Welcome to the September-October issue of Grocery Trader. Finally some good news on the coronavirus front: disinfectant brand Zoflora has been proven to kill Covid-19. This is great news both from a public health point of view and for grocery retailers who can expect to see the brand fly off the shelves. The latest Total Till data from Nielsen reveals that online FMCG sales continue to soar at +102%, with 10% more online shopping trips over the last 12 weeks. Nielsen data also shows that FMCG sales growth at supermarkets continues to level out at +5.3% over the last four weeks ending 5 September.
Co-op was one of the winners during lockdown, announcing its revenue was up 7.6% to £5.8bn in the 26 weeks to 4 July, driven by exceptional performances in its food and wholesale divisions. FrieslandCampina has gone the extra mile and delivered its milk drinks to front-line workers across the UK. Having already donated product to 77,472 workers at 171 sites, the brand has reached a further 60,960 key workers as a thank you for all their hard work. Sites included 250 Royal Mail locations, 54 Parcel Force hubs and 15 Marie Curie Hospice hospices.
More admirable work from Mars Food, which has joined Marcus Rashford’s Child Poverty Task Force in the effort to #endchildfoodpoverty. Mars Food, alongside the likes of Heinz, Deliveroo and Kellogg’s will be supporting key policy recommendations put forward to the government calling for better equality in the UK’s food system which has been worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Brioche Pasquier brand has come a long way since Gabriel Pasquier began baking in a small village in western France in the 1930s and is now the number one brioche brand. In a Meet the Marketer interview, Charlotte Hulbert, Sales Manager, Brioche Pasquier tells Grocery Trader how the brand has grown sales during lockdown and about the company’s marketing plans which include a team-up with the Minions.
Time flies and Christmas is already around the corner. This means grocers are already planning their confectionery displays and getting some of the ‘early bird’ items on the shelves. Levi Boorer, Customer Development Director at Ferrero, explains how retailers can merchandise the confectionery fixture to prepare for the season in an Industry Focus interview.
Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK (STG UK) supplies the UK’s number one cigar in Signature, Britain’s fastest growing and second best selling miniature cigar, Moments Blue and Henri Wintermans Half Corona, the nation’s most popular medium to large cigar. On our Supplier Spotlight page, Alastair Williams, Country Director at STG UK, tells Grocery Trader what trends are driving the cigar market and how the category has proved resilient to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Enjoy reading the issue.
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