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Retail Intelligence

Weekly Round Up, February 18, 2013

By Publications Checkout
Weekly Round Up, February 18, 2013

Aldi has been granted permission to build a second store in Mullingar, County Westmeath. The discounter applied for planning permission at the .75 hectare site (1.85 acres) site on the Dublin Road seven months ago. Aldi already have a store at Green Road, Mullingar. The retailer received conditional permission on January 7, and after submitting further information, gained approval to go ahead with the new store. Elsewhere, the discounter has plans to develop another store in Ennistymon, County Clare, amidst criticism from the local SuperValu manager Jackie Crowe, the Irish Farmers Association and other local retailers. According to the Clare Champion, Crowe said that the catchment area is not big enough to support a large discount store and existing shops in the locality.

Four European retail giants have established a new strategic buying alliance. German retailer Rewe, Belgium's Colruyt, and Italian/Swiss co-operatives Conad and Coop have come together to create the CORE Alliance, to address the "growing challenges of competition in Europe and the increasing internationalisation of food retailing," according to Rewe chief executive Alain Caparros. "Through joint purchasing, we want to offer all of our customers even better prices." Combined, the four retailers account for approximately 6.7% of the total European supermarket industry, with a combined 20,000 stores.

Tom Palmer of cigar firm Kapp & Peterson has told the Sunday Business Post that the introduction of plain packaging legislation would "devastate" custom if it was introduced. Palmer, who operates a store in Dublin city centre, Peterson of Dublin, said that should the proposed ban be extended to pipe tobacco and cigars, it would be a case of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater." He added: "The rationale between plain packaging is to deter the young [from smoking], a laudable objective. But the type of people we sell to are typically 40 or over. You don't see a 16-year-old going around with a pipe in his mouth, or an expensive cigar."

The Minister for Small Business, John Perry TD, has launched the Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards, to encourage third level students to develop innovative business proposals. With a prize fund of €30,000 cash and €30,000 consultancy for enterprising students, as well as a €10,000 first prize, the awards spur students to think of future plans in business before they graduate. The Enterprise Ireland Student Entrepreneur Awards, which are co-sponsored by Invest Northern Ireland, Intel, Cruickshank Intellectual Property Attorneys and Grant Thornton, are Ireland’s biggest and longest established student enterprise competition for third level student teams from the whole island. The awards sponsors will guide the entrepreneurs in intellectual property, market research, finances, technology development, public relations and advertising. This year applicants are asked to submit a video to enter. 

Safefood Ireland has called for supermarkets to ban sweets and other confectionery at their checkouts, in an effort to tackle childhood obesity. Safefood reported last year that 25% of school going children are grossly overweight or obese, with 6% of three-year-olds currently classed as obese. Safefood has also launched a TV ad campaign that stresses the value of saying ‘no’ to children when they ask for sweets at the supermarket. Safefood have so far approached senior executives at Aldi Ireland, Dunnes Stores, Lidl Ireland, Musgrave Group and Tesco Ireland to ask them to support the cause. Senator Feargal Quinn is among those voicing his support for the motion. “After many years experience in this sector, I’m aware of the competitive environment in which food retailers operate," he said. "Every supermarket aims to meet their individual customers’ needs but they also have the capability to encourage their customers to make healthier choices. With one in every four children on the island of Ireland overweight, there is potential for Irish supermarkets to play a role in helping parents to make healthier choices for children.”

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All 24 Superquinn stores were renamed last week as SuperValu, expanding the retailer's network to 223 stores, with a turnover of €2.6 billion. The Musgrave-owned business is also implementing a €20 million in-store investment programme which will see the former Superquinn network upgraded with a new focus on service, range, quality and value. This is in addition to €10 million invested during 2013. Martin Kelleher, SuperValu Managing Director, said: “Combining SuperValu and Superquinn brings together the best of both brands. Since announcing our plans to rename Superquinn as SuperValu in August, the consumer response has been very positive demonstrating that both brands are better together. Superquinn shoppers have really bought into the quality and value SuperValu offers.” There are now over 14,500 employees working for SuperValu. 

Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil will soon be on the shelves of Donnybrook Fair in Dublin and Meadows and Byrne, as well as at the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Broighter Gold, a farm-based business located near Limavady in county Derry, is targeting the Republic for growth and has also won business from celebrity restaurateur Clodagh McKenna. Leona Kane, Broighter Gold managing director said, “Winning business from such prestigious gourmet stores as Donnybrook Fair and Meadows and Byrne is a marvellous boost for us and will encourage us to step up our marketing drive in the Republic and also to explore opportunities in Britain.” The company’s portfolio of original and flavoured culinary oils are used by leading chefs and sold widely in Northern Ireland.

Unilever has launched a new range of ice creams in the UK to drive impulse sales. The new products include handheld variations of Cornetto lines including the Choc & Ball, and revamped Classico and Strawberry Cornettos. A new bubblegum flavour of Calippo and a Funny Feet ice cream are targeted at children, while a mojito-flavoured Solero is for adults only, as it contains trace amounts of rum. Noel Clarke, Unilever ice cream director told The Grocer, “Ice cream is the biggest incremental sales opportunity in FMCG in 2014. The game-changer in unlocking impulse shopping is to get ice cream right in front of consumers.” Other ranges being revamped are Carte d’Or and Gelateria. 

Nestlé is selling an 8% share in L’Oréal back to the French beauty company for €6.5 billion. This leaves the Swiss food producer with a 23.29% stake in L’Oréal, in a partnership that has spanned 40 years. Nestle chairman Peter Brabeck has said that the Swiss firm plans to remain a major investor in L’Oréal. “I do not see this as a first step of leaving L’Oréal ... not at all.” However, L’Oréal has said that it is open to buying back more of its own stock in the future.

Reckitt Benckiser reached £10 billion in global revenues last year, up 5% year-on-year. Fourth quarter net revenue also rose by 5% to £2.5bn. The FMCG giant, which owns brands including Nurofen, Cillit Bang and Durex, increased investment behind its brands to 13% of net revenue, equating to a £100 million increase compared to 2012. The investment was driven towards the health and hygiene brands, such as Strepsils, Dettol, Harpic and newly acquired Schiff. Rakesh Kapoor, chief executive officer at Reckitt, said, “Our strategy for growth and outperformance through driving health and hygiene power brands together with our focus on 16 power markets is delivering results. We continue to invest in our business to drive sustainable value creation. In 2013, we invested an incremental £100m behind building our brands. We have confidence that our pipeline of innovations, power brand roll-outs and brand investments will deliver another year of high quality growth.”

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Kronenbourg 1664 beer adverts have been called misleading by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The two ads in question feature French retired soccer player Eric Cantona. The ASA says that one ad implies that the beers is made in France, while the other appears to claim high importance of French hops as an ingredient, however the hops used in the brewing process of Kronenbourg are not French. Heineken, owner of the Kronenbourg brand has agreed to comply with the adjudication but is requesting an independent review of the decision, as they believe that there are signIficant flaws. Kronenbourg is brewed in the UK but with a French recipe supervised by Brasseries Kronenbourg.

© 2014 - Checkout Magazine by Genna Patterson

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