The Grocer – 20 July 2019

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in associatio

brands have added a combined £752.4m in sales this year, raking in a total of £10.2bn.

That’s an extra 136 million litres of booze this year alone. And of those top 100 brands

67 are in growth, many making double-digit (or even triple-digit) gains. It hardly seems a

sign of moderate consumption.

Reality checkSo why are we constantly being told Brits are

packing in their drinking? How are we sup-healthier, less all-guns-blaz-while

There is obviously the matter of the World Cup. England’s shock success in getting

to the semi-fiespecially for beer brands like Stella, which nal skews this year’s fi gures,

racked up an additional £6.7m over the tour-nament. Or Heineken, which pulled in the

largest gain of any beer in our top 100 rank-ing. That the summer of 2018 was one of the

hottest on record helped too. This year could prove a reality check.

Indeed, Pernod Ricard commercial director C h r i s E l l i s s ay s b r a nd s t h at b e ne fi ted from the

football and sunshine-heavy 2018 will likely hitcomestonext year’s compar-iserable

more t h a n ju s t a But last year’s bb

and buoyant” as he’s not the only

“reasons to be cPremiumisathi

shoppers are dtity, that doesrn

‘Less but betteshoppers demor

ing consumeeconomic shro

still willing ton quality. Wo

and Barefoo’st

N SENSIBL

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Sir, Your Britain’s Biggest

Alcohol Brands report (13 July,

p42) was hugely beneficial as it

highlighted the rapid changes

in the marketplace and the

clear move by consumers to

artisanal and premium spirits.

The market now has more

brands, products and stories

than ever before, but these

three things combined will

only get you so far. Now, more

than ever, is the time when

brands need to be making

intelligent investments in order

Booze brands

must invest with

intelligence

Growth in posh booze

● Sir, We were pleased to see

the results from your recent

Britain’s Biggest Alcohol Brands

list (13 July), which demon-

strates a rising consumer trend

towards premiumisation and an

opportunity for retailers to cash

in higher margins from brands

like Estrella Damm.

Younger consumers are more

aware about what they drink,

and have more choice, but this

doesn’t stop them from enjoying

their preferred tipple. Instead,

we have seen a change in the

way they drink and predict the

‘less but better’ ethos behind

the growing interest in premium

drinks will continue driving

quality alcohol consumption.

World beer, for one, is going

from strength to strength

despite the overall decline of

beer volumes – bringing a sense

of provenance, heritage and

authenticity to consumers.

It will be interesting to see

where premium brands score

next year – possibly even more

highly, as health and food asso-

ciation trends endure.

Jim Hopkins, off trade category

manager, Marston’s

A challenge for Lidl

● Sir, Oxfam recently recorded

Lidl at the bottom of the list of

supermarkets making progress

to capitalise on demand.

Developing a robust sales

infrastructure, creating

immersive and poignant brand

experiences, and investing

in vertical integration to gain

valuable market intelligence all

creates the right foundations

for a brand to succeed. It seems

an obvious strategy, but the

reality is it takes a great deal of

time and planning.

Consumer tastes are

changing and evolving quicker

than ever before, so having the

tools and processes in place to

spot them, react to them, and

expedite NPD into the market

will also pay dividends.

Leanne Ware, white spirits

director, Whitley Neill

your tweets

F o u r i n 1 0 s h o p p e r s f e e l g u i l t y

about eating chocolate

Listen, there’s no shame in

the chocolate game. Free

your mind & eat like no one’s

watching

@wthrspn

Premier Foods adds Bisto

Microwave Ready Gravy Pots

What is simpler than, er,

boiling the kettle and mak-

ing Bisto from granules?

@JonLYeomans

Asda Christmas 2019 range

preview

Elf ice cream and ‘coal’

marshmallows on sale for

Christmas!

@georgeedpainter

Full of, not free from: the free-

from category report

The future conversation has

to go this way, authentic and

honest

@Trace y_ wo od ward

on human suffering within

global food supply chains (6

July, p4). If left unaddressed, it

could lead to Lidl losing some

hard-won ground against rivals.

As today’s shoppers demand

more accountability, this can

be an opportunity for Lidl to

review its approach and really

connect with what consumers

care about. Its commitment to

a human rights impact assess-

ments on its supply chain (13

July, p6) is a first step in demon-

strating that value-based retail

can work in tandem with ethics,

but more must be done.

So far they’ve been exem-

plary in building loyalty and

keeping consumers on side. Will

they rise to the challenge to sat-

isfy new consumer demands in

this competitive category?

Aaron Shields, executive strategy

director, Fitch

Unpleasant plastic

● Sir, I read with interest your

Daily Bread blog on Evian’s

recycling plans (4 July).

Your point about the recent

pictures of littered plastic bot-

tles from the Glastonbury clear

up spark an interesting debate.

I had the same experience at

the Leeds Festival last year with

plastic takeaway trays, plastic

bottles and plastic pint glasses.

While there needs to be pro-

gress in collection and recycling

rates of plastic, some human

responsibility is also required.

Isn’t it interesting that the

same demographic that preach

to us all about saving the planet

are the ones littering England’s

green and pleasant land?

George Slack, managing director,

National Flexible

Michael Gove commits to

DRS, but the arguments are

far from over

‘How late it was, how

late.’ No, we’re not talking

about the UK government’s

consultation on DRS. This

was the title of Michael

Gove’s speech yesterday,

as he appealed to save the

planet (and possibly his

place in a Boris Johnson

cabinet). Gove nailed his

colours to the mast of an

‘all in’ system, including all

sizes of bottles, and glass as

well as plastic.

Ian Quinn, 17 July

Our food system must

change, but there’s only so

much it can do

Brits simply have less money

to spend on food. Household

budgets are already tight

and in some areas of our

society, parents are already

being forced to choose

whether to eat themselves

or feed their children. If we

overhaul the British food

system without keeping that

in mind, we risk creating a

situation whereby only the

wealthy can afford home-

grown food

Carina Perkins, 16 July

Why chefs can rest easy

about the microwave meal

Marcus Wareing warned the

nation was “wasting time

on our phones” rather than

whipping up meals in the

kitchen. Amid the collective

social media obsession, he

fears our cooking prowess

will soon be limited to

plonking a bit of plastic in

the microwave. But the data

isn’t all pointing towards a

cooking apocalypse. Last

year, growth in ready meals

slowed to less than half that

of the year before.

Emma Weinbren, 15 July

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VERTICAL INTEGRATION

The market now has more brands, products and stories

than ever before, but these will only get you so far –

Leanne Ware, white spirits director, Whitley Neill