Margaret McCarthy, Food & Beverage Division, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
IGD have identified 6 trends driving PL developments in Western Europe. These include Lifestyle, Healthy Living, Exporting Ranges, Meal-for-tonight, Premium ranges, and Category ranges.
Some recent examples of how these trends are being rendered within the retail channel include the launch of health themed free-from ranges such as Albert Heijn’s ‘Free from Gluten’ range and Sainsbury’s Deliciously Freefrom. Sweden’s Coop Sverige has launched a new range of vegan, vegetarian and free-from food, Norway’s Rema has rolled out a new private label non-meat range called ‘Meatish’, Lidl Italia have launched a ‘My best Veggie’ range, and Coop Italia have recently launched a campaign to promote its own label range of antibiotic-free eggs and meat. Organic continues in its popularity particularly in Northern European markets of Denmark and Sweden where organic share of the retail channel is almost at 10%, and organic as a theme is helping to drive PL innovations e.g. Dansk Supermarked’s Levevis range which will expand from 220 to 360 SKUs this year (IGD).
Addressing changing lifestyles is not just reflected in new ranges, retailers are increasingly looking at aligning formats with the ever-rising demand for convenience & on-the-go snacks, and a fresh example of this is Carrefour’s new expresss mini-market opened last week in Genoa called “3 Minuti”. Situated in the old town, it’s not just a supermarket with extended opening hours, it offers its own banner coffee bar, bakery, and lengthy snacking area.
Examples of retailers exporting own label ranges to non-competing retailers are not new, but some of the latest examples include Waitrose’s May announcement that it will now export its Waitrose 1 range to premium retailers in India and China, a year on from its first export to Hong Kong which is now one of 30 markets that it sells own label ranges to.
Albert Heijn was one of the early retailers to emulate the popular meal-kit boxes with its Allerhandebox back in 2015, and since then there has been several examples from Tesco, ICA, Rema 1000 and now Lidl Germany. In the US market, Kroger’s is the latest retailer to offer a meal kit along with Whole Foods, Coborn’s and Amazon.
As suppliers, having a deep understanding these agents of change cannot be overplayed. Bord Bia’s Centre for Consumer Insight - The Thinking House – is open to Bord Bia client companies and has access to a wealth of global intelligence and specialist category knowledge and professional facilitating skills.
