin recently, as Brand Manager Laura Faulkner hosted trade guests for the first party of the summer for the leading ‘Sunshine Beer’. The party marked the start of summer and a brand new experience for lovers of music; Corona Extra has partnered with FM104 DJs to create a sundown experience at trade venues, offering live and exclusive DJ sets and laid back hangouts for customers. Dublin football star Eamonn Fennell is pictured at the launch of the Corona Extra Sunset Sessions with Laura Faulkner, Brand Manager, C&C Gleeson.

HEINEKEN’S SOUND OF SUCCESS HEINEKEN have launched a superhot on-pack promotion in association with their music platform, Sound Atlas. Heineken continue to leverage their game-changing partnership with Live Nation, giving consumers access to this summer’s hottest music events from Royal Hospital Kilmainham and Marley Park gigs, to Ireland’s biggest festival events, Longitude and Electric Picnic.

Heineken are giving consumers the opportunity to discover and explore the most exciting live music scenes from around the globe by recreating them, both digitally and as event activations - here in Ireland. This month sees Sound Atlas launching for the first time in the off trade with an exciting on-pack promotion featuring on special 8 pack can, 12 and 20 pack bottle. It will be heavily supported by disruptive and impactful POS and in-store theatre. This year, the 2015 Sound Atlas scene will be even bigger, launching at Longitude Festival in July, before arriving at Electric Picnic in September.

TULLAMORE DEW, the

RICHMOND MARKETING EXTENDS MILLER DISTRIBUTION DEAL MILLER Brands and Richmond Marketing have announced the continuation of their partnership, with the signing of a new multi-year distribution agreement. “We are delighted to extend our successful relationship with Miller Brands,” noted Richmond Marketing Managing Director, Barry Connolly. “Their exciting portfolio includes Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Kozel, and St Stefanus and allows choice for both customers and consumers in the everyday premium and world beer categories. These great quality beers are just what consumers are looking for and because they are premium brands, they offer the trade a great opportunity to grow sales and margin.” Peroni Nastro Azzurro in particular continues to enjoy huge growth, with recent MAT Nielsen figures from February 2015 showing total volume growing at 41.5% versus the previous year.

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Waste Management

Government Gets Tough with Recycling Laws A significant step-up in enforcement activity on waste management regulations is on the cards. Are you compliant?

“I ALREADY pay for my recycling. Why should I pay Repak?” This is a question not infrequently raised by retailers when their annual Repak invoice arrives in the post, or, more recently, when they get a notice from their local county council asking them if they are compliant with the Waste Packaging Regulations.

There are two forms of recycling in retailing – and both are legal obligations.

The first is back door recycling - which is mostly suppliers’ packaging taken away by a waste contractor. The other is front door recycling – a retailer also has responsibility for packaging on the goods that customers take home. And the authorities are now stepping up their campaign against retailers who don’t look after both obligations.

Let’s return to the distinction between back door recycling and front door recycling. Both are covered under the Waste Management (Packaging) Regulations – the law which governs this area. The Regulations say two things: (a) Producers, which includes retailers, must ensure that all used packaging arising at their back door is sent for recycling. (b) Retailers also have a responsibility to ensure that the packaging supplied to customers is recovered or recycled. This is known as producer responsibility.

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Waste Management

Most retailers have no difficulty with the first part.

Almost every well managed store in the country has its own resource of baling machines, segregated waste bins and contracts with recovery operators to take away the materials. Most store operators also have arrangements for recycling or return of newspapers and magazines – also, a good practice, even if these materials are not packaging.

The second part is the more difficult one to grasp. How can a retailer look after the recycling or recovery of the packaging that customers take home? Surely their customers are bringing their wine bottles to the bottle bank or putting their empty cornflakes boxes and plastic packaging into their recyclables bin?

Looking After A Customer’s Waste Packaging There are two ways a retailer can look after their customer’s waste packaging: They can register as a self-complier with a local county council, pay fees, put advertisements in the paper, and take back packaging from the general public for recycling or they can join Repak, which gives full compliance. There are currently some 900 retailers in Repak membership. Not a single store in the country has gone down the self-compliance route.

Repak uses this money to subsidise the recycling of packaging materials on behalf of its member companies.

This includes packaging materials collected from households, bring banks and other collection points. For every wine bottle sold to a customer and brought to a bottle bank, Repak pays a fee to the glass recycling company to ensure that the glass goes for recycling. It is the same with plastic wrapping, food cans, drinks cans, cardboard and paper packing and all the other packaging sold on an everyday basis from every store in the country. It all goes through the recycling system, supported by Repak members.

Increased Prospect of Prosecution Stores who do neither now face the increased prospect of prosecution. A retailer with a total annual turnover of €1m and who supplies 10 tonnes or more of packaging must comply with the law, either through self-compliance or by joining Repak. The Government is now committed to tough action on enforcing these requirements.

A report published last year by consultants who were commissioned to examine the various waste management streams was highly critical of the lack of proper policing

Repak fees are used to subsidise the recycling of packaging materials on behalf of its member companies.

Retailers have a legal obligation to recycle both back door recycling, which is mostly suppliers’ packaging taken away by a waste contractor, and front door recycling, packaging on the goods that customers take home.

of the Packaging Regulations. They noted that many businesses are failing to adhere to their legal requirements.

This is creating unfair competition in the market – those who are in and paying are subsidising the free riders. That situation cannot continue.

The report on the Producer Responsibility Initiatives (PRI) recommended a significant step-up in enforcement activity. It recognised that many county councils simply did not have the resources to enforce every aspect of environmental management, and that is why so many businesses were able to evade the law. Some businesses probably didn’t know the law.

Strengthening the Enforcement Network The PRI report looked at ways of strengthening the enforcement network. Bigger is better was their main finding. They proposed that local councils should group together in three regions across the country. Their combined strength would lead to better co-ordination and sharing of resources, while allowing them to put more people on the ground in enforcement activities. Outsourcing certain activities such as routine inspections would also free up internal resources. Additional funding could be provided by the major waste compliance schemes, which would add to their overall effectiveness.

Plans to get this initiative off the ground are already at an advanced stage. At the recent launch of the EasternMidlands Waste Management Plan, which includes the four Dublin local authorities and eight other county councils across Leinster, Dublin City Manager, Owen Keegan said that to tackle enforcement in an effective and consistent manner, a new lead authority for waste enforcement will be appointed in the region. A review of waste enforcement governance in Ireland is under way and is expected to be concluded shortly, coinciding with the appointment of the new enforcement office for the Eastern-Midlands region.

Plans for beefed up enforcement in the Southern Region and the Connacht Ulster Region are also underway.

A national database of trading businesses is also being compiled, so that the enforcement network will have full knowledge of who is compliant with the Packaging Regulations and who is not. The combined strength of the three regional groupings and the national database will ensure that those who are breaking the law or evading the law will no longer escape.

There is a clear message to all retailers - comply with the Packaging Regulations. Join Repak or register as a self-complier with your local authority. Doing neither is no longer an option.

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Pet Care

Pet Sounds

Pet treats are driving growth in the valuable pet care sector, as consumers continue to humanise their four-legged friends.

2014 saw overall growth returning to the pet care category, driven primarily by pet food, according to the latest report into the sector from Euromonitor International. Retail volume sales are anticipated to continue to grow within pet food, due in particular to consumers buying extra items, such as treats, for their pets.

According to Euromonitor’s latest report, cat food in Ireland was worth approximately €48m last year, showing growth of 1% in volume and 2% in value terms. This growth is due to a surge in the popularity of cat treats and also a rise in demand for both premium and economy brands.

Euromonitor estimate the dog food market to be worth €83m, up 2% in value terms. The company maintains that consumers can be divided into two groups, those who have cut back completely and only have the budget for economy brands and those who are not willing to compromise on their dog’s nutritional needs and continue to opt for the highest quality products.

Pet treats for both cats and dogs remain the most innovative category, as new product developments contribute to an increase in value sales for these categories.

Humanisation of pets continued as a popular trend in

Ireland and as consumers treat themselves, it is also common practice for them to treat their pet.

Rising levels of interest in health, snacking and indulgence are trending in the pet foods market, as owners increasingly treat their pets as family members. This is leading to strong innovation and profit potential in the prepared pet foods space.

“With the high level of emotional attachment that many owners have with their pets, they are treated more like family members or even children and given only the very best in terms of food and care,” reports Lu Ann Williams, Director of Innovation at Innova Market Insights “So it is not surprising that trends apparent in human prepared foods are increasingly in evidence in pet foods.”

Dog food lines still account for the majority of pet foods launches globally, with 49% of the total recorded by Innova Market Insights in the 12 months to the end of March 2015.

But the share of cat food has risen markedly over the past five years (from 30% to 45%). This reflects the growing popularity of cats as more convenient pets for busy modern lifestyles and the consequent growth in the range and types of products being introduced. Likewise, the popularity of

Cat Club Cat Food

Cats love their...

48|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Pet Care smaller dogs has also grown, resulting in the appearance of more products tailored to their specific needs in terms of formulation and portion-size.

Nearly 73% of global pet foods launches recorded by Innova Market Insights in the 12 months to the end of March 2015 used a health positioning of some kind, rising to over 82% in the US. This covered a wide range of types of claim, including the use of healthy ingredients such vitamins and minerals, omega 3 fatty acids and glucosamine, as well as nutritionally balanced formulations targeted at particular age groups or health conditions. Natural formulations are also a key area of activity, with nearly 14% of global launches using a natural positioning, rising to nearly twice that level in the US. The pet treats and snacks market has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the market in recent years for both dogs and cats. This sector in particular has seen rising levels of interest in offering nutritionally balanced and tasty treats, often with additional health benefits.

Oral care is a particular area of interest in the dog foods market, with over 18% of launches featuring oral health claims and the appearance of specialist snack and treat products such as Pedigree Dentaflex from Mars. As pets live longer, joint health claims are also increasingly being featured; used by 7.4% of dog foods launches globally.

The cat treats market has also seen activity in functional lines, as well as in new shapes, flavours formats and combinations. Nestlé Purina’s Felix Twists, for example, were launched into the cat snacks market in Europe featuring spiral-shaped twisted sticks combining two flavours, rich in either fish or meat.

Brandy’s two promotional variety 3 packs, price marked at €2, continue to perform exceptionally well and have proven to be key selling lines.

and minerals to ensure all-round good health and lively energy, so consumers know they are feeding their cats a tasty, nutritious meal they’ll love.

Sales have been driven by the brand’s new Variety 3 Packs, price marked at €2: Cat Club Variety Chunks in Jelly 3 Pack PM €2; Cat Club Variety Chunks in Gravy 3 Pack PM €2. The Irish consumer has clearly embraced these, high quality, value for money offerings. Both packs are ideal for the convenience trade and offer the retailer strong margin.

A new Poultry Selection Chunks in Gravy 6 Pack has also been added to complement the current Cat Club Variety Chunks in Jelly 6 Pack and 12 Pack range.

The re-launch of Cat Club was supported by a highly successful digital campaign and will continue to be supported by strong promotional activity throughout 2015. For more information, see facebook.com/catclubcatfood.

Also from Mackle Petfoods, Brandy has a strong local heritage dating back to 1971. Brandy is made using only 100% Irish meat, sourced from across the island of Ireland. The use of 100% Irish meat is unique to the brand. Brandy is also fully traceable from farm to bowl. Irish consumers are concerned Mackle Petfoods about the provenance and quality of the product they feed 2015 has been a very busy sales year to date for local pet their dogs and they have really embraced the fact that Brandy food manufacturer Mackle Petfoods, with both their flagship uses only 100% Irish meat and has full traceability. Dog brands Cat Club and Brandy performing extremely well. owners view their dog as a key member of the family so they When it comes to meal times, our feline friends can be want to feed them the best. Consumers are also looking for fussy creatures, so product quality and palatability is key. value and Brandy offers customers high quality products at a Prepared using high quality Irish meats, Cat Club cat food value price. is fully traceable from farm to bowl. Since its recent reBrandy’s two promotional variety 3 packs, Brandy Variety launch, Cat Club has experienced impressive double digit Traditional Loaf and Brandy Variety Chunks in Jelly, both sales growth, so we know cats love its new improved recipes. price marked at €2, offer the customer value for money, while Prepared using high quality Irish meats, Cat Club canned offering the retailer strong margin. Both packs continue to cat food is fully traceable from farm to can. Cat Club’s perform exceptionally well and have proven to be key selling carefully prepared natural meaty chunks in appetising jelly lines, particularly for the convenience sector, due to their keen and gravy have all the nourishment and essential vitamins €2 value price message.

Brandy 6 Pack is available in three variety options, Loaf, Chunks in Jelly and Chunks in Gravy, while the Brandy Variety 12 Pack range enables consumers to trade up to larger multipacks.

Throughout 2015, Brandy will continue to be supported by strong promotional activity and an extensive advertising campaign. For more information, visit Cat Club sales have been driven by the brand’s new Variety 3 Packs, price marked at €2: ideal for the facebook.com/brandydogfood. convenience trade and offering the retailer strong margin.

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Pet Care functional treats range include Bakers Dental Delicious and Bakers Joint Delicious, which help to support a dog’s health with just one tasty treat per day. Bakers Meaty Twists help occupy dogs while maintaining well-being and keeping them utterly satisfied! When pet owners want to treat or train their dog, they indulge their pet with a healthy low-fat treat such as Rewards, Allsorts, Sizzlers or Whirlers, which are packed with protein, omega oils, vitamins and antioxidants.

As well as an impressive treats range, Bakers has brand heritage dating back to 1851. Also within the Purina snacks range is Bonio: delicious, wholesome and traditional, oven baked biscuits with different sizes and shapes to support healthy teeth and gums, all enriched with vitamins and minerals.

Adventuros is the latest innovation from Purina: inspired by the spirit of the wild, it’s a meaty range of unconventional and instinctively delicious treats. This new exciting proposition reacts to the pet shoppers who are looking for more variety in indulgent snacks, with flavours from boar to venison.

“Dog snacks now represent 28.5% of the total dog category sales in Ireland and provide a real moment of bonding between owners and their pet,” says Kieran Conroy, Country Category Manager for Nestlé Purina. “Bakers is the fastest growing brand in dog snacks and we are excited by the launch of the new Purina Adventuros range, which delivers fantastic innovative flavours that are low in fat and rich in meat (Source: AC Nielsen MAT Data to May 17).”

Bakers Dental Delicious help to support a dog’s health with just one tasty treat per day.

Purina Ireland is a nation of dog lovers: there over 400,000 dogs in Ireland, which equates to nearly one million meals per day.

66% of dog owners say that they think treats make their pet happy, with 98% of dog owners giving their dog a treat at some point and 42% giving their dog a daily treat. It is therefore no surprise that dog snacks are growing at +3.3% MAT (Source: AC Nielsen MAT Data to May 17).

The Purina dog snacks portfolio, from Nestlé, offers a range of snacks, from biscuits to treats to dog chews. Their

The new Adventuros range of unconventional treats comes in boar and venison flavours.

Bonio: delicious, wholesome and traditional, oven baked biscuits to support healthy teeth and gums, all enriched with vitamins and minerals.

50|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

CSNA AGM

CSNA Appoints National Executive at AGM The CSNA Annual General Meeting took place recently at Clontarf Castle, and saw the election of the Association’s National Executive.

Pictured are (l-r): Vincent Jennings, CSNA, CEO; Carmel Felle, CSNA Immediate Past President; Denis O’Flynn, CSNA National President; Sara Carrick, Trade Marketing Manager, Vodafone; and Joe Duffy, CSNA guest speaker.

Pictured are Denis O’Flynn, CSNA National President, and Carmel Felle, CSNA Immediate Past President.

THE Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) AGM took place on Tuesday, May 26, at Clontarf Castle. It saw the election of a nine-member National Executive, three of whom, Andy Kelly (Dublin North), Marcella O’Neill (Limerick) and Peter Gaughan (Mayo), replaced Tom O’Toole (Tipperary), Jim Bird (Meath) and Stephen Daly (Galway), all of whom had served their term on the Executive.

The remainder of the National Executive comprises President Denis O Flynn (Cork), Vice President Noel Kelly (Kildare), Carmel Felle (Dublin North), Joe Tierney (Meath), Ann Martyn (Laois) and Joe Mannion (Dublin South).

Topical Issues Topical issues discussed included surcharging, energy costs, the National Lottery changeover and the costs of the regulatory burden in Ireland.

Following on from the AGM, the Annual Dinner took place, attended by 300 members and trade partners. The event was superbly choreographed by Sarah Carrick and her Vodafone team. Sarah in her address informed the attendance of the strides made by Vodafone in increasing their national coverage and bolstering their position as market leader. Incoming National President Denis O Flynn recalled what it was like to grow up in what is now a third generation grocery store and also recounted moving the business to a greenfield site incorporating a forecourt and a post office.

Guest of honour Joe Duffy made a witty and memorable speech, informing the attendance of his formative years, including his time working part-time in his local Ballyfermot corner shop.

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CSNA AGM

Noel Kelly, CSNA National Vice President, and his wife Josie.

Pictured are (l-r): Carmel Felle, CSNA Immediate Past President; Louise O’Connor, CSNA member, Kerry; Caroline Mannion, CSNA Dublin South member; Catherine O’Toole, CSNA Tipperary member; and Josie Kelly, CSNA Kildare member.

Pictured are (l-r): Sara Carrick, Trade Marketing Manager, Vodafone, with Noel Kelly, CSNA National Vice President.

Pictured are (l-r): Padraig Lonergan, CSNA Monaghan member; Tom O’Toole, CSNA Tipperary member, and Noel Kelly, CSNA National Vice President.

Mary Alice Reilly – An Appreciation

Pictured are (l-r): Claire Martin, Niamh O’Byrne and Philippa Gee, all from RTE Guide; with Carmel Felle, CSNA Immediate Past President, and Grace McPhail, Newspread.

Pictured are (l-r): Carmel Felle, CSNA Immediate Past President; Joe Duffy, CSNA guest speaker; and Vincent Jennings, CEO, CSNA.

IT was with great regret that the Association learned the sad news that Mary Alice Reilly had passed away peacefully, following a recurrence of an illness she had battled over the past decade.

Mary Alice Chambers ran a very busy family newsagents in Newport, Co. Mayo, and was involved in the Irish Retail Newsagents Association from is foundation in 1988.

She acted as Secretary and later President of the Mayo Branch, was elected to the National Executive in 1992 and five years later, she was elected as National President of the Association.

Mary Alice believed passionately in community at professional, civic and local level. She gave of her time unstintingly to her fellow retailers and local businesses to help her native Newport and Mayo punch above its weight.

There is no comfort that we can provide to her beloved husband Jim, her daughter Maeve and her son Charles, other than the assurance that her passion, her advice and most of all her smile did make a lasting difference to those of us lucky enough to know her.

May she rest in peace.

52|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Legal Matters

Huge Changes to Employment Law The Workplace Relations Act 2015 is the most important development in Irish employment law in years, writes solicitor Einde O Donnell.

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 has passed both Houses of the Oireachteas and accordingly was signed into law by the President on May 20, 2015. However, at this juncture, it appears that it may be October 1 before it is implemented into law.

Without doubt, the introduction of the 2015 Act is the most important development in employment law over the past number of years. The development of the 2015 Act can be traced back to July 2011 when Minister Richard Bruton announced that it was his intention to overhaul our workplace relations system.

In essence, the 2015 Act is the end product of this promise in that it sets out how our workplace relations system is to be overhauled. It brings major structural and legal changes to our workplace relations system, as well as a major change to the manner in which annual leave entitlements are to be accrued during sick leave.

Changes to Workplace Relations System The 2015 Act provides for the abolishment of the Labour Relations Commissioner, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal, with their functions being submerged into two bodies; the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

In essence, the Workplace Relations Commission will deal with all workplace complaints in the first instance, with the Labour Court being the single appeal body for all workplace relations appeals. The decisions of the Labour Court can be appealed to the High Court but only on a point of law.

The complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission will be heard by Adjudication Officers. The team of Adjudication Officers will be comprised of the current Rights Commissioners and Equality Officers, together with new recruits.

Early Resolution There is an emphasis on early resolution in the 2015 Act, with disputing parties being able to avail of the services of a Mediation Officer. Basically, the Workplace Relations Commission will have the power to refer disputes to a Mediation Officer in appropriate circumstances, with either party having the ability to object and decide that they would prefer for the matter to be adjudicated on. The inclusion

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Legal Matters There are some concerns regarding the new system, particularly around the procedural manner in which Unfair Dismissal Claims will be dealt with by Adjudication Officers. of the option for mediation is very interesting and in my opinion will prove to be a very useful tool in resolving cases at an early stage. It would appear to be modelled on the current mediation service which is provided for under the Employment Equality Acts. From experience, I have found the option to go to mediation in employment equality cases very useful and effective and I can see no reason as to why it’s more widespread use will not lead to certain cases being resolved at an early stage.

The 2015 Act provides for a standardisation of limitation periods for the referral of disputes under employment legislation to six months, with the possibility of this being extended to 12 months where “reasonable cause” can be shown. This represents a marked change in that currently under certain legislation (Unfair Dismissals Act, Payment of Wages Act etc.), the time limit can only be extended where it is shown that there were “exceptional circumstances” which prevented the referral of the dispute within the initial six month period, while other Acts already provided that the time limit could be extended where “reasonable cause” for not submitting the complaint could be shown. In effect, the necessary standard of proof required in order to qualify for the extended time limit has been standardised but importantly, the said burden of proof which employees must meet to qualify for the extended time period is lessened under certain Acts.

New Procedures The 2015 Act also provides for the implementation of new procedures to deal with the enforcement of awards of an Adjudication Officer or the Labour Court through the District Court. The goal here is to streamline these matters and simplify a system which in its current format is overly complicated and expensive. The changes to be introduced by the 2015 Act in this regard should achieve the foregoing in that it will be simpler and cheaper for employees to enforce awards in their favour.

Another interesting proposed change is that there is a provision in the 2015 Act which enables certain cases, if deemed appropriate, to be dealt with by written submission only. One could envisage more straightforward claims (e.g. certain claims under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, the Payment of Wages Act, etc.) being dealt with in this manner and thus it will be interesting to see if this will be a provision which will be utilised. The 2015 Act states that either the employer or the employee have 42 days within which to object to the matter being dealt with by written submission only and accordingly, the agreement of both parties is necessary.

Accrual of Annual Leave while on Sick Leave The main purpose of the 2015 Act is to reform and overhaul

About The Author EINDE O Donnell is a solicitor with Purdy FitzGerald Solicitors and is a graduate of NUI Galway. He has extensive experience of advising on all areas of employment law, employers’ liability and health and safety at work. His practice includes advisory work as well as representation of both employees and employers in employment disputes such as unfair dismissal, industrial relation disputes, equality and discrimination claims, etc. Purdy FitzGerald Solicitors have offices in both Galway and Dublin. Tel: 091 565765/01 8090063.

Email: einde@purdyfitzgerald.com.

our workplace relations system. However, there is also a provision included in the aforementioned Act which deals with the accrual of annual leave entitlements by employees during periods of sick leave. The foregoing change will have significant ramifications for all employers who have employees on long term sick leave and thus cognisance must be taken of same.

The position up until now was that Section 19 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 provided that annual leave only accrued to employees on a basis of time actually worked. However, in a joint case which came before it, Stringer v Revenue and Customs Commissioners and Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, in 2009, the Court of Justice of the European Union interpreted that the European Directive on which the 1997 Act is based meant that employees who were unable to take annual leave during sick leave were entitled to accrue annual leave and to take it at a later date after their sick leave had ended.

Following on from the foregoing decision, it was inevitable that Irish legislation would be amended so as to bring our legislation in line with the prevailing European position.

Section 86 of the 2015 Act contains such an amendment.

However, a cap has been placed upon the amount of annual leave which can be accrued: where an employee is, due to illness, unable to take all or any part of his/her annual leave during the leave year, that they are permitted to take the annual leave within the period of 15 months after the end of that leave year. In essence, what this means is that there is a maximum period of 27 months during which employees on sick leave can accrue annual leave.

Conclusion The changes and reforms dealt with above are just a flavour of the more important reforms and changes which are to be introduced. The majority of these appear to be progressive and positive moves, which will hopefully lead to a more efficient and user friendly workplace relations system. However, there are some concerns regarding the new system, particularly around the procedural manner in which Unfair Dismissal Claims will be dealt with by Adjudication Officers. At present, employers are generally not inclined to allow Unfair Dismissal Claims be dealt with

by Rights Commissioners as there is a perception that it is more difficult to fight such claims in this arena, given the relatively informal approach adopted, while employees’ representatives are concerned that such hearings will be in private and that the new system may lead to increased costs. It will be interesting to see how this issue develops and the impact the implementation of the 2015 Act will have generally as we enter uncharted territories!

54|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Bloom 2015 Bord Bia CEO, Aidan Cotter, addresses the Bord Bia business breakfast at Bloom.

Business Blooms at Annual Festival

Bord Bia’s Bloom Festival attracted 94,000 visitors over the June Bank Holiday Weekend.

OVER 94,000 people attended Bord Bia’s Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, Dublin over the June bank holiday weekend. Even the unpredictable weather didn’t dampen the spirits as crowds poured into the 70-acre site to enjoy the festival, which marks the unofficial start of the summer season.

“Bord Bia is privileged to provide this public showcase of Ireland’s world-class food and horticulture sectors, both of which play a significant role in Ireland’s story and economy,” noted Aidan Cotter, Chief Executive, Bord Bia. “Despite the wind and rain, all participants remained in high spirits and reported very strong sales. Planning has already started for 2016, which will mark Bord Bia’s 10th annual Bloom event.”

Trade Buyers Over 150 food buyers attended Bord Bia’s business breakfast at Bloom on Friday, May 29, for meetings with the exhibiting artisan food and drink companies. “Bord Bia`s Bloom in the Park provides a wonderful setting in which Irish food and drink producers - many of whom are participating at Bloom - to engage with buyers,” noted Aidan Cotter, CEO of Bord Bia. This is the second year Bord Bia has hosted its business breakfast at Bloom, which brings together Irish retail and food service buyers, as well as overseas participation from Selfridges UK and The Health Store UK, and interest from buyers has significantly increased this year. The attending retail buyers included representatives from retailers like Londis, Aldi, BWG, Dunnes Stores, Gala, Lidl, Fallon and Byrne and Tesco, and from a food service perspective, Aer Lingus, Compass, Aramark, Doyle Collection, Musgraves, Pallas and Sodexo.

Bloom 2015 by Numbers Over the five days, 125 food and drink producers participated, while 123 Bloom medals and awards were presented to garden designers, nurseries, floral artists, exhibitors and botanical artists. 1,746 kids learned about healthy eating through the Food Dudes fruit and vegetable demonstrations, while the Banter tent hosted 18 debates and discussions about everything from the food of the future to farm safety, the Origin Green story to the ever-changing environment for an Irish food business.

The Bord Bia Quality Kitchen stage featured some of Ireland’s top chefs, including Catherine Fulvio and Neven Maguire, as well as some new additions such as Banter at Bloom.

Other facts from Bloom 2015 included: • Over 5,000 visitors tasted the newly launched Raw Juices by McCormack Farms; • The Jelly Bean Factory sampled over 30,000 jelly beans; • 10kg of Irish Farmhouse Cheese was sampled every hour at the CAIS Farmhouse Cheese stand; • 5kg of butter was churned, while Molly the dairy cow produced 200 litres of milk; • A total of 4,000 people worked onsite over the five days, including 200 volunteers.

Busy Bloom Artisans, exhibitors and garden designers alike enjoyed a busy and productive time at Bloom, with many reporting huge interest and buoyant sales onsite. Independent studies in recent years have shown that the onsite sales at Bloom have been valued at over €5m each year. In the Food Village, Kilmore Quay, the Premium Butcher and Kilbeggan Oats

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Bloom 2015

bloom in numbers 90,000

92,000

30,000

7,567

visitors

BLOOM plants sold

Jelly Bean Factory Jelly Beans

steps to walk around Bloom

123

3,274

25

Sunflower Selfies Taken

eggs laid in the Bloom Farmyard

medals and awards presented

5,000

400

McCormacks Raw Juices

Litres of Milk from Molly the Dairy Cow

200 Bloom volunteers

Irelands

1st Yeats Rose in Bloom

all sold out@bloominthepark daily and had to travel across the country to restock their stands. In @bordbia #bloom www.bloominthepark.com terms of sales, Mag Kirwan, from Goatsbridge Trout Farm in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, noted it was the best year to date. Mag and her team cooked 350 trout each day, while travelling to Kilkenny to replenish their stock every night.

According to a Bord Bia’s ‘Garden Market Value’ study released earlier this year, the value of Ireland’s gardening industry is in growth for the first time since 2011 and reached €631m in 2014. The Nursery and Floral Marquee reported sales of over 92,000 plants – an increase from 80,000 in 2014.

VIP visitors over the weekend included President Michael D. Higgins, An Tánaiste Joan Burton TD, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Pascal Donohue TD and Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar TD. RTE’s strong presence at Bloom 2015 saw Marty Whelan, Aine Lawlor and Joe Duffy’s Liveline crew all present from the Phoenix, while Nuala Carey and Evelyn Cusack were inundated with weather prediction requests.

Garden Winners The highly experienced and renowned team of international Bloom judges, led by head judge Andrew Wilson, together with award winning garden designers and the curator of the National Botanic Gardens, spend over two days meticulously observing and deliberating the show gardens before announcing the winners of the highly coveted medals. The judging panel awarded a total of 25 medals to show garden designers, including nine Gold, five Silver Gilt, four Silver and seven Bronze.

Jane McCorkell, Kilsallaghan, Co. Meath, received the overall large garden award at Bloom for her Our Origin is Green garden, which represents a trip through Irish mythology. Other winners included: The Pieta House Garden – Darkness into Light, designed by Niall Maxwell; the Yeats Secret Garden in Sligo, sponsored by Glen Dimplex and designed by Lorely Forrester; Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin Garden, presented by Kildare Growers, designed

by Anthony Ryan with Kieran Dunne; The GOAL Garden – What you call a slum, I call a home!, sponsored by GOAL and designed by Joan Mallonn.

Dates for 2016 Bord Bia announced the dates for 2016, which will see the festival celebrate its 10-year milestone. Bloom 2016 will take place from Thursday, June 2 to Monday, June 6, 2016 and planning is already underway.

56|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Forecourt Focus: News Applegreen To Raise €70m with Share Offer APPLEGREEN expects to raise €70m as part of its initial public offering on the Irish stock exchange’s Enterprise Securities Market and London’s Alternative Investment Market.

The IPO includes a partial sale of shares owned by Applegreen founders Joe Barrett and Bob Etchingham, as well as some of the company’s senior management team. It is expected that Applegreen will have a free-float of at least 25% of its share capital when it joins the stock market.

“The group is well positioned to benefit from recovering economic growth and increased disposable income in the Republic of Ireland and the UK, as well as favourable market trends as the oil majors exit the forecourt market,” noted Applegreen CEO, Bob Etchingham.

Applegreen has approximately 152 petrol stations, 96 in Ireland, 54 in the UK and two in the US and plans to use

funds raised in the stock flotation to upgrade and rebrand up to 70 of these stores, as well as developing new sites in both Ireland and the UK. Applegreen said it would “take advantage of other opportunities that may arise, including building a platform for growth in the US and opportunistic acquisitions of portfolios of sites that may become available”.

Topaz Announce Play Or Park Winner Topaz has announced Donaghmede man Malachie Lenihan as the April winner of Topaz Play or Park. After choosing to Play his points, Malachie is readying himself for the trip of a lifetime which will see him and two others head for the Nevada sunshine and the bright lights of Las Vegas.

After deciding to play his points at his local Topaz store at the Donaghmede Shopping Centre, Malachie becomes the fourth Play or Park winner this year. His trip, which has a prize value of €15,600, includes a business class return trip to Las Vegas, where he will spend seven nights in the world-famous Bellagio hotel, while sampling the Vegas lifestyle at Cirque De Soleil, partaking in a Fighter Pilot experience and flying by helicopter across the Grand Canyon.

“It’s unbelievable, really. I’d be the type of person who never wins competitions but it hasn’t stopped me from playing my points with Topaz when I can. Some of the prizes have been fantastic and having seen the Vegas prize, I thought I’d chance it as it’s an incredible city and one I’d love to go back to,” said a delighted Malachie.

Forthcoming prizes include a luxury cruise for two visiting the Greek Islands, a brand new SEAT or a once-in-a-lifetime trip, such as a fourteen day excursion along Route 66 for 2 people with €3,000 spending money.

Pictured is Malachie Lenihan, winner of the Topaz Play or Park Las Vegas from the Skies giveaway, and his wife, and Catherine McGowran, Donaghmede Site Manager, Elaine Kearney, Customer Loyalty Manager of Topaz, and Ray Dolan, Topaz Area Manager.

Maxol Parks Tennis Competition MAXOL, title sponsor of Parks Tennis, attended an awards ceremony recently at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club with professional tennis player James Cluskey, where boys and girls aged from 10 right up to 17 were presented with trophies for their successful participation in the latest Parks Tennis competitions. Pictured are Fergal Harrington, Group Brand Development Manager, the Maxol Group; Arun Kumar, Maxol Retailer (Maxol Baldoyle and Sandymount Road) and Irish International tennis player James Cluskey.

Always FRESH MILK

and the SAME BEANS as our coffee shops

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Forecourt Focus: News Maxol Invests €1.1m in Five New Stores MAXOL has announced a €1,100,000 investment in five stores located at Mitchelstown and Tivoli in Cork, Ardcavan in Wexford, Tipperary and Portarlington, Co. Laois.

Each store will be remodelled to the newly designed format from Maxol and MACE and will feature a Moreish café/deli, Maxol’s own fresh food brand. The new store format presents customers with a bright, contemporary and comfortable environment for convenience and fresh food shopping or relaxing in the café. The completion of the stores in the coming months will bring the total of Moreish cafes to 22 in the Maxol network.

“We are investing to improve our customers’ experience and since 2012, we have given 185 Maxol service stations a new look and makeover and constructed 21 new ones, with more in the pipeline,” said Brian Donaldson, Group General Manager, The Maxol Group. “Today’s consumers have unprecedented choice and we are positioning Maxol to meet their needs through the provision of exceptional facilities, standards, customer service and value for money on our forecourts, in our stores and in our Moreish cafes. By doing this we hope to continue our business growth and to develop

long lasting relationships with our customers all across Ireland.”

Moreish offers an extensive hot and cold deli menu for all times of the day, an exclusive range of speciality sandwiches, low calorie salads and healthy treats and both barista and self-serve coffee and speciality teas. Internal hi-spec washrooms with baby changing facilities will be added, along with complementary WiFi and the ambience enhanced by Maxol radio.

Meanwhile, local retailer Ena Souhan of Maxol’s service station in Trim, seems to have the lucky touch recently, having sold a winning Lottery ticket worth €10m, followed by winning a Maxol ‘Today’s Local Champion’ (TLC) Award.

Maxol’s TLC Awards aim to encourage and reward outstanding excellence in retail standards and customer service, as well as bringing an element of fun to the Maxol workplace and creating a great teambuilding environment. Mystery shoppers and online customer surveys are just two of the means of assessing each individual Maxol Representatives, Des McGovern (left) and Des Duffy (right) present the Maxol station’s level of TLC Award 2014 to Ena Souhan (centre) and staff members Karolina Kot and Carol quality.

Fields from Souhan’s Maxol Service Station in Trim.

To find out what Costa Express can offer you contact: ROI tel: 021 500 3526 NI tel: 02892 689204

58|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Shopping Behaviour

Capitalising On Changing Shopping Behaviour Stephen Rust, CEO engage Ireland, discusses the transformation in shopping behaviour and how canny suppliers and retailers can use it to their advantage.

OVER 100 members of the retail, marketing and sales sectors attended a recent seminar hosted by engage Ireland recently, entitled ‘Driving Results through A Shopper Marketing Approach’.

As part of the seminar, they discussed the phenomenal transformation in shopping behaviour they are witnessing across the globe. The development in online and digital, the momentum of discounter stores, the growth of specialist retailers and the new innovative ways of interrupting the shopping journey has all led to a much more fragmented approach to shopping in terms of what, where, when, how and why shoppers buy.

The following are some thoughts on what this means for suppliers and retailers who want to prosper in the future.

a mobile brand in China, became market leader in less than three years with no offline presence at all!

Picking the Relevant Channels: Considering the degree of change in shopping behaviour, what is coming apparent is we cannot win with every shopper on every mission, everywhere, all the time.

Ensuring there is ruthless focus of activity, investment and effort on key channels where the target shopper can be engaged is becoming the only way to achieve a decent return on investment. The all or omni channel approach has generally become too costly, complex and unnecessary, while we have witnessed brands gain significant traction through a much more focused channel approach. For example, Xiao Mi,

Three-Way Insight: Consumer, Shopper & Channel To really gain traction in today’s market, insight has to be developed three ways – Consumer, Shopper and Channel.

Discovering insights for growth will not be found solely in focus groups. More emphasis on understanding target shoppers along their path to purchase, and especially in the relevant shopping environments, can help shape a more effective mix of marketing and sales activity.

For example, it was the case for Sony in the APAC region that they had a key target group of potential consumers who were big advocates of the brand, and had over 90% penetration to Sony booth outlets. However, two thirds of these people walked away from these booths without buying!

Research was undertaken to gain insight into their purchase journey and understand their behaviour and experience in-store. It was found that even though these people were big advocates of Sony and the brand was their first choice, the in-store purchase triggers and reasons to buy were not compelling enough to convince them to buy. Sony readjusted their mix of marketing activity to focus on building more compelling reasons and triggers to buy in these outlets. The brand USP in terms of being the best colour experience was brought to the forefront of the in-store experience. Stores

Barry Carty, Category Manager, BWG Foods, is pictured with Mike Anthony, CEO of engage Worldwide.

Eoghan Phelan, CEO of Visualise, shopper marketing specialists, addresses delegates at the engage Ireland seminar.

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Shopping Behaviour About engage Ireland

Karen Healy, Trading Manager, Freshways Food Co., with Michael Cullen, Commercial Director, Kerry Foods.

ENGAGE Ireland, run by CEO Stephen Rust (pictured), works with clients to create insights and identify growth opportunities, develop shopper marketing strategies that will deliver growth, efficiencies and greater profitability and develop marketing and sales team effectiveness through the utilisation of organisational development and training programmes. engage Worldwide was founded a decade ago by Mike Anthony and Toby Desforges, co-authors of The Shopper Marketing Revolution, and together they have worked with over 20% of the top 250 consumer goods companies across three continents. As well as the Irish operation, the company has offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa and further expansion in Europe and Australasia is planned for later this year.

For Further information visit: www.engageconsultants.com

Kathryn Dodd and Aisling Kelliher, Shopper Marketing, Unilever Ireland.

were redesigned, point of sale and brochures were re-written, and in-store sales teams were re-trained. By understanding the shopper journey better and focusing their investment on the key purchase trigger points, Sony was able to actually save just under US$2m in total marketing spend, while achieving $30m additional revenue through this channel.

Test and Learn for Improvement As more money is invested into shopper marketing, testing and learning is becoming more essential to ensure a good return is achieved. While sales uplift is the ultimate measure, it is through additional in-depth analysis, shopper research and compliance tracking that we are able to understand how to make our activity more effective. At times, double-digit increases in the rate of sale can be achieved just by refining fixture layouts and communications based on in-store analysis and research. For instance, in a recent category research project, we found the eye level for the average man was a shelf higher than the average woman. This obvious but practical insight helped ensure we

Maresa Cagney, Marketing Manager – Ireland, Birds Eye, with Ciaran Gilsenan, Assiatant Brand Manager, Birds Eye.

laid out our a category range based on having products that were slightly more relevant to males on the higher shelf, and the female relevant products below to optimise shelf-space, thus ensuring the best chance of a sale at each shopper interaction.

Adding Shopper Engagement Skillsets The skillsets needed to make ‘engaging the shopper’ happen are also evolving. Robust sales and marketing skills are still as necessary as before. However, the teams who make it happen must also implicitly understand the path and shopping environment of their target shoppers, be strategic in where they focus to win, analytical in understanding how to win and creative in engaging the shopper in the relevant environments. We find more companies are building these competencies into their team development plans.

To sum up, based on the degree of change in shopper behaviour today, companies are having to reassess parts of their marketing and sales approach. Prioritisation of key channels, developing three-way insight, testing and learning in-store, and adding shopper engagement skillsets are becoming all the more essential for succeeding in the new era of ‘engaging the shopper’.

Ruth Hankin, Channel Marketing Manager – On The Go, Britvic Ireland, with Brian Greer, Britvic Ireland.

IRISH QUALITY FOOD AND DRINK

速

AWARDS 2015

Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards 2015

16 September, Round Room, Mansion House, Dublin

Do you want to network with top food and drink professionals?

Book your tickets today and take advantage of the fantastic networking opportunities the awards night offers!

To book please visit:

irish.qualityfoodawards.com For more details please contact Lara Monahan lara.monahan@irishqualityfoodawards.com Ireland +353 (0)1 8176363 UK +44 (0)20 8253 8663

Follow @IrishQFAs and #IQFA for the latest awards updates Reversed

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Retail News|June 2015| www.retailnews.ie|61

Market News LYNX BLACK LAUNCHES THE Lynx male grooming brand from Unilever is set to refine its portfolio with the launch of a new premium range, Lynx Black. Offering consumers a fresh, subtle fragrance, Lynx Black will be the brand’s main focus for 2015, supported with a substantial marketing spend across TV, OOH, in-store, digital and PR. Developed by iconic fragrance expert, Ann Gotlieb, Lynx Black is set to capitalise on the consumer demand for more understated products with sophisticated fragrances.

Lynx Black packaging boasts a simple but stylish design, in line with the brand’s understated proposition. Completely black in colour, each pack has a subtle version of the iconic logo and is set to provide optimum stand out on-shelf.

COW & GATE FRIENDS COW & Gate have announced the launch of a range of 16 new vegetable-based savoury pouches that are specifically developed for baby’s first spoons to 10+ months. This range is being launched in direct response to the growing need to encourage more consumption of vegetables in the diets of Irish babies. Babies are naturally pre-disposed to eating sweet and salty flavours, but are often given vegetables diluted by the addition of fruit. Behaviours learned as a baby will stay the whole way through life. With this range, they will learn to love vegetables as they are meant to be enjoyed. This range consists of four primary vegetable flavours; carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and pea, with the addition of stage relevant ingredients as baby progresses through weaning.

ALL THE FUN OF THE ROCKIES SUMMER just got a whole lot cooler as Coors Light is delighted to bring back award winning campaign The Great Rocky Mountain Game, for its third year. Winner of Best Mobile Marketing Award at the All Ireland Marketing Awards 2014 and the Grand Prix award at the Mobile Marketing Awards 2015, the campaign focuses around a mobile gaming app that invites consumers across Ireland right into the heart of the Rockies.

By downloading and playing the app, consumers can get their hands on over 10,000 prizes weekly, including hundreds of free pints. The campaign runs until August 31 and is supported by outdoor, Digital/ Mobile, VODs, PR and Social, and for the first time, with a new TV campaign. The Great Rocky Mountain Game visibility will also appear on 6 x 33cl, 8 x 50cl & 20 x 33cl promotional packs with in-store POS and in-store theatre to catch the attention of consumers.

GLENISK GOES GREEK GLENISK has introduced a completely new range of Strained Greek Protein Yogurts. The Authentically Strained Greek Yogurts are fat free and high in protein, making them the perfect healthy snack for fitness fans looking for a post workout snack, or a delicious, guilt-free treat for anyone watching their weight. Glenisk Authentically Strained Greek Yogurts are available in Natural, Vanilla, Raspberry, Mango & Passionfruit, Blueberry, Coconut, Rhubarb and Strawberry flavours, made with the freshest Irish milk and all containing live cultures. A 150g serving contains about 100 calories, so consumers can enjoy a great taste minus the guilt. See www.glenisk.com for more information.

JAMMIE BAKED TO PERFECTION THE Jammie Dodgers brand from Burton’s Biscuit Company is going all grown-up with the launch of Jammie Bakes, the first ever Jammie Dodgers product aimed at adults. Described by Burton’s as “the most significant innovation for Jammie Dodgers since the childhood favourite was introduced more than half a century ago”, Jammie Dodgers Jammie Bakes are crispy, golden biscuits with a soft, jammie centre, available in two variants, raspberry and apricot, with an rrp of €2.20. “Jammie Bakes gives Jammie Dodgers more adult appeal and reinforces the brand’s position as one of Ireland’s best-loved family brands, with a product range that will now appeal as much to fun-loving adults as their children,” said David Costello, Burton’s Biscuit Company’s Head of Customer Category Management. For enquiries, call Flanagan’s Foods on (01) 4506100.

GETTING PIGGY WITH IT! TV CHEF Simon Lamont was on hand to launch Rudd’s new range and the brand new look to its existing Birr born and bred award-winning products.

Research conducted by Rudd’s reveals that over 50% of people eat pork meat products outside of the breakfast mealtime. The humble rasher sambo tops the list for the nation’s favourite rashers recipe, with one in three choosing it as their favourite rasher feast. Perhaps more surprisingly, the sausage stats reveal that traditional bangers and mash (15%) lost out to the quick and easy sausage sambo (55%) as the nation’s favourite sausage serving. The research coincides with the launch of a suite of new recipes, exclusively developed by Simon Lamont to showcase the quality and versatility of the Rudd’s range.

62|Retail News|June 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Shelf Life BORD Bia and Bord Iascaigh Mhara will be showcasing the best of Irish Seafood at the upcoming ‘SeaFest 2015’ Maritime Festival in Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork on July 11.

The fun filled ‘SeaFest’ family day follows ‘Our Ocean Wealth’, a high level conference on July 10 to discuss the potential of the marine sector in Ireland. With total seafood sales generating in excess of €850m annually and the demand for Irish seafood worldwide on the increase, seafood is an industry with significant potential. The domestic market brings massive opportunities too, with Irish people consuming only 21kg of seafood per annum, in comparison to 34kg in France and a staggering 70kg in Japan. Pictured at the launch of SeaFest, Ireland’s First National Maritime Festival is Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, with Fiona and Aileen Evans.

RATES for postal services will increase from Wednesday, July 1, 2015.

The standard domestic letter rate for items up to 100g within Ireland will increase from 68c to 70c, while the standard international letter rate up to 100g will increase from €1.00 to €1.05. Despite the increase, An Post insist that their rates remain well below the EU domestic average of 77c. For businesses, the existing Meter rate for Standard Post letters will remain unchanged at €0.66 per item and a wide range of significant discount options continue for Ceadúnas licence and bulk-mail services.

TWO Irish companies, Cashel blue and The Little Milk Company enhanced their international reputations when they were awarded Super Gold and Gold medals respectively in the International Cheese competition at the Mondial du Fromage cheese trade show in Tours, France, recently, where Bord Bia led Ireland’s first participation in the competition. Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers won the Super Gold medal for its Crozier Blue and Silver medal for Cashel Blue, while The Little Milk Company took the Gold medal for its Slievenamon Vintage Cheddar. Pictured are (l-r): Sarah Furno from The Cashel Farmhouse Cheesemakers and Conor Mulhall from The Little Milk Company.

INNOVATIVE company, Improper Butter, has just launched Improper Butter with Sunblushed Tomato and Basil - just in time for summer barbeque season! This new cooking butter is made by combining grass-fed Irish creamery butter with plump sunblushed tomatoes, fresh basil and natural seasonings and is perfect for melting over barbequed salmon, chicken, pork or lamb, steamed new spuds or toasted breads. See www.improperbutter.com for more information.

A €17m expansion resulting in 30 new jobs has been announced

by Irish Distillers at an event to mark 50 years of bottling at its Fox and Geese facility in Clondalkin, Dublin. The investment reflects the incredible pace of growth in the Irish whiskey category and will increase bottling capacity at the site from 5m ninelitre cases to 7.5m cases (90m bottles) of Jameson per year by 2017. “This is part of a wider investment programme which saw a €200m expansion of our distillery in Midleton and our maturation facility in Dungourney, Co Cork,” said Anna Malmhake, CEO of Irish Distillers, pictured with Liam Donegan, General Manager, Fox and Geese.

A TABLET computer app that encourages children to ‘Go Bananas’ has been launched by Dundalk-based banana importers, Fyffes. Aimed at 7-10 year olds, the app is produced with the purpose of fostering healthy eating amongst young people. It is written and illustrated in child-friendly, easy-to-read text and drawings, with content designed to tie in with lessons being taught in primary schools. The app uses interactive games, experiments, quizzes, puzzles and downloadable activities to teach children about bananas, their nutritional value, how and where they are grown, as well as details regarding climate and other factors that affect their growth. Pictured at the launch recently is Fyffes Sales and Marketing Manager, Emma Hunt-Duffy, with pupils Jamie and Aoife Lynn from St. Oliver Plunkett National School, Malahide.

MUSGRAVE have announced that the 2014 Musgrave Triathlon raised €200,000 for charity. The beneficiaries, Breakthrough Cancer Research and CMRF Crumlin, the fundraising body for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, received €100,000 each. The Musgrave Triathlon, which is now in its fourteenth year, has raised over €3.7m for Irish charities to date. The 2015 Musgrave Triathlon will take place in Farran Woods, Co. Cork on Saturday, August 29. The event involves an 800m swim, followed by 33km cycle and 10km run. The triathlon attracts over 500 participants every year, made up of staff from Musgrave, SuperValu and Centra stores across Ireland and suppliers.

The triathlon is a fun challenge, with the sole purpose of raising as much funds as possible for charity. Pictured during the 2014 event are Musgrave’s Alex Barry, Senior Sales Analyst, Tara Finn, Food Saftey and Chill Quality Controller, Eoghan O’Donovan, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland.

Tullamore D.E.W. is delighted to once again announce their sponsorship of Castlepalooza, the eagerly anticipated three-day music & arts festival which takes place from July 31 to August 2 in Charleville Castle, Tullamore. This year, Tullamore D.E.W. is looking for acts with ‘true character’ to take the limelight in front of up to 5,000 revellers on the Main Stage of this year’s Castlepalooza. The website www.TrueCharacter2015.com has been created to serve as a focal point for the campaign, where performers can upload YouTube videos of their acts to be in with a chance to win.

Entry is not only open to musicians however: Tullamore D.E.W. is also looking for actors, poets, dancers, acrobats, performance artists … so long as the act is original, imaginative, witty, and true to character.

It’s your Call‌ You

At the IGBF we assist the families of over 300 of your colleagues every month. These families are more unfortunate than ourselves and without your support such assistance would not be possible...

But we still need your help to continue making the difference.

To Donate: ww.igbf.

For Assistance: ww.igbf.ie/help/our_help.html For Queries: info@igbf.ie

Registered Charity No: 6577 Registered Friendly Society No: 1775

l

THE RETURN OF

THE GREAT ROCKY MOUNTAIN GAME!

OVER 10,000 PRIZES

UP FOR GRABS WEEKLY Award-winning Game: All Ireland Marketing Awards 2014, Mobile Marketing Awards Grand Prix 2015

Extensive TTL Campaign: TV, Outdoor, Digital & Social Media Supported by innovative POS nationwide FOR FULL TERMS AND CONDITIONS SEE COORSLIGHT.IE

New Game levels and features 12 week promotional period from 9th June to 30th August Supported on 8 pack can, 6 & 20 pack bottle