Retail News September 2015

SEPTEMBER 2015

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® Reg. Trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

® Reg. Trademark of Société des Produits Nestlé S.A.

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Contents

News

Consumer Insight

18 New research into

discount and c-store shoppers provides valuable insights and opportunities for retailers.

Getting Rid of Coppers!

THE headline above has nothing to do with An Garda Síochána and we have nothing against a certain Dublin nightclub. The ‘coppers’ in question are 1c and 2c coins, numbers of which will be greatly reduced when rounding up and down of prices comes into effect on October 28.

While the initiative is voluntary for both retailers and consumers, it is generally felt that it is in retailers’ interest to have less of these low value coins around. Less 1c and 2c coins means retailers won’t have to order them from their bank, won’t have to pay for them to be deposited and will not have to spend as much time counting them at the end of the day. See full story on Page 4.

Elsewhere in this issue, Retailers Against Smuggling have some very innovative ideas on how to tackle the illegal tobacco trade (Page 7), we preview the forthcoming Retail Ireland Summit, which features a world class line-up of speakers (Page 16) and we examine how the Rugby World Cup can boost your sales (Page 40). Speaking of rugby, I’d like to wish Joe Schmidt and the Irish team the very best of luck from all at Retail News.

At the time of going to press, news has just come through that plans for new legislation setting a minimum price for alcohol have been dealt a blow by the European Court of Justice, who opined that a similar proposal in Scotland risks infringing EU free trade rules. We’ll have more on this story next month.

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

The Retail News Interview

4

20 Geraldine Casey,

4

Rounding on the way for retailers.

5

Drinks industry calls for excise cuts.

6

CSNA wants changes to employers PRSI in Budget; Bord Bia and PWC launch Ascent programme.

7

Irish consumer confidence highest in Europe; Musgrave Group announce 2014 results; Retailers call for set-up of revenue reserves to tackle smuggling.

8

9

Dunnes sees sales boost but Tesco still on top; Musgrave Triathlon a huge success; New lobbying rules a “welcome boost for transparency”.

ECR Leaders Congress a who’s who of grocery; CBE launch dedicated e-commerce website.

Retail Summit

16 The 2015 Retail

Ireland Summit takes place on October 8 in the Guinness Storehouse.

Personnel Director, Tesco Ireland, explains how their innovative new initiatives are working.

Retail Ireland: Monthly Update

manage barcodes and product information.

Costcutter

38 Costcutter Ireland is

very much the family symbol group for family businesses, according to MD, Jim Barry.

Rugby World Cup

40 How to boost your sales during the tournament.

Labelling & Information Law 46 The EU is adopting a

stricter new approach to food labelling and information law. Is your brand compliant?

Encona Sauces

48 Help consumers to

32 32 Retail Ireland Summit 2015; Retailers Unite in Warning over Dublin City Centre Transport Plan; Concern over Low Pay Commission Recommendations.

Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015 33 Excellence tops

the bill at Food & Hospitality Ireland show at the Citywest Events Centre on September 17 and 18.

Barcoding

36 Barcode Manager is a

new online tool from GS1 Ireland to help SMEs to generate and

‘Banish the Bland’ with the tasty Encona Sauce range from Flanagan’s Foods.

The Future of Retail

56 A new report from

Planet Retail predicts fundamental changes in retailing.

Forecourt Focus: News 62 Maxol to open

Mulhuddart site; Competition Commission investigaties Esso takeover; Legal challenge to Service Station Award.

On The Vine

66 Jean Smullen looks at the perfect wines to stock this autumn.

REGULARS & REPORTS

facebook.com/RetailNews1 Managing Director: Patrick Aylward Editorial & Sales 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 Production: Ciara Conway Graphics: Catherine Doyle Printed by: W&G Baird

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Tel: (01) 6785165 Fax: (01) 6477127 Web: www.retailnews.ie Email: kathleenbelton@retailnews.ie Subscription to Retail News: e95 plus VAT Email: ciara@tarapublications.ie Reproduction without written permission is strictly prohibited.

10 Industry News 24 Fuels & Ignition Products 50 Cereals 58 Confectionery 65 Drinks News 69 Market News 70 Shelf Life

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News

Rounding on the Way for Retailers ROUNDING promises to reduce the number of 1c and 2c out if people want them. coins in circulation, but what should retailers expect from But we found we were the initiative? producing a high quantity, On September 26, 2013, Wexford became ground zero for not because people loved the rounding initiative. South East Radio heard about the the coins, but because Central Bank’s request for a town to take part in a trial to people were hoarding round 1c and 2c coins. The local broadcaster forwarded the them,” O’Toole notes. “A information to Wexford Chamber of Commerce, who jumped retailer needs them to give on the initiative. change to the consumer Inevitably, though, there were concerns amongst local in the shop. Instead of consumers and retailers. “The main concern was if there using them in retail, the would there be price rises for the consumer,” said Madeline consumer puts them in a Quirke, head of Wexford Chamber of Commerce. “Retailers jam jar at home. Then the were concerned about having to make changes to their prices retailer has to come back Reducing the amount of 1c and 2c and tills. Central Bank reassured them that was not the to the Central Bank and coins in circulation could take a lot case. The cost of individual items would remain the same.” ask for more.” of hassle out of retailing.

The rounding trial concluded in Wexford on November “Retailers share the 17, 2013, and the results were positive. In surveys conducted concerns the Central Bank has about trying to manage after the trial, the Central Bank discovered that 85% of 1c and 2c coins. I think there’s a positive attitude toward consumers and 100% of retailers wanted a national roll-out. rounding”, said RGDATA’s Director General Tara Buckley.

Two years later and that roll-out is upon us. On Rounding has been introduced successfully in other Wednesday, October 28, 2015, the rounding initiative begins countries. Sweden, for example, introduced it in 1972. The in earnest. From that date, bills can be rounded up and down Dutch introduced it 10 years ago. Five other EU Member to the nearest five cents. A €0.91/0.92 transaction will be States have adopted a symmetrical rounding policy. Unlike rounded to €0.90; a €0.93/ 0.94 transaction will be rounded countries that introduced rounding in order to demonetise to €0.95. Similarly, a €0.96/0.97 transaction will round down smaller coins, as Ireland did with the half penny coin in the to €0.95, while a €0.98/0.99 will round up to €1. Rounding 1980s, 1c and 2c coins will remain legal tender. will only apply to cash transactions (not to credit card, “What’s legal tender is part of the ECB in Frankfurt. electronic or cheque payments) and to the total bill rather We are part of a currency union: we don’t get to make that than individual goods. choice,” said O’Toole. “Central Bank will continue to make The initiative began in 2012 as part of the government’s them available in whatever quantity the economy needs National Payments Plan. “The Central Bank started to them. But we expect that demand to fall very sharply once ask consumers about payments,” Ronnie O’Toole, Programme Manager of the National Rounding Rollout in the Central Bank, told Retail News.

“Consumers had a number of issues.

They didn’t like 1c or 2c coins. They found them very small, hard to distinguish, of very little value.

They didn’t like using them.”

The Central Bank has produced 2.5 billion 1c and 2c coins since the launch of the euro, which averages 1,500 for every household in the country.

“Ultimately, we’re a public service organisation so we’ll Senator Feargal Quinn and Ronnie O’Toole of the Central Bank launch the retailer awareness campaign for happily churn them Rounding.

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News we introduce rounding.”

During the Wexford trial, there was no suggestion that rounding had any effect on pricing. “That was foremost in the retailer and consumer minds. But I don’t think anybody made or lost money.” said Quirke.

Vincent Jennings, CEO of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association, which facilitated the Wexford trial, concurred: “When the trial results came through in Wexford, we saw there was no net loss to the shop. It balances itself out.”

O’Toole explained: “You’re going to lose 1c or 2c half the time; you’re going to gain 1c or 2c half the time. Very quickly it’s going to balance out. That was the experience in Wexford, even for consumers, who wouldn’t have as many transactions as a retailer. Over a relatively short space of time, you’re not going to gain or lose a significant sum. The difference will be, for retailers, you won’t have to order brown coins from the bank. You won’t have to pay for them to be deposited. You won’t have to spend as much time counting brown coins at the end of the day. The business of retailing will be a little bit easier.”

Counter arguments include the notion that items are priced at €4.99, rather than €5, in order to prevent staff theft. “It forced the till to be opened, so the change was counted off in front of the person making the purchase,” said Jennings. However, he noted, there are now more sophisticated methods in place, including CCTV, to prevent theft.

Another concern is whether retailers will need to explain rounding to every customer who enters their shop. The Wexford trial suggests this will not be the case. As part of the trial, Wexford Chamber of Commerce conducted mystery shopping tests to see how people were engaging with retailers and vice versa. “Overall, it indicated strong awareness and high levels of participation,” said Quirke.

Tara Buckley added: “The public in Wexford accepted it quickly and readily. There were no problems with people worrying if this was some way of retailers trying to get more

money out of them. Irish consumers have consistently been quick to cop on to new systems, issues and changes. They were quick to understand Chip and PIN, currency changes, the plastic bag tax etc.”

In preparation for October’s launch, the Central Bank is going to run an extensive consumer education campaign.

It also has a mailing list of around 20,000 retailers who will receive packs with signs explaining rounding. According to the Bank, these will be made available in the first half of October, in time for retailers to put up for October 28.

“As well as a direct mailing list, if a retailer finds they didn’t get a pack, they will be made available through local enterprise offices and chambers of commerce as well,” O’Toole explains, while stressing that retailers will not need to make changes to tills. “Till operators might, in time, come up with software upgrades to allow for it, but you don’t have to make changes.”

“With the imminent introduction of rounding, retailers will have to ensure their EPOS systems are enabled for this new payment structure,” notes Seamus McHugh International Sales and Marketing Manager, CBE, one of Ireland’s biggest EPOS suppliers. “Whilst the prices of individual items will not be directly affected, the systems will need to be able to automatically round the transaction for all cash sales.”

CBE are currently enhancing their software to deal with rounding. Following consultation with the Central Bank, CBE’s systems will be configured to easily handle the complexities of rounding to satisfy retailers, cashiers and consumers.

The entire rounding initiative will be voluntary.

“Retailers don’t have to participate, but we do expect a high level of retailer participation. It shouldn’t be too much work, especially for the middle sized and smaller stores,” said O’Toole.

Ultimately, most participants agree, reducing the amount of 1c and 2c coins in circulation could take a lot of hassle out of retailing.

Drinks Industry Calls for Excise Cuts A HOST of representative groups and market leaders in the Irish drinks industry have called on the Government to reduce excise levels on alcoholic products in the upcoming Budget.

The Irish Brewers Association (IBA), the representative voice for the brewing industry in Ireland, argued that beer was hit with a 42% excise increase over the past three years, meaning that Ireland has the third highest excise on beer in the EU, 11.4 times higher than the excise rate on

beer in Germany.

The IBA called for excise cuts as it released its Annual Market Report, which shows that direct employment in the beer industry is up 8%, due to the ongoing investment by the sector in Ireland and new product development. Irish beer industry exports are worth €228m and the industry supports thousands of jobs in the development process of beer, from grain to glass.

“Beer production remains the most important sector within the drinks industry in terms of indigenous manufacturing and providing jobs in major brewing facilities throughout the country,” noted Jonathan McDade, Head of the IBA, in the report.

Meanwhile, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard CEO, Anna Malmhake has also called on the Government to reduce excise on alcohol drinks, which she argued “would give welcome relief to both hard working Irish consumers and the tourist trade visiting our country, while also stimulating the growth of an industry which has huge opportunity for job creation.”

The Irish Wine Association has also called on the Government to reverse excise on alcohol in the next Budget. Tax take on a standard bottle of wine is now over 50% and Irish wine excise is the highest in the EU, and a massive 106 times higher in Ireland than France.

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News

CSNA Wants Changes to Employers PRSI in Budget THE Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association (CSNA) has called on Finance Minister, Michael Noonan TD, to reduce employer PRSI rates, while also arguing for a fairer system of PAYE/PRSI for the self-employed to be introduced in the Budget.

CSNA Chief Executive Officer, Vincent Jennings, in a letter to Minister Noonan, argued for a series of “necessary measures” which he believes would assist the retail sector and the Irish economy to boost employment, ensure sustainable growth and introduce a fairer regime for small and medium sized employers.

“The majority of employers in the country are small and medium sized businesses,” Jennings argued. “A reduction in the current employer PRSI rate of 8.5% would provide a real incentive to employers to increase their depleted workforce.”

The CSNA proposals include:

1.

Reduce employer PRSI rates, initially on the 8.5% rate but commit to reducing the 10.75% rate next year.

2. Retain the 9% VAT rate for newspapers and magazines.

3. No increase in consumer taxes and excises.

4. Address bank charges to small businesses.

5. Fairer system of PAYE/PRSI for self-employed.

6. Repeal Section 72 of 1994 Finance Act in relation to tobacco products.

7. Remove Personal Allowance for importation of tobacco products.

8. Provide grants/tax relief for energy efficiency in retailer stores.

9. Continue to invest in tackling black economy.

10. Ease the tax burden on consumers.

“Our members operating in the convenience store, forecourt and newsagent sector operate within a highly labor intensive industry,” Jennings stressed. “As the Minister is aware, the Low Pay Commission has recommended an increase of 50 cent per hour, an increase that will have a particularly difficult outcome for our sector unless there is a ‘balancing’ effect of reducing the burden of employers contributions.”

When it comes to the self-employed, Jennings argued

that entrepreneurs take risks that should not be penalised by the State’s social welfare rules. “Many small and medium sized business owners have had to put all or most of their savings into their businesses to maintain their employment Vincent Jennings, CSNA Chief Executive levels and keep their Officer. businesses afloat.

It is most unfair that if these businesses fail or the owner succumbs to illness (including stress-related illness) they do not have the same levels of protection available to them as their employees,” argued Jennings, who is seeking the removal of the 3% surcharge of USC that applies only to the self-employed, as well as a voluntary PRSI contribution for self-employed people to qualify for benefits.

The CSNA are also asking the Minister to consider setting up a forum for business banking customers to investigate whether the range of fees and charges applied by banks are not only fair and equitable but also in line with Government’s stated commitment to facilitating small businesses to grow their business.

Jennings added his voice to the general industry clamour for no increase in consumer excises or taxes, particularly tobacco excises, which he claimed “do not increase Revenue, but most certainly assist smugglers in developing additional demand.” Tobacco features strongly in the CSNA submission, with the organisation also calling for the removal of personal allowances for the importation of tobacco products, which is allowing ‘ant smuggling’ of tobacco, and the repeal of Section 72 of the 1994 Finance Act in relation to tobacco products, allowing retailers to set their own prices for tobacco products.

“We are comforted that the Government have shown themselves to be interested in listening to the retail sector,” concluded Jennings. “We now urge them to take actions designed to allow our sector be part of the recovery that we will collectively benefit from.”

Bord Bia and PWC Launch Ascent Programme BORD Bia, supported by PWC, have launched a new initiative aimed at helping medium-sized food and drink companies address their ‘growing pains’. “Ascent is a new, bespoke service designed to provide targeted, personalised support to a small number of Irish food and drink companies looking to identify and overcome obstacles to growth” commented Olivia Slevin, Manager, Bord Bia. “From our experience, companies often have the capacity and drive to scale up: however, they may be faced with a challenge such as production, export market analysis, team structures, brand positioning, financial planning or category management. We believe external support and advice will help address and overcome these stumbling blocks and as result, companies will be better positioned to expand into sustainable and profitable growth.”

Bord Bia has partnered with PWC who will assist in terms of the initial diagnostic, problem solving sessions and mentoring Pictured at the launch of Ascent are Bord Bia Manager Olivia Slevin and PWC Director Colm O’Callaghan. where appropriate.

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News

Irish Consumer Confidence Highest in Europe CONSUMER confidence in Ireland is now higher than in the UK and the rest of Europe, according to the latest Consumer Market Monitor (CMM), published by the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and the Marketing Institute. The Monitor also found that economic recovery is building rapidly in Ireland, with consumer spending now making a significant contribution to economic growth, for the first time since the start of the recession in 2008.

“Consumer spending accounts for over 60% of GNP in Ireland and is a critical factor in driving recovery in the economy,” stressed Mary Lambkin, Professor of Marketing, UCD Smurfit School, and one of the authors of the Monitor.

Consumer confidence has boasted a positive trend from 2013, reaching a record level in Q4 2014, and this has been feeding through into consumer spending.

“Disposable incomes are at last beginning to show modest growth as a result of jobs growth and this, coupled with greater availability of credit, is leading to accelerated spending on many categories of goods and services,” noted Lambkin.

Musgrave Group 2014 Results

Chris Martin, Musgrave Group Chief Executive.

MUSGRAVE Group has announced its results for the financial year ended December 27, 2014. The Group reported sales of €4.6 billion and operating profit before exceptional items of €66m. After exceptional costs of €70m and property profits of €11m, the loss for the year after tax is €13m, compared to a loss of €113m in 2013. Losses have reduced by €100m in 2014 and a return to profit is expected in 2015. Cash was well managed, with net cash of €110m at year end.

“In 2014, the investments we have made in our brand development strategy delivered, with SuperValu becoming Ireland’s number one grocery retailer, Centra cementing its position as the country’s leading convenience brand and MarketPlace growing ahead of the market,” said Chris Martin, Musgrave Group Chief Executive. “As part of our Group transformation agenda, which is about positioning the business to deliver long-term sustainable growth, we announced our exit from Great Britain, combined our retail and wholesale businesses in Northern Ireland and integrated the former Superquinn business with SuperValu. With the transformation well progressed and given the strong position of our brands, the business is now on track to return to profit in 2015.”

For more information, see www.musgravegroup.com.

Retailers Call for Set-Up of Revenue Reserves to Tackle Smuggling THE Government should consider the possibility of establishing a Revenue Reserves scheme to help tackle Ireland’s cigarette smuggling problem, according to Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS), which represents around 3,000 independent shop-owners in the fight against the black market.

Under the RAS proposal, members of the public - subject to Garda vetting - who would like to volunteer some of their free time could work on behalf of the Revenue as Reserves in the enforcement section.

“We feel that this measure would provide extra resources to the Revenue and it also would mean that extra manpower could be dedicated to tackling all forms of black market activity around the country,” said RAS spokesman Benny Gilsenan, who owns and runs a store in central Dublin.

Among the other proposals in the RAS pre-budget submission include the set-up of ‘Mini-CAB’ operations.

These Garda-led operations would target the assets of small to mid-level criminals involved in smuggling at street level.

The pre-budget submission says that going after street sellers would “massively disrupt the illegal supply chain and would make it far more difficult and less attractive for major criminal gangs to operate here”.

The submission also proposes the use of attachment orders for convicted smuggling and illegal selling offenders who do not pay their fines, which would see money taken from offenders’ welfare payments or wages, which the submission argues is “a very simple and cost effective measure which would ensure that fines are paid and which would act as a deterrent to criminals”.

Notice to Members The Annual General Meeting of the I.G.B.F

Will take place on Tuesday 29th September 2015 At The DoubleTree Hotel, Dublin 4 at 5.30pm

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Dunnes Sees Sales Boost but Tesco Still On Top THE latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending August 16, show a year-on-year growth in sales of 1.4% across Total Take Home Grocery - Ireland Consumer Spend the Irish grocery market. Linked to an upswing 12 Weeks to 04 Jan 2015 change** 12 Weeks to 05 Jan 2014 %* %* % in the level of price inflation, which now stands at 1.3% compared to 0.7% last month, this is the best Total Grocers 100.0% 100.0% 1.4 Total Multiples 88.4% 89.4% 2.6 performance since March this year. Dunnes posted Tesco 25.4% 24.8% -1.0 the strongest sales, growing well ahead of the market, Dunnes 21.0% 22.4% 8.2 with an increase of 8.2% in the past 12 weeks. This Total SuperValu 25.0% 24.5% -0.8 Total Discounters 17.0% 17.7% 5.8 was closely followed by Lidl, who grew sales by 7.7%.

Aldi 8.5% 8.7% 3.8 “Dunnes’ success is in large part thanks to the Lidl 8.5% 9.1% 7.7 continuation of its ‘Shop and Save’ campaign,” Other Outlets** 11.6% 10.6% -7.2 explains David Berry, Director at Kantar Worldpanel. *= Percentage Share of Total Grocers “Although fewer people have shopped with the retailer **= Includes stores such as M&S, Boots, Spar, Centra, Greengrocers, Butchers And Cross Border shops this period, these customers have been encouraged to spend more, with the average shop now costing its performance continues to improve, Tesco retains the €34.50, an increase of more than €5.” number one position in the market with 24.8% share, despite Lidl has maintained its strong performance, boosting its an ongoing tussle with SuperValu for the top spot. An share of the market by more than half a percentage point to increase in customer numbers, with more than 20,000 new 9.1%. Sales growth of 7.7% has been driven by an increased shoppers recruited this year, has played a vital part in the number of shoppers returning to the store more frequently supermarket’s recovery.” and spending larger amounts on each occasion. Lidl is the SuperValu has retained second place, though close only retailer to drive improvement in all three of these areas competition continues as the second largest retailer remains in the past quarter. just 0.3 percentage points behind Tesco, with 24.5% of the “We’ve seen Tesco’s performance improve in recent market. Aldi has seen sales grow by 3.8%, lifting its share of months, and the past 12 weeks are no exception,” reveals the market to 8.7%.

David Berry. “Sales decline now stands at just -1%. As For more information, see www.kantarworldpanel.com.

Musgrave Triathlon Success THE 2015 Musgrave Triathlon saw 400 participants take the plunge in this year’s charity challenge, which took place in Farran Woods on August 29. Now in its 14th year, the Musgrave Triathlon has raised over €3.7m for Irish charities to date. The fundraising target for the 2015 Musgrave Triathlon is €200,000, with Breakthrough Cancer Research and Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin the beneficiaries of these charitable funds. To support the cause, you can donate online via www.idonate.ie/MusgraveTriathlon. Alternatively SuperValu customers are encouraged to pick up the charity trolley key in-store for €2, with net proceeds donated to the fund.

Noel O’Regan, first home in the 800m swim at the Musgrave Triathlon 2015.

New Lobbying Rules a “Welcome Boost for Transparency” THE Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 came into effect recently, establishing a web-based register of lobbying activity that can be easily accessed by the public. The register will show who is lobbying whom about what, and makes the public policy-making process more transparent, while allowing all interested stakeholders to make their views known to public officials and policymakers.

The Regulation has been broadly welcomed by tobacco company JTI Ireland. “As a business in a highly regulated sector, it is imperative that we meet with policy makers to discuss various approaches to tobacco regulation, even if they are ultimately rejected,” noted Cheryl Cullen, Head of Regulatory Affairs, JTI Ireland. “Lobbying is an essential part of the democratic process as it allows the sharing of expertise, ideas and different perspectives between all

interested parties. This new Act will ensure that everyone undertaking lobbying activities is held to the same high standards – be it a business, charitable organisations or representative body. At the same time, all registered lobbyists will be protected from unfair and arbitrary exclusion.

“In this context, an incorrect interpretation of Article 5.3 of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its non-binding guidelines is too often used in an attempt to exclude the tobacco industry from discussions on tobacco policy. The Act sets out statutory requirements, is fully transparent and leaves no room for arbitrary exclusion or discrimination against particular industries. Minister Howlin should be commended for this.”

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News

ECR Leaders Congress a Who’s Who of Grocery

‘WINNING Across Channels: how to succeed across evolving retail formats’ is the theme of the ECR Ireland Leaders Congress 2015, which takes place on Wednesday, September 23 at the O’Reilly Hall, UCD, Dublin.

The Congress will see four retailers, each hosting a session on how to succeed across four different channels, with Tesco Ireland focusing on the supermarket channel, Musgrave Wholesale Partners on the wholesale channel, Topaz concentrating on the forecourt channel and BWG Foods focusing on the convenience channel.

This new conference format is fast-paced and upbeat to maximise insights, with each retailer hosting a compelling 45 minute session to show how their channel is evolving and how to deliver success.

Each channel session will also illustrate effective collaboration and feature a ‘Hot Topic’ chosen by the retailer host. For example, Musgrave Wholesale Partners will address the “Emergence of Food Wholesale as a Digital Channel”. The introduction of digital technology into the food wholesale market represents a complete game change in terms of how the channel will function in the future, affecting everything from price and order collection right through to stock management and end-to-end supply chain.

The ECR Leaders Congress will feature presentations from some of the biggest names in the Irish grocery sector including Martin Kelleher, MD, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland; Noel Keeley, MD, Musgrave Wholesale Partners; and Willie O’Byrne, MD, BWG Foods.

Tesco Ireland will consider “Multi-Channel Retailing” as their ‘Hot Topic’. Omni-channel retailing provides many opportunities laden with unique challenges and complexities. However, shoppers’ habits have changed and it doesn’t appear that they will revert back to their old ways anytime soon, as they are increasingly using tablets and smartphones to shop and spread their shopping across a variety of channels throughout the month.

Tesco Ireland and Coca-Cola will highlight how their collaboration delivers growth in the Supermarket Channel.

Speakers so far confirmed include some of the biggest names in Ireland’s FMCG industry, including: • Martin Kelleher, MD, Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland; • Noel Keeley, MD, Musgrave Wholesale Partners; • Willie O’Byrne, MD, BWG Foods; • Paul Candon, Group Corporate Services Director, Topaz Energy; • Sean Moriarty, Company Operated Retail Director, Topaz Energy; • Brian Donaldson, Group General Manager, The Maxol Group; • Joe Manning, Category Director, Tesco Ireland.

Other speakers include Matt Clark, Commercial Director, Nielsen Ireland,who will talk about Ireland’s retail and consumer landscape; and Isa Odesser, Director of Marketing and Communications with The Consumer Goods Forum, and broadcaster, businessman and former politician, Ivan Yates, who will be the keynote speaker.

For more information, see www.ecrireland.ie.

CBE Launch Dedicated e-Commerce Website LEADING retail technology and EPoS company, CBE has launched its first dedicated e-commerce site, ShopCBE.com, offering a wide selection of consumable products at affordable prices. Items which can be purchased online include; till rolls, deli scales labels, ink ribbons, entry level cash registers, cash drawers, printers etc.

The website has been launched with a relatively controlled product range, but the site is fully scalable and will be ramped up in response to growth in online demand. It is also maximised for mobile application, reflecting the increasing percentage of online commerce that’s transacted while on the move.

The new site complements the company’s two brochure sites – cbe.ie and cbesoftware.co.uk - and represents a major step forward into the world of e-commerce for CBE. “As innovators in retail technology, it befits us to have an e-commerce site which reflects our forward-looking approach,” notes Seamus McHugh, International Sales & Marketing Manager at CBE. “The new site lets us build on our leadership position in providing EPOS systems and supplies to the retail, forecourt and hospitality sectors.

“As Ireland’s leading EPOS supplier, we have built our business by anticipating and responding to our customers’ needs. The move to a dedicated Seamus McHugh, International e-commerce Sales & Marketing Manager at site is yet CBE. another example of delivering the solutions they need through a medium that makes most sense to them.”

To maximise the effectiveness of the site from a client perspective, ShopCBE.com offers a strong level of phone-based customer support, so clients can have queries answered on any or all products before pressing the ‘Buy’ button. The site also offers a guarantee of fast delivery, with all orders being dispatched within one to two working days, and in keeping with e-commerce best practice, the site provides a secure payment platform using leading edge online encryption procedures.

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Industry News BIGGER LOTTO GAME LAUNCHED

BY NATIONAL LOTTERY THE National Lottery has introduced a number of innovations to make the flagship Lotto game, and the associated Lotto Plus game, more exciting and engaging to players. These changes, which include adding two numbers to the current Lotto matrix, creating Lotto 6/47 (currently Lotto 6/45) took effect for players in retail stores from September 3, 2015, with the first Lotto draw under the new Lotto 6/47 matrix taking place two days later. Prize structures across Lotto, Lotto Plus and the Lotto 54321 game have been significantly enhanced, with the odds of winning greatly improved from 1:42 to 1:29. A €0.50c per line increase, the first in nine years, will enable The National Lottery to offer even more attractive jackpots for players and enable further investment in the development and enhancement of the Lottery. This will mean the minimum play price of two lines will be set at €4. The restructured game will also include a new ‘RAFFLE’ feature on each Lotto Plus ticket, with RAFFLE prize winners taking home €300. New retail playslips will also be introduced in all retail outlets a week in advance of the launch date. There will also be welcome changes at retail level in new software and point of sale displays.

“The changes we’re announcing to our Lotto game today, called Bigger Better Lotto, will make it a more exciting game for both our retail agents and our players, and will result in bigger, better jackpots for all players regularly,” noted Dermot Griffin, CEO, Premier Lotteries Ireland (pictured), who expressed his confidence that the changes “will make Bigger Better Lotto a real winner with our players and, through increased sales, with our retail agents as well.”

Health Minister Visits Keelings MINISTER for Health Leo Varadkar TD, joined Keelings’ family members Joe, David and Caroline Keeling at Keelings’ farm to discuss a plan for promoting healthy living in response to Ireland’s growing obesity epidemic, in particular when it comes to children.

The Dairy Best TWO leading dairy processing and agribusiness co-operatives, Fane Valley and Lakeland Dairies, are set to create two major new joint venture businesses which will enhance economies of scale and overall competitiveness for their farmer members, milk producers and customers at home and abroad. Fane Valley and Lakeland Dairies are neighbouring and friendly societies, each with a heritage of excellence in co-operative farming spanning well over a century. The first joint venture is being established by a merger and pooling of both of the societies’ feed manufacturing, sales and stores activities into a major agribusiness company to be managed by Fane Valley, while the second joint venture is being established by a merger and pooling of both of the societies’ dairy processing activities and operations, to be managed by Lakeland Dairies. Pictured at the announcement are Lakeland Dairies’ Group Chief Executive, Michael Hanley, and Chairman, Alo Duffy, with William McConnell, Chairman, and Trevor Lockhart, Chief Executive, of Fane Valley Co-operative.

FoodCheck Launches in SuperValu and Centra KELSIUS, the food safety monitoring technology firm headquartered in Donegal, has signed an agreement to enable a roll-out of its revolutionary new FoodCheck technology across the network of SuperValu and Centra stores. The contract has a potential value of €2m annually as the technology rolls out across the SuperValu and Centra store network. The FoodCheck system replaces the current industry standard paper based manual monitoring and record keeping, helping to provide immediate operational savings to stores and allowing staff to spend more time in direct customer interaction. “Our cloud based technology enables food retailers to replace existing onerous paper based check systems and save time and money, whilst implementing the very best solution for food chain management. The recorded information is available immediately as it is needed and reduces the possibility of human error in the recording of data as well as providing precise data for management,” noted Eamonn Quinn, Executive Chairman of Kelsius, pictured (left) with Ray Bowe, Head of Food Safety for SuperValu and Centra.

Retail Ireland Summit 2015 What’s in Store?

Guinness Storehouse 8 October 2015

The 2015 Retail Ireland Summit brings over 200 senior retail executives to be inspired by the latest innovations and new thinking around the future of retail, discuss the challenges and opportunities of retailing in the digital age and the future of consumerism.

Featuring Doug Stephens Retail Prophet

Olly Sewell Facebook

Terry Prone

Communications Clinic

Keith Wood

former Irish Rugby International and MasterCard Ambassador

Gerard O’Neill Amárach Research

Book your place www.retailsummit.ie Communications partner

Primary sponsor

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

Industry News BORD BIA TO CELEBRATE FARMHOUSE CHEESE OCTOBER sees Bord Bia kicking off a month-long celebration of Irish farmhouse cheese. A variety of events will take place across the country which will allow lovers of cheese to engage directly with the product and discover and taste farmhouse cheese, try new varieties, discover usage occasions, and pick up a host of top tips, from seasonality to delicious recipes. Retailers, restaurants, pubs and hotels across Ireland are hosting cheese events along with tastings, inviting you to try a huge variety of styles and flavours from cow’s, goats and sheep milk. Discover Farmhouse Cheese will also host a number of farm visits – allowing the public to go meet the maker, see the farm where cheese is produced and learn the story behind the cheese. For more information on events and sampling during October Month of Farmhouse Cheese, farm visits and farmhouse cheese, please visit www.discoverfarmhousecheese.ie or www.facebook.com/discoverfarmhousecheese.

2015 Idea Works Winners Announced

IRISH food and support services company, Compass Group Ireland has announced the winners of this year’s Idea Works: SMEs with cutting-edge products, solutions and applications that could be used in the foodservice, hospitality and facilities management industry. The winning companies are Galway based Airam Foods, who produce gourmet Connemara pies from natural Irish ingredients; Secret Recipe from Cork, whose certified gluten free spicy soup and curry dish impressed the judges; and Carlow based CBL Equipment, who displayed their innovative chafing dish, the Castle Chafer.

The winners will now work closely with Compass Group Ireland to develop their products further, with a view to trialling these in select Compass Group Ireland units. Pictured is Shane Francis from Airam Foods.

New Compact Kiosk from Mitsubishi Electric MITSUBISHI ELECTIC has introduced the new ergonomically designed Compact Kiosk to its range of in-store self-service photo kiosks. Mitsubishi Electric’s range of photo gift kiosks are affordable multi-touchscreen digital photo gift solutions, designed for retail stores, copy-shops, pharmacies and forecourt shops. In-store customers can easily upload photographs from their mobile devices to instantly create full-colour prints and beautiful personalised photo gifts such as calendars, greeting cards and collage style albums. The new ergonomically designed Compact kiosk incorporates the gift product display shelving of the Plus, whilst requiring the minimal floor space of the Flex, making it ideal for smaller areas. Each one of the eye-catching kiosks is integrated with Mitsubishi Electric’s dye sublimation printer which produces high quality durable prints in a choice of size and finish.

ALDI OPENS KENMARE STORE

Lidl Toasts 15 Years in Ireland LIDL recently celebrated 15 years of business in the Republic of Ireland.

Since opening its doors in 2000, the supermarket has really made its mark and now boasts 143 stores and counting in key cities and towns across the country and directly employs 3,200 people. The retailer also works with over 200 local suppliers and last year invested €300m into sourcing Irish products. “We are delighted to be recognised as a trusted local retailer and will continue to build on and grow this trust with Irish shoppers for the next 15 years and far beyond,” said Caitriona McCarry, Senior Communications Manager, Lidl Ireland.

Meanwhile, Lidl scooped a massive 47 awards at the internationally renowned 2015 Great Taste Awards. Lidl’s Irish sourced products performed exceptionally well this year, with 25 products sourced exclusively for the retailer by local Irish suppliers winning Gold Stars. The winning products included quality items from across Lidl’s entire range of food and beverages, from steak to cheese, yogurts, breads and conserves, including Deluxe Fresh Whole Irish Duckling (pictured), which won 2 Gold Stars.

ALDI has opened a new store in Kenmare, creating 20 new jobs in the Co. Kerry town. The new Kenmare store is Aldi’s seventh store in Co. Kerry and brings the total number of Aldi stores in Ireland to 116. To celebrate the opening of the new store, Aldi served up breakfast delights and tasty treats throughout the morning.

All samples were prepared using Aldi products, many of which are sourced from Irish suppliers. Radio Kerry was on site to broadcast from the store opening, while five lucky Aldi shoppers scooped €100 each in Aldi shopping vouchers. “Buying fresh, quality Irish foods in Kenmare just got easier thanks to the opening of our new Aldi store. Each Aldi store we have opened so far has been a fantastic success and we are looking forward to serving the local community,” said store manager Ivan Hoffman, who is pictured with staff members Grainne McCarthy Kealkill and Siobhan Cremin, celebrating the opening of the new store.

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Your ticket to the food & beverage world An impressive array of food and drink: International industry innovations and trends.

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The ten Anuga trade fairs bring the interests of the exhibitors and the visitors together in a focused manner. Look forward to top-class evening events, an inspiring supporting programme and trends that move the industry.

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

Industry News NEW DISRUPTIVE SHOPPING LOYALTY APP LAUNCHES CARDTRIX is a new disruptive shopping loyalty app for the Irish market. Acting as a digital personal assistant, Cardtrix helps shoppers to manage and maximise the value they get from the top loyalty programmes they are signed up to, in addition to instantly signing up to new loyalty programmes as they shop, so that they never miss out on reward points again. Turning a consumer’s smart phone into a digital wallet, Cardtrix is a new loyalty app, bespoke for the Irish market, that supports all major retail loyalty programmes in Ireland, including the top three loyalty programmes; Tesco Clubcard, Dunnes Stores and Boots, in addition, to Brown Thomas, Arnotts, Easons and more. With nine out of 10 (87%) people in Ireland participating in loyalty programmes, and the average person signed up to four loyalty programmes, Cardtrix is designed to help Irish shoppers get the most out of loyalty by taking all the hassle out of signing up to lots of different programmes.

Bright Future for Smiles

NEW Listerine Advanced White will give smiles a brighter and whiter future. This innovative new multiaction mouthwash not only cleanses and fluoridates but also whitens teeth in as little as two weeks. The blend of three powerful essential oils, menthol, eucalyptol and thymol, kills plaque bacteria to freshen breath and clean tooth surface, while the non-abrasive polyphosphate technology lifts stains attached to the tooth for whiter teeth and forms a protective shield to help prevent new stains developing. Pictured at the official launch are Paula Callan and Derrick Carberry, CoFounders of Callenberry, and Listerine Advanced White Ambassador and TV Presenter, Lisa Cannon.

Barbecue Grand Champion IRELAND’S first ever Barbecue Grand Champion has been declared following the conclusion of this year’s Big Grill Festival in Dublin’s Herbert Park. The four-day BBQ and Craft beer festival featured the inaugural ‘Pitmasters competition’ sponsored by BIC Lighters, which welcomed 10 competing BBQ teams across the weekend. Following a gruelling 48 hours in which teams were required to submit their specialties for Pork, Chicken, Ribs, Burgers and Brisket, as well as an ‘Anything But’ category, UK-based Steve Heyes emerged as Grand Champion, earning a cash prize of €1,500 as well as a spot at this October’s prestigious Jack Daniels Invitational in Tennessee. Steve Heyes is pictured (centre) with John Ruigrok and Annika Franklin, Trade Marketing Manager, BIC UK & Ireland.

Aldi Stars at Foodie Oscars

ALDI Stores (Ireland) has struck gold at the prestigious international 2015 Great Taste Awards, picking up 62 awards, more than any other retailer in Ireland. Aldi’s product range has now won a total of 240 Great Taste Awards in the last six years, proving Irish consumers don’t have to spend a small fortune to enjoy the very best groceries. Many of Aldi’s Great Taste Award winning products are sourced from industry-leading Irish suppliers and producers. Winning Irish sourced products include Aldi’s O’Shea’s Irish Stout (pictured), produced by Carlow Brewing Company, which received two gold stars, Aldi’s Specially Selected Dry Cured Irish Bacon Loin - Unsmoked, produced by Honeyvale Foods, which also received two gold stars and Aldi’s McGraths Reserve Tea Bags, produced by Robert Roberts, which received one gold star “We are extremely proud that our products have been recognised by some of the world’s leading food experts and critics,” noted Aldi Ireland’s Group Buying Director, Rob Farrell. “These 62 awards demonstrate the outstanding quality of the many Irish producers and suppliers we work with. The spread of award winners across our full product range recognises the true strength of our product offering.”

HILDEN BEERS HOP TO VICTORY SEAMUS Scullion, founder, Hilden Brewery, and his daughter Frances Maguire, Hilden Festival Organiser and Operations Manager, celebrate winning three stars at the prestigious Great Taste Awards 2015, organised by the Guild of Fine Food. The 2015 Awards celebrated the Lisburn-based brewery’s Hilden Halt, Buck’s Head and Headless Dog, which received one star each. This year’s winning Hilden beers represent a wide spectrum of flavours to suit every palate: Headless Dog is a 4.2% pale ale produced with North American cascade hops; Munich Malt is a traditional 6.1% Hilden Malt, a red ale with mild hop and medium bitterness; and Buck’s Head is a big, bold and oh-so hoppy double IPA.

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

Retail Summit

Retail Prophet to Speak in Ireland The 2015 Retail Ireland Summit takes place on October 8 in the Guinness Storehouse and features a world-class line-up of speakers. Keynote speaker Doug Stephens talks us through his philosophy.

THE 2015 Retail Ireland Summit brings together a stunning line-up of speakers, who will inspire the 200-plus senior retail executives with the latest innovations and new thinking around the future of retail, and discuss the challenges and opportunities of retailing in the digital age and the future of consumerism (www.retailsummit.ie).

The agenda includes:

• • • •

The ‘Store of the future’ and pushing the boundaries on interactive experiences; Consumer behaviours – exploring everything from omni-channel customer experience and property to technology and internet trends; Innovation and technologies that are bringing retail forward: mobile, wearable devices, payment structures, analytics, location based technology etc; Leadership maturity to succeed in an increasingly complex and uncertain world.

The Retail Prophet Keynote speaker, Doug Stephens is one of the world’s foremost retail industry futurists. His intellectual work and thinking have influenced many of the world’s best-known retailers, agencies and brands including Target, Home Depot, Disney, Crayola, WestJet, Citibank, Razorfish and Air Miles.

Prior to founding Retail Prophet, Doug spent 20 years in the retail industry, holding senior international roles, including the leadership of one of New York City’s most historic retail chains. He is the author of the ground breaking book, The Retail Revival: Re-Imagining Business for the New Age of Consumerism, and is also the consumer technology contributor on the acclaimed television series App Central TV, as well as the retail contributor for CBC Radio Canada. Doug also co-hosts the popular web TV series, The Future In Store, and sits on the board of the Dx3 technology conference.

Keynote speaker, Doug Stephens, one of the world’s most influential retail strategists.

Ahead of his debut Irish appearance, Doug talks us through his philosophy.

You are now known as one of the world’s most influential retail industry strategists but where and how did your passion for retail begin?

I got started in retail the way a lot of people do - completely by accident. I started my career with a family owned chain of stores and pretty quickly moved into a training position.

From there, I developed a passion for marketing and consumer behaviour. I worked my way up in the company and eventually held senior positions with a number of retail brands, manufacturers and distributors in both Canada and the US. After almost 25 years in the industry, I founded Retail Prophet, to help retailers understand and contextualize the tsunami of change that was taking place.

What continues to inspire and motivate you about retailing and studying consumer behaviour?

I find the underlying psychology that drives consumer behaviour fascinating. And today, there are so many outside forces that are shaping a new era in consumerism. Macrochanges in economics, demographics, technology and media are completely reshaping who the consumer is, what they expect, how and even why they shop! It’s an amazing time for the retail industry.

Your presentation to the Retail Ireland Summit 2015 will focus on innovation, the power of media and the future shape of the industry. What do you see as the most challenging obstacle and the most exciting opportunity in retail’s tomorrow?

The most challenging obstacle in many companies is themselves - particularly if they’ve been successful until

www.retailnews.ie|September 2015|Retail News|17

Retail Summit now. Shaking loose from old paradigms about your category, your brand or your customer is very difficult.

Companies tend to lose the challenger mentality that often got them to where they are today. Instead, they settle into an incumbent mentality that focuses more on protecting their current business model than seeking to innovate to a new one. Hence, they become slow moving targets in the market. On the opportunity side, there’s never been more opportunity for new brands to connect directly with customers across the globe.

Remarkable ideas, products and business ideas can now scale incredibly fast, without the need for huge war chests of capital or marketing money.

You have helped shape the success of some of the world’s most iconic retailers and consumer brands. How can Irish retailers learn from your thinking?

I think retailers in every developed economy face the same fundamental dilemma; no one really needs WHAT they sell. What I mean by that is that consumers are now conditioned, and rightly so, to believe that they can get whatever they want, whenever they want it, with the swipe of a smartphone. In the face of that reality, retailers have to differentiate HOW and WHY they sell what they sell, and that means designing and executing a truly remarkable customer experience, underpinned with a unique brand belief or sense of organisational purpose. These are not easy things to do but they are simply essential if a brand is going to penetrate the noise in the market and mean something to a shopper.

We hear so much about change and innovation and how online retailing is revolutionising the way we shop. Does this mean the physical store concept is now dead?

Not at all. But the strategic value and purpose of physical stores is changing and will continue to do so. In essence, I believe what is taking place is an historic transition in which media (in all its forms) is becoming the store and physical stores are evolving into powerful media outlets. It sounds rather heady but it’s a really simple concept; media has become incredibly good at doing what stores have done for the last 50 years - display products, provide information on those products and distribute them to shoppers. In fact, I would argue that media is now better at those functions than physical stores are. Therefore, stores must evolve to become immersive media experiences for consumers where they can learn about a brand, its values and really get excited about the things they sell and their culture. The purpose of a physical store, therefore, is no longer to simply distribute products but also to distribute powerful, branded experiences.

Smaller operators may not have the resources to invest in the innovative strategies employed by the bigger players.

What’s your advice to struggling small retailers: what easy changes can be made to refocus their business and enhance their fortunes?

Just be remarkable. Many small retailers deceive themselves into believing their store experience is good enough. Unfortunately, good enough is invisible in today’s market. They have to be simply mind-blowing. That means designing an experience that’s spectacular and being very

Other Speakers EVENT MC Terry Prone is a leading advisor on reputation management and crisis handling to corporations, Governments and individuals. Fomer MD of Carr Communiations, and Chairman of The Communications Clinic, Terry has published 26 books, has contributed to The Irish Times, Irish Independent, The London Times, The Guardian and has a weekly column with The Irish Examiner.

Gerard O’Neill, Chairman of Amárach Research, leads the strategic consulting practice in Amárach, working with senior management teams to create resilient strategies for the future. Gerard was appointed a member of the National Statistics Board, responsible to the Government for developing its statistical strategy, in 2014.

Garry Lyons is Chief Innovation Officer and head of MasterCard Labs. He is responsible for developing and leading initiatives, programs and strategies to foster innovation throughout MasterCard. He also runs the company’s global R&D arm, dedicated to bringing innovative payment solutions to market with greater speed than ever before.

Conor Whelan was appointed MD of Eason in September 2009 and since then has been responsible for the development and implementation of the Group’s restructuring and growth strategy. From 1999 to 2006, Conor was MD of BWG Foods Ltd, operators of the SPAR, EUROSPAR and MACE symbol brands in Ireland. Conor has been serving as Chairperson of Retail Ireland since October 2014.

detailed about how the experience is executed. Once that important experience is defined, there are plenty of scalable technologies on the market that can assist with animating it. By far though, the advantage small retailers can possess is outstanding, talented and creative staff or ‘brand ambassadors’ as I call them. If they don’t have outstanding people, the rest is an utter waste of time.

We hear so much about the power of the global retail brands. Do you think there is a future for standalone, independent stores?

I do. I think the market is splitting into two distinct experiences - convenience or utility based retailers, like Amazon, Forever 21, Zara etc. and fidelity based retailers akin to Apple, Barney’s, Nordstrom etc. It’s not simply highend versus low-end but rather a distinction in the kind of customer experience one gets as a shopper. The safe zone for most small standalone brands is in the high fidelity zone.

But again, they have to be absolutely awesome to win a spot there.

Who else are you excited about interacting with at the event?

I’m always eager to meet with new people - particularly from different markets - to see what’s on their minds and the perspectives they can share.

Finally, if delegates at the Retail Ireland Summit 2015 can take only one thing away from your address, what should it be?

The ‘Golden Age of Retail’ isn’t something in the past. It’s happening right now.

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

Consumer Insight

Understanding Your Customers New research into discount and c-store shoppers provides valuable insights and for ‘Weekly main grocery shops’ opportunities dominate in Ireland retailers.

87%

How oPen to they do a Irish c-store ALL retail brands and suppliers need to “follow the main shop? shoppers shopper”: EPOS does not tell you what the shopper of Irish but almost a wants. Such is the message from him! International in shoppers 4% 5% do a regular MAIN quarterSHOP (23%) their latest report into the Irish c-store shopper.

6% The report covers the differences between average in the UK. 9% vs 91% in the UK Him! shoppers in Ireland and the UK. It identifies current 18% 21% International grocery shopping habits within Ireland and how the Once a week or more also convenience channel fits within these, as well as Once a fortnight investigated pointing out macro shopper trends and highlighting the Once a month what opportunities and threats they raise for convenience Less olen 73% consumers stores. Finally, the report assesses the opinions of 65% view as the convenience store shoppers and the barriers to the key barriers development of Ireland’s convenience market. to using In Ireland, 63% of shoppers in Ireland visit a convenience store in a typical month, ahead of the global convenience United Kingdom Ireland stores in average of 52% and well ahead of the UK’s 35% but Ireland. significantly behind Taiwan’s massive 85%.

The weekly main grocery shop still dominates in Ireland.

Which of these phrases best 68% ofdescribes Irishhow you/your household does your grocery shopping?

87% of Irish shoppers do a regular main shop, lower How olen will you do main big grocery shops (typically buy 15+ items per trip)? shoppers cited than the 91% in the UK. 73% of these consumers do him! Interna,onal • www.himinterna,onal.com @him_int www.himinterna,onal.com @him_int • © him! •i nterna,onal Ltd 2 015. All rights reserved. high •prices as a main shop once a week or more, with a further 18%him! interna,onal a deterrent to shopping in c-stores. Other turn-offs included small doing their main shop every fortnight and another 6% product range (40%), lack of promotions (29%), out of stock items once a month. The corresponding UK figures are 65%, (23%) and a lack of healthy options (20%) 21% and 9%.

Many Irish shoppers do not feel they are getting value for However, 83% of Irish shoppers also do some form money from c-stores or forecourts. When asked to rate value of top-up shopping in a typical week, averaging at 2.8 smaller top-up or convenience shopping trips each week. for money on a scale of 1-10 (where 10 is very important), Irish shoppers gave it an 8.2 rating, but only scored c-stores at 5.3 for Convenience shoppers in Ireland are more likely offering value. Irish shoppers think the prices charged on some to be couples with young children (25%) vs UK (20%). products in convenience store are poorer value for money than Within this life stage, ease and convenience are prime those in the UK, across a variety of categories, including health & concerns, which is where the convenience sector excels.

Irish shoppers are likely to be couples with beauty, household cleaning items, baby products, gifting etc.

Him! International also advise that clear signage is also young children essential for appeasing the shopper looking for an easy shop. Store owners and managers should consider cross UK C-­‐shoppers merchandising strategies and how to best communicate Irish C-­‐shoppers the convenience factor of their products, while ensuring 22% 23% availability levels on top up shop ‘essentials’ is another 20% critical factor.

20% 25% 22% According to the him! International research, 8% 14% 1% 6% 1% 4% Irish c-store shoppers are also made up of at-home mums (22%), busy providers (20%), with just 6% Couples with young At Home Mums Busy Provider Re,red Greys Young free and Student children single young, free and single shoppers and 4% of students.

• Clear signage is also essen,al for appeasing the The corresponding UK figures are 14%, 22% 1% and shopper looking for an easy shop.

Irish c-store shoppers, compared• to theircross counterparts in the UK. 1%. Interestingly, retired people account for just 8% of Consider merchandising strategies and Couples with young children are more prevalent in Ireland vs UK. With this life stage comes ease and convenience a prime consumer for the convenience sector.

how to best communicate the convenience factor of their products.

• Ensure availability levels on top up shop ‘essen,als’.

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|19

83% of Irish shoppers ALSO do some form of Consumer top-up shopping in a typical week

Insight

This is How oPen do you do smaller top obviously an area up or The convenience shopping Power oftrips? him! that Irish c-stores (per week) IRELAND is the launchpad for UK based research can work on, but consultancy him! International to unveil a brand new 70% the good news is 65% convenience shopper research programme globally, UK that they have providing retailer and suppliers with shopper insight and already started 2.3 Ireland data across the2.8 world. to improve.

The research involves interviews with 10,000 UK Compared to three Ireland shoppers across 11 countries including Ireland. Shopper years ago, 25% 26% data will be available at country level and key account of Irish shoppers 17% level, including Applegate, Centra, SPAR and Topaz. The think c-stores are 10% 13% data will enable convenience retailers and suppliers to offering better Convenience stores create successful strategies and develop actionable plans value for money. need to they are withensure their trading partners.

The research from him!

International will cover over Main shop + NO main Main shop + Discountersthe no.1 choice for these 120 topics, all focused on understanding the shopper; tops up shop, instead NO topping Another report ‘top shops. theirup’ wants, needs, drivers and barriers to purchase. topping up up from the same The research will alsoRead uncover Irish shopper’s attitudes Are we currently? company 83% of Irish shoppers do some form of top-up towards price, promotions, range, and service. examines the on! shopping in a typical week, as well as their “Ireland unquestionably has some of the best penetration main shop. convenience stores in the world. We want to help these of discounters great retailers and their suppliers get even closer across the world. granular shopper understanding, by account, for their Germany, the home of discounters is unsurprisingly the shoppers and potential shoppers,” says Tom Fender, MD country withhim! most regular discounter shoppers, with 80% of him! Interna,onal • www.himinterna,onal.com at @ him_int interna,onal • www.himinterna,onal.com @him_int • © him! •i nterna,onal Ltd 2 015. All rights reserved. him! international. consumers having bought groceries/tobacco from discounters “This new research on Irish shoppers will take in the last month and 77% buying their top-up shop there in our understanding to the next level and allows for a typical month. benchmarking between key accounts, by different Here in Ireland, 36% bought groceries/tobacco from categories and even across countries. The research will discounters in the last month, while 26% of shoppers buy help our clients spot growth opportunities, better serve their top-up in a discounter in ausing typicalconvenience month. The What are shop the key barriers to shoppers and capitalise on sales, keeping one step Huge their opportunity to increase Food to Go stores in Ireland? ahead of the competition.”

Which of these phrases best describes how you/your household does your grocery shopping?

60%

High shop prices

purchases at discounters globally

68%

35% 40%

Not having the range of products to suit your needs

Bought groceries/tobacco from discounters in the last month vs buy food to go/food on the move from discounters

24% 29% 22% 28%

Not enough promo,ons Poor quality fresh foods Range of products not suitable to you 15%

High fuel prices

26% 19% 23% 14% 20%

Products being out of stock Not enough healthy op,ons

GLOBALLY

25% 28%

High shop prices and poor range are the key barriers to foo_all.

Poor service Pack sizes not suitable to you Not one convenient enough to where you shop, live or work

France

Ireland

13%

him! Interna,onal • www.himinterna,onal.com • i nterna,onal @him_int him! Interna,onal • www.himinterna,onal.com @him_int • © him!

Ltd 2 015. All rights reserved.

in a c-store.

Bought groceries/tobacco from discounters in the last month vs will do their Top-­‐Up shopping at discounters in a typical month GLOBALLY

27%

34% 80% 77%

Germany Poland

49%

France United Kingdom

27%

Ireland

26%

Japan

18%

Russia

16%

Netherlands

13% 10%

South Africa

10%

Australia

6%

13%

28% 24%

34%

4% 36%

Bought groceries/tobacco from a discounter in the last month

Buy their Top-­‐Up shop from discounters in a typical month

18%

The Australia & South Africa are rela+vely under penetrated in terms of discount retailers – something which is reflected in the average shopper’s visit frequency.

www.himinterna+onal.com

34% 36%

11% 24%

9% 18%

8%

28%

7% 5% 4%

13% 13%

Bought groceries/tobacco from a discounter in the last month

Buy food-­‐to-­‐go/food-­‐on-­‐the-­‐move from discounters

Shoppers are more likely to use discounters for general ‘top up’ they don’t have the same credibility, worldwide, to meet a shoppers ‘food-­‐to-­‐go’ needs.

www.himinterna+onal.com him!

International have identified an opportunity Germany, the home of Twi1er: @him_int discounters is uto nsurprisingly go purchases at discounters globally. the country with most regular discounter shoppers.

63%

29% 27%

Taiwan

Australia

41%

31%

15%

South Africa

q18. Which of the following, if any, deters you from doing shopping in convenience stores more, or at all...?

29%

14%

Russia

None of the above 9% 36% of shoppers in Ireland visit a discountersJapan in Irish consumers rated the factors that contribute to not shopping a typical month Netherlands

41%

16%

Ireland United Kingdom

63%

22%

United Kingdom

13% 12%

80%

35%

Poland

Taiwan

16% 18% 11% 16% 12% 13%

Clurered un,dy shops

34%

13%

Germany

The percentage of Irish shoppers who visit a discounter in a typical Twi1er: @him_int month is higher than in the UK, but lower than France, Poland and Germany.

to increase food

corresponding figures for the UK are 34% having bought goods in the last month and 27% shopping there in a typical month.

The report identifies a huge opportunity to increase Food to Go purchases at discounters globally, with 34% of consumers buying groceries/tobacco from discounters in the last month, compared to just 13% buying food to go from the same stores. In Ireland, the gap between those figures is even starker, with 36% of shoppers having bought goods in a discounters in the last month, yet just 11% buying food to go.

Irish shoppers are looking for great value for money, with 46% admitting to wanting to shop in grocery shops with the cheapest food, higher than elsewhere globally, leaving the doors open for discounters to grow even more in the coming months and years.

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

The Retail News Interview

Talking Tesco Geraldine Casey, Personnel Director, Tesco Ireland, explains how initiatives like the company’s Community Fund, its Taste Bud programme and its commitment to helping consumers to make healthier choices in-store are working.

DESPITE the high profile fall-out from last year’s accounting scandal at Tesco UK, which has had a huge impact on its business across the water, Tesco’s Irish operation has continued to lead the market here, although it was caught earlier this year by SuperValu before regaining top spot.

Indeed, the latest supermarket share figures from Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, for the 12 weeks ending August 16, show Tesco’s performance continues to improve.

Tesco retains the number one position in the market with 24.8% share. An increase in customer numbers, with more than 20,000 new shoppers recruited this year, has played a vital part in the supermarket’s recovery.

With the retail giant fighting hard to retain its market leading position, we spoke to Geraldine Casey, Personnel Director, about the changing grocery market in Ireland and how Tesco Ireland is adapting to meet the needs of that market.

How did Tesco Ireland adapt its business model during the height of the recession to remain Ireland’s most popular supermarket?

Tesco stores are at the heart of hundreds of communities across Ireland and as a company we are committed to a grassroots-orientated CSR strategy, which enables our

14,500 colleagues across our 149 stores to deliver meaningful impacts for the communities we serve. We do this through initiatives like our Community Fund and our Charity of the Year partnership with Temple Street Children’s Hospital.

We have invested in providing lower prices on hundreds of products that matter most to customers through our ‘Staying Down’ campaign. We have also focused on the quality of food that we’re supplying to customers and this has been reinforced through recent quality awards such as

The recently opened Tesco Express store on Dublin’s Aungier Street has performed extremely well.

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|21

The Retail News Interview the prestigious Great Taste Awards this year, which saw 32 Tesco own brand products awarded stars.

How have Irish consumer tastes and trends changed over that time?

The retail environment is always changing and Ireland is one of the most competitive retail markets in the world. We’re focused on giving our customers the overall best value, range and shopping experience.

We know that value matters to customers, as does the provenance of their food, so we offer customers a wide range of options in stores to cater for customer needs.

There has been increased focus on the provenance of fresh produce and customers have responded positively to initiatives such as our Wonky Veg range.

Television presenter Kathryn Thomas is pictured at the launch of the Tesco Community Fund, which sees Tesco donate €1m annually to local good causes in the communities around each of their 149 stores.

Have Irish consumers changed for good or is there a sign that they are reverting to pre-recessionary spending?

Value will always be important to our customers and we are focused on ensuring that we are delivering high quality products and that we’re delivering value on the products that matter most to our customers. Shopper behaviour also changes throughout the year, depending on the weather, particularly at this time of the year when we never know if each day of sunshine will be the last of the summer.

Monitoring the weather is really important to us to get the right amount of food to our stores for our customers and to minimise food waste. It is often a change in temperature from one day to the next which has the biggest impact on sales but ice cream sales peak during temperatures of 17-20 degrees, with uplifts of up to 60% in ice cream sales in shops across Ireland.

In Ireland, it seems there has been a deliberate move away from large store formats, instead concentrating on the Tesco Extra store format. Why is this?

We offer different formats to meet varied customer needs, from convenience with Tesco Express stores to our widest product range in Tesco Extra stores, which appeal to certain customers who like the fact that they can get everything they need under one roof. We prefer to develop sites in town centres or suburbs as we want our shops to be as near as possible to where people live and work. Over the past two to three years, the majority of our new store openings have been Express or Metro style urban stores.

How do you plan to maintain your position in the Irish retail market?

We are focused on continuing to deliver high quality products for our customers and on providing lower prices via our ‘Staying Down’ campaign. We are already seeing early indications that we are moving in the right direction with an uplift in customer loyalty and fresh produce volumes, which are important positive indicators of growing customer confidence. We are confident that we have strong plans in place to meet the needs of our customers.

You were the first retailer in Ireland to remove sweets and chocolates from checkouts. Why did you take that step?

We want to help our customers make healthier choices and we have made significant progress this year with the introduction of sweet free checkouts at the start of the year.

We were the first retailer in Ireland to remove sweets and chocolates from checkouts in our 149 stores and replacing these products with healthy snacks such as popcorn, dried fruits and nuts, healthy breakfast and lunch options and a range of health & beauty products. Removing sweets from checkouts is part of a much wider ongoing effort from Tesco to help customers make healthier choices, which also includes the reduction of salt and calories across soft drink ranges, sandwiches and ready meals, without compromising on flavour.

Obesity is a growing concern for Ireland. How can retailers like Tesco help to combat the onset of obesity?

We are committed to giving customers as much nutritional information as we can, both in stores and on our product packaging, to ultimately make it easier in stores for shoppers to make healthy choices. In line with EU guidelines, our packaging includes traffic light information on Reference Intakes (RIs) and energy, fat saturates, sugars and salt information. The colours used are bright and vibrant to stand out from the packaging so that the numbers are easy to read for shoppers.

You also launched the Tesco Community Fund last year, donating €1m to good causes in the local communities around each store. Where did this idea come from?

Tesco stores are at the heart of hundreds of communities across Ireland and as a company, we are committed to a grassroots-orientated CSR strategy, which enables our 14,500 colleagues across our 149 stores to deliver meaningful impacts for the communities we serve. We do this through our Charity of the Year Programme, through which over €10.5m has been donated to charities in Ireland since 2001, and through our Tesco Community Fund.

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

The Retail News Interview the course of the first year of the initiative.

Likewise, our Charity of the Year partnership with Temple Street Children’s Hospital is really engaging the hearts and minds of our colleagues and our customers are supporting our regular fundraising events in stores. Recently we hosted a ‘Lemonade & Lollipops’ fundraiser in stores, with customers invited to enjoy a cup of lemonade and a lollipop in their local Tesco store in return for a small donation to Temple Street. The event raised an impressive €85,000, which is going to make a real difference to the hospital, as it will be Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Simon Coveney TD, at the launch of Tesco Taste Bud. used to buy equipment that will be of significant We saw an opportunity to build on our existing corporate benefit in cleft palate and speech operations, helping change social responsibility initiatives and to develop an initiative the lives of thousands of little patients across the country. to use our scale for the benefit of our local communities We’re well on track to achieving our ambitious fundraising and in July 2014, we launched the Tesco Community Fund, target of €1.5m for each year of our partnership with Temple a new corporate responsibility initiative that sees Tesco Street. donate €1m annually to local Colleagues and customers have also good causes in the communities responded well to the re-brand of our around each of our 149 stores. supplier development programme to The Community Fund is an “We are already seeing Taste Bud this year. We’re seeing a real initiative that our colleagues sense of community among the suppliers can really be proud of, as it early indications that we that have participated in the programme effects positive changes in and are seeing their business grow with the local communities around are moving in the right Tesco. Some of the recent success stories each of our stores. As well that we have seen include Ballymaloe as directly benefiting local direction with an uplift Country Relish, who participated in the community groups and charities, our customers are in customer loyalty and first year of the supplier development programme, which initially saw the involved every step of the way fresh produce volumes, brand start to export to 200 Tesco UK in the Community Fund by stores. Since then the brand’s relationship nominating and voting for the which are important with Tesco has grown and in April, we participating local good causes announced that the Cork-based supplier in each cycle. The more tokens a positive indicators had secured one of the largest listings for local good cause gets, the larger an Irish company with Tesco, which saw share of the €1,000 donation of growing customer the brand’s Original Country Relish now they receive each cycle. stocked in over 900 Tesco UK stores. confidence. We are This year, we decided to re-brand In the past, Tesco has been confident that we have the programme as Taste Bud and a new seen as a giant and sometimes identity was developed to reflect even a faceless multinational: strong plans in place to brand the programme objective to help Irish are initiatives like the food and drink producers to grow their Community Fund helping to meet the needs of our business with Tesco. change this perception?

Initiatives like the Community customers.”

How successful is Taste Bud proving?

Fund, Taste Bud, our supplier This year’s suppliers will be hoping to emulate the success development programme and our Charity of the Year of previous participants. To date, 50 Irish companies have programme all forge deeper relationships with the local completed the supplier development programme, recording communities of our 149 stores and give our colleagues a over €30m worth of sales to Tesco stores. reason to be proud to work for Tesco. Since launching the Companies joining the programme this year range Community Fund, the feedback we have received from both from budding food and drink talent on the local level of colleagues and customers has been overwhelmingly positive, the programme such as Bia Ganbreise’s ‘Gookies’, an with approximately 3,500 local good causes benefiting over

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

The Retail News Interview award winning gluten free cookie dough produced in West Cork, to McCormack Farms’ range of healthy raw juice drinks, to 250Kal’s range of quality baked treats that all contain less than 250 calories per portion and are free from refined sugar.

On the national level, it’s testament to the growth potential of the programme that two former local level suppliers, Boutique Bake and Chilly Moo, are progressing this year to national distribution.

Craft beer is also represented strongly both this year and in the programme alumni with Brú Brewery and Galway Hooker craft beers on the national level this Heidi and Callum Farrell help celebrate the launch of sweet free checkouts at Tesco Ireland stores. year. the world’s biggest buyer of Irish food and drink, our support Finally, on the export level is where the programme can for Irish suppliers is central to our business and is growing really add value to local Irish food and drink companies. year on year. We are proud to support over 13,000 Irish Taste Bud is the only supplier development programme farm families and 480 Irish SMEs and our new product in Ireland offering Irish food and drink companies export development team is constantly on the look-out for up and potential to international markets. Suppliers joining the coming food and drink talent to bring to our customers in export level of the programme this year include Lakeland stores. To support them on their development journey, the Dairies, who recently launched a new range of 500ml winner of the Small Producer of the Year award will receive premium ice cream and frozen yogurt tubs for Tesco Ireland, a prize of €2,500 and a place on the next Tesco Taste Bud Coomara Poitin, Flahavan’s, Keohane Seafood, Ballineen supplier development programme, run in partnership with Fine Foods and Coolmore Foods.

Bord Bia. Where did the partnership with Foodcloud come from and Is it fair to say the last few years have seen a change in how successful has it been? buying policy at Tesco, as you seriously increased your Last July, we became the first retailer in Ireland to commitment to Irish suppliers to the point where you are partner with FoodCloud, which saw surplus food from now the world’s biggest buyer of Irish food and drink stores redistributed to local charities and community products? Why is this? groups through the use of an innovative app. FoodCloud Tesco is a major supporter of the Irish food industry and was set up by two young social entrepreneurs, Iseult Ward since 1997, has played a significant role in the growth and and Aoibheann O’Brien. In June, our colleagues in Tesco expansion of many food producing businesses through UK announced that they would be piloting a partnership development support, as well as purchases and sales of Irish between FareShare and FoodCloud. The partnership brings food products in the home and export markets. We now together the technology platform developed by FoodCloud source fresh food from over 13,000 Irish farming families and in Ireland and FareShare’s knowledge of the UK charity 480 SMEs and 100% of the fresh beef, pork, lamb, eggs and food redistribution market. The scheme is being piloted and milk in our stores is Irish. tested in partnership with Tesco in the UK. We are the world’s biggest buyer of Irish food and drink and Tesco’s support for the Irish economy has been You are sponsoring the Small Producer of the Year Award quantified to be over €3.2 billion per year. Of this, €980m is as part of this year’s Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards. accounted for by exports of Irish food products to the Tesco Is this something Tesco feels passionate about? business worldwide, mainly UK, making Tesco the second The Small Producer of the Year award at the Irish Quality largest market for Irish food exports worldwide, exceeding Food and Drink Awards recognises excellence in food and exports to France, Germany or the USA. drink development among small producers in Ireland. As

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

Fuels & Ignition Products

Fuels Market Heats Up Rising utility costs are driving demand for solid fuel and LPG sales across the FMCG sector.

THE increasing costs of utilities have been hitting cashstrapped Irish consumers hard, and that was even before the hugely controversial introduction of water charges. Indeed, the rising cost of central heating has seen growing numbers of Irish people spot heating their home, thus allowing them to save money by heating specific rooms rather than running their central heating throughout the whole house. Recent years have seen a significant return to real fires right across the country, while the growth in sales of mobile heating appliances continues, as more and more consumers seek to curb spending wherever they can.

Bord na Móna For over 80 years, Bord Na Móna, the largest supplier of solid fuel in Ireland and the category market leader, has led the way in designing an innovative and convenient range of quality solid fuel solutions for Irish consumers. At the heart of the Bord Na Móna range is the Irish peat briquette, bringing value, comfort and magic into Irish homes for many years.

Solid fuel continues to be used as a source of heat for over 58% of Irish homes and this season, Bord Na Móna continue to drive innovation and are revamping their smokeless coal range with 10 new products and bright and exciting new look packaging.

“Research indicates that while consumers are price conscious, in-store availability and quality are also key purchase drivers, with consumers buying smaller quantities more frequently,” explains Patricia Mulligan, Customer Activation Manager, Bord na Móna.

“This is very obvious from the growth in the

retail channel for solid fuel sales.”

Following on from the successful launch last season of the Bord na Móna Kiln Dried Hardwood range, which accommodated varying consumer market needs by providing both convenient carry home packs and the availability of larger crate formats, Bord na Móna are now extending the convenient, consumer friendly handle concept for easier carrying across their 10kg extended smokeless coal range.

The range is also now available in brand new, clean and bright coated polypropylene packaging, which increases stand-out in-store, while also being much cleaner in terms of coal-dust.

Bord na Móna’s 10kg range now includes smokeless Lignite Nuggets and Premium Ovoid Nuggets in a brand new packaging format with a consumer-friendly handle.

People New season, you know. new products and A brand you trust. new ways to grow And the perfect your business. ďŹ re every time.

NEW

REVAMPED SMOKELESS COAL RANGE

For further details call 1850 744 755 or visit www.bordnamonafuels.ie

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

Fuels & Ignition Products

Bord na Móna’s 20kg range includes Premium Ovoid Gems, Ovoid Blend and Ovoid & Lignite.

The 10kg range now includes smokeless Lignite Nuggets, Lignite Blend and new Premium Ovoid Nuggets, which is a high quality smokeless coal that is easy to light, quickly providing a real fire with a golden flame.

Due to the great success and significant demand for their 35kg premium stove fuel, Bord na Móna are now introducing a 20kg premium stove Ovoid as a smaller, more convenient format for customers.

“The new change includes using a more clearly defined description as part of the product name, hence the name Premium Ovoid Gems. These are our most popular selling coal, manufactured in Ireland to a large ovoid shape,” notes Patricia Mulligan. “The new look will also be available across the 20kg smokeless range and is due to launch in market from late September onwards.”

Bord na Móna’s convenience range of firelogs, firepacks and firelighters, as well as ECO logs in 8 and 16 packs, are also widely available across the convenience, DIY, retail, multiple and hardware sector, providing consumers with an instant and convenient real fire experience.

“We will support our Lignite Blend Smokeless Coal from Bord customers for na Móna: available in 10kg and 20kg winter 2015 format. with a TV, radio and outdoor advertising campaign, as well as at point of purchase, with a range of Point of Sale material and merchandising solutions that will facilitate an easier and more informed consumer solid fuel shopping experience,” concludes Patrica Mulligan. “At Bord na Móna, we continue to grow and develop our product range, offering choice, quality and support to grow the solid fuel business together with our customers.”

Homestead After the launch of the Homestead brand in 1986, the firelighter range quickly became a stable product within the brand’s portfolio, generating considerable sales in this

category.

It is estimated that Homestead Firelighters account for 53% of the total firelighter sales within symbol groups and independent retailers, while rivalling the two leading brands in Ireland.

Over 70% of households have open fires and the ignition sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the household category.

The Homestead fuels range consists of two skus of firelighters, 30’s and 60’s, and a Firelog, which was introduced to the range in early 2005.

It is estimated that Homestead Firelighters account for 53% of the total firelighter sales within symbol groups and independent retailers.

The coming months will see an increase of investment in the Homestead Firelog, with deeper and more frequent promotional activity.

With the increase in trading of Firelogs in the Irish market, a full review of the Homestead promotion plan has taken place, which has resulted in an increase of investment in the Homestead Firelog, which will mean deeper and more frequent promotional activity in line with the market.

Homestead Brand Manager Janice Gibney is delighted to come to the table with this increased investment, which she notes “will still give retailers the healthy margin they know and love from Homestead, while continuing to Homestead Firelighters are one of bring value home the star performers within the brand’s portfolio. to its consumers”.

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

Fuels & Ignition Products Newport BACK in 1961, there were an increasing number of refillable butane cigarette lighters on the market, each of which had its own distinctive odour and unique refill, which could not fill any other lighter except its own brand.

However, friends Geoff Keen, an aerosol designer, and Ron Gibbons, a Director of Finlay’s 1100 Retail Tobacco Shops, got to talking when Geoff lit Ron’s cigarette, before noting how he could produce a lighter refill “for less than two shillings each to fill every brand of lighter and not just one”

Newport products are supplied by Ampersand.

Geoff subsequently designed and created the odourless Newport refill aerosol with adaptors to refill all lighters, which was instantly successful worldwide with consumers and shopkeepers alike. Today, there are all kinds of different uses for Newport apart from filling lighters.

The consumer will choose Newport for many reasons but these are paramount:

•

Apart from the unmistakeable Newport logo design, its most distinguishing visual feature is its unique castle shaped (crenulated) Newport crown, fitted with eight individually moulded and separately coloured Newport adaptors and two Newport Universal Red Flints, all of which are exclusive to Newport butane everywhere.

•

Another unique feature for Newport and all other butane refills the company supply since 1983 is that the nonvolatile impurities are less than one part in 20,000 parts of the butane being dispensed from the can. This is recognised globally by the buying public by their ‘Near Zero Impurities’ motif boldly printed on every label.

This means that Newport became suitable for refilling windproof lighters and the increasing number of butane powered personal, household and industrial products now widely marketed. Another feature is that impurity free butane is increasingly used as a very strong solvent in workshops, laboratories and medical establishments for a variety of purposes.

Newport products are supplied by Ampersand and available to order today. For more information, telephone (01) 4130100, email info@ampersandsales.ie or visit www.ampersandsales.ie.

Calor LPG is one of the cleanest conventional fuels available.

Calor Gas Calor Gas is a leading provider of innovative energy solutions all around Ireland, helping homes, shops, restaurants, hotels and leisure facilities to harness the efficiency and sustainability of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for over 75 years. A versatile, portable and manageable fuel that is easily stored and delivered, Calor LPG is also one of the cleanest conventional fuels available, producing far lower carbon emissions and reduced running costs than oil, coal,

Calor Gas is a leading provider of innovative energy solutions all around Ireland.

Smokers Products Distributed in Ireland by Ampersand

Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 Direct Sales Line (01) 4130150

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

Fuels & Ignition Products peat and even electricity.

The flexibility and convenience of Calor LPG has a range of applications in Irish homes, including central heating, instant hot water, controllable cooking, flame fires and efficient tumble drying. Calor has one of the largest distribution networks for cylinder gas on the island of Ireland and retailers can choose from a wide variety of cylinder sizes, from 5kg up to 47kg, including Calor’s lightweight cylinder range, according to their requirements.

“We understand that each business has individual needs,” explains a Calor spokesperson. “That’s why we create a complete custom-made solution for each retailer.

In addition, Calor retailers enjoy excellent marketing support, Point of Sale, technical support and a dedicated sales representative. We also provide in-depth training to retailers, so that they can maximise Calor LPG for the benefit of their business.”

Safety is Calor’s number one priority, and in order to ensure the integrity and quality of their product, cylinders are filled only by Calor in their Belfast and Cork facilities.

Calor is part of SHV Energy, the largest distributor of LPG worldwide, fuelling industry, businesses, vehicles and homes in more than 27 countries. This guarantees access to a secure supply of fuel.

For further information or if you wish to become a stockiest of Calor gas cylinders, contact Calor on 1850 812 450 (ROI) / 028 9045 5588 (NI), or visit www.calorgas.ie.

Flogas In the wake of what was probably the worst summer weather of the past few years, retail customers will be urgently seeking cost-effective solutions to control their home heating bills.

“Flogas Superser heaters are the perfect solution for cost-conscious customers,” notes Eoin O’Flynn of Flogas Ireland, the exclusive distributor for Superser in Ireland and the UK. “They are extremely useful as an instant, economic and portable way to ‘spot-heat’ a room quickly, as many customers find it far cheaper than turning on the central heating for an hour or two.”

Flogas supplies two very contemporary looking and

BIC Lights up the Market BIC is the leading branded pocket lighter manufacturer in Ireland and the world, selling six million lighters every day. There is a BIC lighter for everyone, whether it’s a flint, electronic, maxi or mini. All BIC lighters are colourful, easy to handle and undergo 50 safety and quality checks, making them the reliable choice for any smoker.

The BIC lighter décor suite includes a series of bespoke Irish designs, showcasing some of the country’s most iconic symbols and visuals.

BIC offers a multitude of lighter décors, each carefully designed to suit specific facets of the target market. For instance, Miss BIC is a flint lighter range aimed at females. The BIC lighter décor suite also includes a series of bespoke Irish designs, showcasing some of the country’s most iconic symbols and visuals.

50% of lighter purchases are impulse: therefore, visibility in-store is key. When BIC is seen, BIC is sold!

BIC offers a market-leading product which stands out, appeals to everyone, everywhere and can guarantee to drive your rate of sale.

Aside from its market-leading pocket lighters, BIC also boasts the BIC Megalighter range, the perfect household essential which can be used in lighting fires, cookers, candles and barbecues.

Model Karena Graham shows off the lightness of the new Flogas Gaslight cylinder, available in 5kg and 10kg sizes (www.flogas.ie/gaslight).

stylish mobile heaters, the Superser Radiant and Superser Catalytic. In particular, the Superser Catalytic burns without a flame and has lower touch temperatures, making it safer, and it’s fitted with easy glide castors, which allows for trouble-free moving from room to room.

Portable and stylish yet extremely functional, the Flogas Gaslight cylinders, launched last year, have been a great success and are getting an excellent response from customers because of all the benefits they offer. Not only are the Flogas Gaslight cylinders about half the weight of traditional steel cylinders, the semitranslucent exterior allows customers to see exactly how much gas they have left.

The Flogas Gaslight cylinders are as safe as steel cylinders and won’t leave rust marks on patios or decks. They fit all leading brands of LPG appliances, making it ideal for caravans, campervans, motor homes, barbeques and patio heaters. The cylinders are available in 5kg and 10kg sizes in selected outlets nationwide. For more information, contact Flogas on (041) 9831041 or visit www.flogas.ie.

Call 1850 812 450 (ROI) or 028 9045 5588 (NI) to enquire about becoming a Calor cylinder gas retailer

Derrymore Woods in Bessbrook, Co Armagh.

natural & pure

Northern Ireland’s quality, award-winning food is enjoyed in over 70 countries worldwide.

Northern Ireland is known for its outstanding natural beauty and as a great place to visit. The land is rich and productive too.

The combination of a temperate climate and our dedication to farming excellence and innovation means food produced in Northern Ireland wins awards for quality the world over.

Our dairy, bakery, meat, fish, poultry and vegetables are exported to over 70 countries worldwide.

Hungry for more?

Visit www.buynifood.com Shane McArdle, Food Business Development Director, Republic of Ireland & International Markets E: shane.mcardle@investni.com Mob: +44 (0)7817 173516 Drew McIvor, Food Business Development Executive, Republic of Ireland E: drew.mcivor@investni.com Tel: +44 (0)28 9069 8113

www.buynifood.com

32|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Retail Ireland: Monthly Update

Retail Ireland Summit 2015 WE are delighted to confirm details of the Retail Ireland Summit 2015, What’s in-store?, with Doug Stephens as keynote speaker.

This, our third annual conference, takes place on Thursday, October 8 at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin 8.

Known as ‘The Retail Futurist’, Doug Stephens is one of global retail’s most influential thinkers. His work has influenced some of the world’s leading retailers and consumer brands, including Walmart, HomeDepot, Disney, BMW, Citibank, eBay, Intel and WestJet. Doug will demonstrate how developments in media and technology have Doug Stevens, the Retail forever changed consumer behaviour and how Futurist, keynote speaker both online retailers and traditional operators at the Retail Ireland Summit must not only adapt but continually disrupt 2015. their market in order to survive and prosper.

Together with over 200 retail executives, join us to be inspired by the latest innovations and learn about the challenges and opportunities in retail’s tomorrow.

With additional speakers shortly to be announced, discounted early bird bookings and further details are now available on the event’s dedicated website at www.retailsummit.ie.

Retail Ireland Monitor Provides Mid-Year Overview RETAIL Ireland recently published the third issue of its new quarterly trends analysis paper, Retail Ireland Monitor. Designed to scratch below the surface of the CSO’s sales data to track, interpret and provide expert commentary on the performance of each individual retail category, the latest edition sets out that despite a return to growth and renewed optimism in the sector, the total value of Irish retail sales remains some 14% below 2007’s peak. The paper also underlines our Budget 2016 proposals (see top right) and highlights the challenges which continue to hamper retail’s performance. See www. retailireland.ie for more information.

CONCERN OVER LOW PAY COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS IN July, the Low Pay Commission published its first report and set of recommendations to Government which includes a formal proposal to increase the national minimum wage by €0.50 per hour from the current €8.65 to a new rate of €9.15 – a rise of 6%. The LPC’s determinations are now with Government, which will decide whether or not to implement the increase.

In response, Retail Ireland issued a press statement expressing grave concern at the impact the increase is likely to have on retailers, given that our industry is enormously labour-intensive. Our press statement calls for balancing measures in the shape of reductions in employer PRSI contributions to be introduced under Budget 2016 to negate the effect of the extra cost burden.

BUDGET 2016 PROPOSALS DURING July, Retail Ireland formally submitted its Budget 2016 proposals to the Minister for Finance. Our submission outlines how the full potential of the retail industry can be supported by the adoption of further pro-enterprise measures by Government.

It also calls for consumer-friendly tax cuts and action on labour costs, e-commerce supports and town centre rejuvenation. A copy of our submission can be accessed on our homepage: www.retailireland.ie.

Retailers Unite in Warning over Dublin City Centre Transport Plan IN early August, Retail Ireland submitted its formal response to the Dublin City Centre Transport Study – the sweeping set of proposals drawn up by National Transport Authority and Dublin City Council aimed at transforming public transport services and private traffic routes to, through and within central Dublin. To accompany our submission, Retail Ireland issued a joint press statement with DublinTown, the initiative which works to promote all that the city centre has to offer.

The statement generated a significant level of media attention, which is crucial as we progress our high level public affairs strategy and alliance building activities in response to the unprecedented measures proposed under the study. Our members’ insights and contributions have helped build what we consider to be a strong and impactful position and we look forward to harnessing the combined strength of our city centre-based members to push for a reconsideration of the traffic-related elements of the measures over the months ahead.

Latest Data on Consumer Prices THE CSO’s latest Consumer Price Index indicates that average Irish consumer prices were 0.2% lower in July 2015, when compared with the same month last year.

On an annualised basis, July saw yet more sharp falls in the price of personal and home computing (-13.0%), diesel (-10.9%), cameras (-10.1%) and petrol (-7.3%), while books recorded an increase of 6.3%, combined tobacco products were up by 4.4%, newspapers and magazines saw a 1.8% increase in average prices, and stationery products were marginally up by 0.1%. Although good news for consumers, the continued slide in prices over recent months is hitting operators’ margins and posing yet another obstacle to retail’s fledgling recovery.

Tel: 01-6051558 www.retailireland.ie Need more?

For more information about our work and how your retail business can benefit from our services and supports, please visit us at www.retailireland.ie

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

Food & Hospitality Ireland

Profits in the Spotlight at Food & Hospitality Ireland Taking place on September 16 and 17 in the Citywest Events Centre, Food & Hospitality Ireland 2015, incorporating the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland, is a must visit event.

BRINGING together the very best in food, retail and hospitality, Food & Hospitality Ireland, incorporating the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland, will be home to some of the best products and services that the Irish retail, hospitality and food & drink industries have to offer…and all under one roof!

Home to a host of live culinary demonstrations, seminars and award-winning produce, Food & Hospitality Ireland is one of the most important events for those in the hospitality, food and drink industries, when it takes place on September 16 and 17 at the Citywest Events Centre.

With so much happening over the two days, Food & Hospitality Ireland enables buyers from the retail and hospitality industries to maximise their time, as a visit to the show will deliver new products, valuable contacts and learnings through the Spotlight Stage.

Profit Shop A must visit for retailers, the Profit Shop demonstrates how retailers can save thousands of euro.

Visit the Profit Shop to see how you can benefit from a potential €20,000 of savings, thanks to the cost efficient products and smart technology that’s being showcased by over 10 companies (savings are calculated on an average convenience store with a turnover of €200,000).

The Profit Shop, sponsored by Energia, in association with Convenience Stores & Newsagents Association and the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland, has been designed by Maria O’Neill Designs and built by Punchline Developments.

Thanks to the success of the feature in 2014, it’s back this year with even more companies involved.

The Profit Shop will provide visitors with an area that’s a fully functional, interactive shop, which will highlight how retailers can maximise the profitability of their shop through

The Profit Shop, sponsored by Energia, demonstrates how retailers can save thousands of euro.

The Spotlight Stage Line-Up: Wednesday, September 16

Hosting: Bobby Kerr, Chairman, Insomnia 10:15 - 10.45 Chef Sean Owens from the Butchery Excellence

Scheme, Chef Demonstration.

11:00 - 11:30 Conor Dempsey – Amuse, Dublin.

12:00 -12:45 Opening of Food & Hospitality Ireland and

Speciality & Fine Food Fair 2015.

13:00 - 14:00 Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland - Shop of

the Year Awards.

14:00 – 14:45 Donal McGuinness, Escher Group - Payments Technology.

15:00 – 15:45 Product of the Show Awards.

16:00 -16:45 Cormac Mannion, Energia, Energy Services Manager (RoI).

Thursday, September 17

10:15 - 10.45 Chef Sean Owens from the Butchery Excellence

Scheme, Chef Demonstration.

11:00 - 11:30 Chef Adrian Martin from the Craft Butchers.

12:00 -12:45 Veronica O’Reilly, Head Chef/Owner Healthy Habits Café.

13:00 - 14:00 Martin O’Shea, Buyer, Musgrave - How to have

your product sold through Ireland’s biggest

stores - a buyer’s insight.

14:15 - 14:45 Stephen Reilly, Kays Kitchen - an interactive

demo of ‘Love Irish Food’.

15:00 - 15:45 Adrian Cummins, CEO, Restaurants

Association of Ireland with Carmel Corrigan &

Olivia Duff from Boyne Valley Food: ‘How to

build your own tourism strategy’.

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

Food & Hospitality Ireland Connect, Retail Solutions EPOS systems, Kelsius Food Safety Technology, Fisherman’s Market and Martin Food Equipment.

FullFill Co. are one of the many innovative companies who will be exhibiting at the show.

the latest products, services and technologies, along with effective design and signage.

Supporting the Profit Shop for the first time is Energia, who will be demonstrating their Energy Funding Scheme, which offers businesses up to 30% in funding for energy efficiency projects. “The Profit Shop is a great partnership for Energia,” notes Cormac Mannion, Energy Services Manager at Energia. “As a leading provider of gas and electricity to thousands of Irish retailers, Energia understands that controlling and reducing costs is vital for retailers. We’ve just introduced an Energy Efficiency Funding Scheme that gives retailers up to 30% of the capital cost of popular energy efficiency projects, such as lighting, heating and refrigeration. So not only will your business benefit from the funding provided by Energia, with the additional cost savings from the reduction in energy usage, your project can literally pay for itself. Energia representatives will be available in The Profit Shop over the course of the FHI exhibition to give retailers more details on the scheme and how they can avail of and benefit from it.”

Forest Feast, from Craigavon, Co. Armagh, will be exhibiting their range of quality premium, traditional and contemporary ranges of seeds, nuts and dried fruit from around the world.

Shining a Spotlight on Industry Issues Focusing on learning, engaging panel discussions and live cookery demonstrations, The Spotlight Stage is set to be one of the main hubs at F&HI over the two days. With high profile guest speakers including Insomnia Coffee founder and former Dragon, Bobby Kerr; TV Chef Adrian Martin from the Craft Butchers and Conor Dempsey from the highly-praised Amuse restaurant in Dublin, there’s a stellar line-up in store for visitors.

The Spotlight Stage will also be home to the Craft Butchers’ Butcher Shop of the Year Awards and the Food & Hospitality Ireland Product of the Show Awards. Other speakers include Donal McGuinness, Managing Director, Escher Group Interactive Services, and Martin O’Shea, Buyer with Musgraves. For the full line-up, please see panel opposite.

Food, Glorious Food In addition to the wealth of artisan producers that will be represented in the Great Taste Pavilion and at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland, a host of companies from the Dublin Food Chain have just confirmed their attendance, showcasing the best that Dublin food companies have to offer.

Dublin Food Chain companies who are exhibiting include Nik’s Tea, GreenValu, Oishii Foods Ltd and Cornude Artisan Popcorn.

Belfast boutique loose leaf tea blender, Suki Tea will be amongst the exhibitors at Food & Hospitality Ireland.

Other Profit Shop companies demonstrating to retailers how they can save on costs include AR Systems, Ad Tower, Higgins Refrigeration, GSLS Securit Transit, Capitol Foods coffee machines, National Lottery, APT Safelink, Pro-Light, Broderick Bros, Virtek Security Products, Customer Loyalty

A Wide Audience Last year, thousands of visitors attended F&HI, and this year, with the addition of Speciality & Fine Food Fair Ireland and the Great Taste Pavilion, it’s hoped that the show will reach an even wider audience. For a full list of exhibitors, please visit www.foodhospitality.ie.

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. For full details on new features, exhibitors and partners, please log onto www.foodhospitality.ie or follow the show on twitter @FHIexhibition. Pre-register your visit now at www.foodhospitality.ie.

Stand No. A20

Polish Food –

a Taste of Tradition, a Tradition of Taste

Polish food specialises in a wide range of various products, which deserve recognition and also deserve to be recognised as exceptional. The inimitable taste of Polish food is created through unique recipes, traditional character and, similarly to Irish food, exceptional quality.

Agriculture based on family farms has always had great importance in Poland. Since 1989, Poland has seen a huge modernisation campaign, not only of farms but also of the food processing industry, which is now one of the most advanced in the world. Whereas once, Polish agriculture was believed to be primitive because it consumed little in the way of chemicals, in today’s climate, this is a tremendous advantage. The respect for the land and for nature is still nurtured, allowing Polish farmers to create the best possible conditions for the development of sustainable agriculture.

Such an approach has resulted in Poland being very successful in the international agrifood businness. Polish farmers are world leaders in production of soft fruit and one of the greatest producers of apples and mushrooms. Magnificent Polish cured meats enjoy great recognition due to their traditional values, handed down from old and verified recipes. Guests visiting Poland say that our ham tastes like ham, egg as egg and our fresh crispy bread loaf is exceptional.

Poland is famous for the production of excellent sausages, fine bread, exceptional sweets, and world-renowned alcohol – vodka, produced in different flavours.

Did you know that food and non-alcoholic drinks in Poland are the cheapest in the whole EU? According to Eurostat, prices in that category are 39% lower than the EU average.

We are proud not only of our tasty, quality products but also of our magnificent dishes, created with gorgeous ingredients. We cordially invite you to visit Poland and try these mouth-watering dishes in restaurants and agritourist farms. But before you go, you will have a chance to taste Polish food in Ireland. The Embassy of Poland is taking part in Food and Hospitality Ireland 2015 (stand No. A20).

On the stand, you can taste a variety of products, while free and comprehensive information on business opportunities and partners in Poland will also be provided. The

Polish food products stand for: • Unique recipes, • Healthy and ecological products, • Traditions cultivated for centuries, • Inimitable and unique tastes, • Highest quality brands, • Various regional specialties, • Products appreciated by gourmets around the world.

Embassy’s staff will be happy to help you find a supplier of competitive products to help increase your profits. See you there!

Give it a go! Try Polish food!

36|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Barcoding

Raising the Barcode Barcode Manager is a new online tool from GS1 Ireland to help SMEs to generate and manage barcodes and product information.

RUNNING a small business, especially at start-up stage, can be a big challenge, with so many demands to meet and with time, human and financial resources in short supply.

Once you have created your product, bringing it to market and successfully getting it on the shelf in a store is a significant milestone. It’s the point at which it all comes together, product, branding, packaging and offer, and the point from which you hope it all takes off.

Managing Barcodes One step on this journey is finalising your product packaging and completing a new line listing form for a retailer: this includes the barcode number for the product, its name, description and a selection of logistics information. For many businesses, managing barcodes means recording information in excel spreadsheets or even hardback copybooks. These manual methods can lead to confusion, error, duplication and issues with storing and tracking information. With that in mind, GS1 Ireland has designed Barcode Manager, a free, user friendly web-based tool which will help SMEs collate product information and store it in a central repository. With Barcode Manager, GSI Ireland hope to make life a little easier for SME owners getting their product to market.

Listing a new product with a retailer is a bit like filling out a dating profile. It needs to be comprehensive, cover all the vital points and most importantly, the information needs to be accurate. Product information such as size is used to allocate space on shelves and in warehouses; weight information is used to configure transport and shipping loads; and description information is needed for shelf labels and to populate online shopping databases. The provision of much of this information is also governed by law, such as the Food Information for Consumers Regulation (1169/2011) that came into effect last December, with future provisions for ingredients, allergens and other data coming into effect this year and in 2016.

Barcode Manager is full of functionality; enabling the generation of barcode numbers for new products and the storing of barcode numbers for existing products.

To help businesses to prepare and share product information, there are global standards about how product information should be formatted and stored, so that manufacturers, distributors and retailers can share the information easily between systems in a consistent and standardised way.

Barcode Manager will reduce the Guidelines and information gathering burden for frameworks for artisan producers and SMEs. data quality exist to assist companies in preparing information in line with international best practices. This can prove vitally important down the line if you are successful in getting a listing with a major national or overseas retailer, for example.

Benefits of Barcode Manager Gathering all this information, ensuring it is accurate and keeping it up-to-date can be an onerous task. Barcode Manager will reduce this burden for artisan producers and SMEs. Businesses using Barcode Manager will enjoy a higher degree of accuracy in their record keeping, making duplicated barcodes a thing of the past and reducing the likelihood of potentially costly mistakes. With its built-in check digit function, a whole stage of the barcode generation process is now automated, saving time and preventing errors. Barcode Manager stores your barcode information online, keeping it safe and secure. With its streamlined interface, Barcode Manager is easy to use, reducing the time it takes to train staff in the barcode allocation and management process.

Barcode Manager is full of functionality; enabling the generation of barcode numbers for new products and the storing of barcode numbers for existing products. Brand owners can fill out a simple data profile for each product, including brand name, description, weight, size and contact information. The tool also enables SMEs to generate barcode symbol images in a variety of file formats. Barcode Manager also facilitates file uploads to import information that may currently be stored in spreadsheets or other systems and a full data set can be exported into Excel or CSV file as required.

Any organisation that holds a barcode licence with GS1 Ireland and is interested in using Barcode Manager to control their barcode allocations can contact the GS1 Helpdesk on (01) 2080660 or go to www.gs1ie.org/Barcode-Manager for further information.

Barcodes made easy

Fast: quickly allocate barcodes; no manual check digit calculation required

Secure: external archive of all your barcodes and product descriptions

Accurate: sequential number allocation reduces error and duplication

Effortless: Express Allocation for barcodes in an instant

Try

Barcode Manager today www.gs1ie.org/BCM

helpdesk@gs1ie.org

38|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Costcutter

Costcutter: A Family Affair Costcutter Ireland is very much the family symbol group for family businesses, according to MD, Jim Barry, who outlines the benefits of choosing Costcutter as your symbol group partner.

A PROFESSIONALLY run family operation is the ethos of Barry Group. With more and more retail groups changing ownership and creating volatility in the market, Barry Group aims to be the family symbol group for a family business.

“Understanding the needs of other family businesses and offering them the stability and the platform they need to ensure their business is successful – that’s the key to the unique customer service Barry Group offers,” says Managing Director Jim Barry.

The variety and quality of the Costcutter offering is easily seen by the range and strength of the latest stores to join the franchise brand. Under the guidance of its parent company, Barry Group, Costcutter has firmly established itself as a strong, innovative partner for prospective retailers across Ireland.

Jim Barry, MD, Barry Group, who own and operate Costcutter in Ireland.

A BEACON of Light The customer is placed at the heart of everything Barry Group does and nowhere is that more evident than in its approach to ordering. A specially designed ordering system, named BEACON, was designed in house by Barry Group’s IT team for its Costcutter retailers. This is the system that facilitates as smooth an ordering system as a retailer could hope for and ensures that the ordering process is easily managed at all times.

BEACON is the framework around what is a best-inclass chilled distribution solution. Launched in early 2014, the Costcutter own brand and Meadowbrook Farm chilled

and fresh food ranges have received extremely positive feedback from customers and retailers alike and have boosted business considerably for the Costcutter network, allowing stores to provide a high-quality value offering for customers nationwide.

“We initiated a root and branch review of the company some 18 months ago,” explains Jim Barry. “The purpose of this was to ask ourselves if we were giving our customers every available service and were we improving our processes.

I think the reaction from retailers and customers is vindication of the changes we made and how we challenged ourselves as a company.”

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|39

Costcutter The Benefits

New and existing Costcutter retailers are now reaping the benefits of: Set-up • A modern, vibrant image; • Professional recruitment team; • In-house retail store design team; • Dedicated project manager; • IT set-up support; • Range management team; • Fresh food advisor; • HACCP set-up advice; • Financial advice (business planning).

Customer service is at the core of Costcutter’s ethos.

60 Years And Counting With this year marking the company’s 60th year in business, Barry Group can point to its longevity in the market as the perfect partner for any prospective retailer. Yet as the company reflects on its history during this milestone year, it’s also the ability to see ahead and a commitment to innovation that ensures Barry Group offers its retailers every conceivable advantage in the market.

“Customer service is at the core of everything we do,” Jim stresses. “We are always challenging ourselves to do better, to offer something new or to refine a process to ensure our retailers have everything they need to help their business thrive. The market is increasingly changing, with outside influences affecting more and more businesses: we offer a retailer stability and we offer them that understanding of a family business.”

Day-To-Day • Customer care support; • Regular account management service; • Fresh food advisor; • Inside sales team support; • Range management; • Competitive promotional activity; • Own label range; • Every second day chilled deliver service; • Weekly ambient delivery; • No handling charges; • Competitive credit terms; • Ongoing HACCP advice; • Marketing support/advice; • Retail EPOS support.

All these benefits lead to a profitable retail solution for a Costcutter retailer.

Costcutter continues to grow from strength to strength in the Irish market.

Exciting Plans With an undeniable sense of momentum behind it, the Costcutter brand continues to attract both retailers and customers alike and continues to enhance its position in the Irish market. With exciting plans afoot for the next 18 months, further strong growth is projected.

“We’re very excited with our plans for the next 18 months and the standard of stores coming on board with the brand is vindication of the measures we’ve put in place in the past year,” concludes the MD. “We as a company have over 60 years of experience behind us but we are always looking forward, we are always looking at the next project or process that will improve our service and I believe that has really been noticed by retailers.”

To get the family symbol group working for your family business, contact Oliver Savage on 086 6036142 and visit barrygroup.ie.

Increased Marketing Activity The Costcutter brand has also enjoyed a bigger push into the consciousness of the consumer, with increased marketing activity across all channels, including a Costcutter store being a part of the set of Red Rock, TV3’s newest soap, along with new TV adverts being developed and a strong presence online and in print media.

“Costcutter is firmly established as a place where a prospective retailer knows they will get quality service and they will be part of a nationally recognised brand,” Jim points out. “We are always asking ourselves as a company how we can do better, what improvements can we make and I think that mindset is quickly recognised by retailers and they know they will be at the forefront of the market with Costcutter.”

With an undeniable sense of momentum behind it, the Costcutter brand continues to enhance its position in the Irish market.

40|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Rugby World Cup

Oval Time The Rugby World Cup isn’t just a tremendous sporting spectacle, it’s also a great opportunity to boost sales in your store.

KICKING off on September 18, Rugby World Cup 2015 is set to be the biggest sporting spectacle of the year, as 20 of the world’s top proponents of the oval ball game battle it out to be crowned world champions. Taking place across the Irish Sea in England and Wales over six weeks and 48 games, interest in the tournament has never been higher, with Joe Schmidt’s Irish team carrying the hopes of a nation.

Indeed, Ireland look in great shape heading into the World Cup, ranked as the second best team in the world, just behind the mighty All Blacks.

While the entire country will be getting behind Johnny Sexton & Co., the Rugby World Cup also provides a massive opportunity for clever retailers to boost sales. Rugby fans the length and breadth of the country will undoubtedly be gathering to watch Ireland’s games, and those of their rivals, which means that retailers who Rugby legend Jonah Lomu is pictured with Irish rugby hero Shane Horgan at Harry dedicate in-store areas and promotions to Byrne’s pub in Clontarf, Dublin. products that will prove popular for sports fans, from beers and ciders to bagged snacks, pizzas and confectionery products, are sure to see a surge in sales.

World Cup 2015. Heineken has a deep-rooted commitment to rugby right around the world and are sure Rugby World Heineken Cup 2015 will be the most unpredictable edition of the global Heineken is delighted to unveil its sponsorship of Rugby tournament to date.

WIN THE CHANCE TO FLIP THE COIN AT

RUGBY WORLD

CUP 2015 TM© Rugby World Cup Limited 2008

PICK UP A PROMOTIONAL PACK TO ENTER

IT’S YOUR CALL

INTRODUCING HEINEKEN’S LARGEST CAMPAIGN OF 2015 ‘IT’S YOUR CALL’, A TTL CAMPAIGN THAT DRIVES TO THE TRADE AT EVERY TOUCH POINT. AVAILABLE ON PROMOTIONAL 8 PACK CAN, 12 PACK BOTTLE AND 20 PACK BOTTLE. HEAVYWEIGHT MEDIA CAMPAIGN INCLUDING TV, OOH, PRESS, DIGITAL, PR AND SOCIAL. SUPPORTED WITH A BEST IN CLASS VISIBILITY SUITE OF POS AS WELL AS IN STORE THEATRE.

THIS IS AN EXCLUSIVE PROMOTION FOR THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND ONLY. OVER 18S ONLY. TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY.

42|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Rugby World Cup Carling’s growth is also thanks to major ongoing marketing investment. Carling recently launched its biggest ever through-the-line campaign, driving major consumer engagement. The brilliant ‘Frank Holiday Weekend’ campaign, featuring legendary Goodfella’s actor Frank Vincent, which kicked off in May, was a huge success.

Carling has kept momentum going with always-on social media, eye-catching and innovative POS, exciting in-store offers and crucially, attractive instant reward promotions such as the recent on-pack offer for €15-off online purchases with Kitbag.com.

Shane Horgan arrives at Harry Byrne’s pub, where he unveiled Jonah Lomu to the surprised customers.

Recent visitors to Dublin’s Harry Byrne’s pub encountered an unexpected guest in the form of all-time Rugby World Cup record try-scorer, Jonah Lomu. The Kiwi great, whose 15 tries in the competition propelled him to worldwide stardom during an illustrious career, had a surprise or two in store at the Clontarf venue, in his role as an official Heineken ambassador to help launch the ‘It’s Your Call’ Rugby World Cup 2015 campaign.

The exciting campaign gives rugby fans the once-in-alifetime opportunity to be at the pre-match coin toss at an Ireland match during the tournament this autumn, right next to the team captains, moments before they do battle.

All Irish rugby fans have to do to be in with a chance of winning one of these world-class prizes is enjoy a Heineken at participating pubs and off licences. Here, they are given a coin with a code on it. They simply use the code to play an online coin-flip game where they could win one of thousands of pieces of official merchandise, or it could lead them all the way to the coin-toss at an Ireland game at Rugby World Cup 2015.

Guests at Harry Byrne’s were the first to get a taste of the unpredictability of the coin flip, with Lomu hiding inside what they thought was a regular vending machine, and offering up some customised gifts that left everyone scratching their heads. Ireland rugby hero Shane Horgan was on hand to reveal the true identity of the contents of the vending machine, much to the surprise and amusement of our rugby fans!

“This Heineken video was a lot of fun to shoot,” laughed Lomu. “The Irish are known for their sense of humour across the world, so I was delighted to put that to the test. Seeing peoples’ faces as they tried to figure out what was going on was a real highlight.”

“Heineken is proud sponsor of Rugby World Cup 2015, and we’re extremely excited to announce the new ‘It’s Your Call’ campaign,” said Heineken Communications Brand Manager, Conor McIntyre. “It promises to give rugby fans some world-class experiences during what is set to be the biggest edition of the tournament to date. Of course, in true Heineken fashion, we decided to have a little fun with the launch, and put some unsuspecting rugby fans to the test, with one of the tournament’s most legendary players!”

Carling It’s been an epic year for Carling, now Ireland’s number one standard lager and the fastest growing top 10 lager in the off trade. To add to this, Carling also has the highest rate of sale of any other standard lager in the off trade (Source: AC Nielsen MAT, June 2015).

Winning on taste and quality, the strength of

Carling has enjoyed a fantastic year in Ireland.

Carling always provides additional great reasons to get together with mates and have a beer. Make sure you’re match ready this autumn when the lads come looking for Carling, by dropping the Molson Coors team a line on (01) 6510876.

Wolf Blass Wines Australian wine brand Wolf Blass has teamed up with George Hook, the renowned rugby pundit, to launch an innovative, rugby-themed promotion that aims to identify the members of the greatest rugby union team the world has ever seen.

The campaign is based around the new Yellow Label Limited Edition rugby bottles and will run throughout September and October.

Since September 7, fans of the Wolf Blass Ireland Facebook page are being given the chance each week to vote for who they think is the best player to play in a particular position.

Participating consumers will be entered into a draw each week to win a case of six bottles of Wolf Blass Yellow Label Limited Pictured are Chris Hatcher, Wolf Blass Edition, with a Chief Winemaker, and broadcaster George choice of either red Hook.

You

! y t eau

b e l litt

e h t f o Top

! e l tab

Number 1 in the Standard Lager Market * – and growing.

We stay top of the table by keeping our eye on the ball with consistent marketing activity all year round. We give your customers what they want through:

•

Great taste at a great price

•

Engaging through-the-line campaigns

•

Links with stars like Frank Vincent

•

Regular give-aways on social media

•

Regular promotions and free rewards linked to purchase

•

Innovative POS

Make sure you’re match-ready when the lads come looking for Carling!

Order today from your Molson Coors Field Sales Representative or your local distributor.

Carling is a registered trade mark of Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Limited. *Source: AC Nielsen Total Off-Licence MAT June 2015.

44|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Rugby World Cup or white wine.

George Hook will be partaking in the debate by giving his own opinion on the greatest players via his Twitter feed, with his reasons and analysis given on Wolf Blass Ireland’s Facebook page.

Wolf Blass are launching a series of Limited Edition Rugby bottles in stores across the country on Wolf Blass’ famous Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon and Yellow Label Chardonnay wines. 15 different labels are available - one for each rugby position - with each including a different number and illustration representing that player.

Wolf Blass is exclusively distributed in the Republic of Ireland by Findlater Wine & Spirit Group (www.findlaterws.ie).

Chicago Town Takeaway Representing €5.5m of the frozen pizza category, Chicago Town Takeaway is the number one brand in the frozen takeaway pizza sector and the perfect fit for takeaway lovers this Rugby World Cup season (Source: Nielsen ROI Scantrack Value MAT 52 w/e May 17, 2015, excluding Dunnes & Discounters).

Hooked on Rugby

GEORGE Hook, together with CityJet, has announced a series of Live Rugby World Cup match corporate events to take place in the RDS to benefit the work of Haven, the leading Irish charity working on the ground in Haiti. Pictured with George Hook at the launch outside the RDS were Rachel Wyse of Sky Sports, rugby analysts Brent Pope (left) and Tom McGurk. The CityJet Rugby World Cup Live! event will be hosted by Rachel Wyse of Sky Sports and the live events will feature on-stage punditry from Ireland’s best known rugby personalities, including George Hook, Brent Pope, Tom McGurk, Conor O’Shea and special guests. The opening four events feature Ireland’s pool games: Ireland vs Canada Saturday, September 19; Ireland vs Romania - Sunday, September 27; Ireland vs Italy - Sunday, October 4; Ireland vs France - Sunday, October 11. For more information, see www.cityjetrugbyworldcuplive.com.

Cadbury Cadbury Boost, the official chocolate bar to the IRFU, has released a brand new limited edition bar, available exclusively in SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE and XL stores nationwide.

The bar is part of Cadbury’s official partnership with the IRFU which was launched earlier this year with Cadbury Boost ambassador Tommy Bowe. The partnership also sees Cadbury Boost become the official sponsor of Touch Rugby as the IRFU look to develop the sport nationwide in 2015.

To celebrate this exclusive offer, Cadbury offered rugby fans the chance to win the ultimate rugby trip of a lifetime this October to see the Irish team in action in both London and Cardiff, as well as weekly prizes of limited edition Cadbury Boost rugby balls.

To celebrate the Rugby World Cup this September, Chicago Town Takeaway has a new Limited Edition flavour, BBQ Pulled Pork.

For a big match treat without the hefty price tag, consumers can enjoy its famous fresh dough base and real takeaway taste in a range of five delicious stuffed and classic crust flavours. To celebrate the Rugby World Cup this September, Chicago Town Takeaway has a new Limited Edition flavour BBQ Pulled Pork, which is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Generously topped with tender shredded pulled pork, with sweet red onion, mozzarella shavings and a spicy seasoning on their signature smoky BBQ sauce stuffed crust, this limited edition flavour is the taste of real southern BBQ at its sizzling best and has great shelf appeal to help bring new consumers into the category and to satisfy the appetites of current Chicago Town Takeaway lovers.

Supported by a heavyweight TV campaign, shopper media, and social media engagement, Chicago Town Takeaway is the one to watch this season.

For more information, see www.chicagotown.com or follow them on twitter @chicagotownire.

Pictured outside the Cadbury factory are Irish rugby internationals Eoin Reddan, Mike McCarthy and Tommy Bowe with (front row, l-r): Eoin Kellett, Sales Director of Mondelez Ireland; Willie O’Byrne, Managing Director of BWG Foods; and Simon Marriott, Trading Director of BWG Foods.

mATch SchEDULE POOL A

POOL B

POOL c

POOL D

AUSTRALIA

SOUTh AFRIcA

NEW ZEALAND

FRANcE

ENGLAND

SAmOA

ARGENTINA

IRELAND

WALES

ScOTLAND

TONGA

ITALy

FIJI

JAPAN

GEORGIA

cANADA

URUGUAY

USA

NAmIBIA

ROmANIA

Fri Sep 18, 20:00 - Twickenham Stadium

Sat Sep 19, 16:45 - Brighton Community Stadium

Sat Sep 19, 12:00 - Kingsholm Stadium

Sat Sep 19, Sat Sept 19,14:30 14:30-- Millennium Millennium Stadium Stadium

England v Fiji

South Africa v Japan

Tonga v Georgia

Ireland vv Canada Ireland Canada

Sun Sep 20, 14:30 - Millennium Stadium

Sun Sep 20, 12:00 - Brighton Community Stadium

Sun Sep 20, 16:45 - Wembley Stadium

Sat Sep 19, 20:00 - Twickenham Stadium

Wales v Uruguay

Samoa v USA

New Zealand v Argentina

France v Italy

Wed Sep 23, 16:45 - Millennium Stadium

Wed Sep 23, 14:30 - Kingsholm Stadium

Thu Sep 24, 20:00 - Olympic Stadium

Wed Sep 23, 20:00 - Olympic Stadium

Australia v Fiji

Scotland v Japan

New Zealand v Namibia

France v Romania

Sat Sep 26, 20:00 - Twickenham Stadium

Sat Sep 26, 16:45 - Villa Park

Fri Sep 25, 16:45 - Kingsholm Stadium

Sat Sep 26, 14:30 - Elland Road

England v Wales

South Africa v Samoa

Argentina v Georgia

Italy v Canada

Sun Sep 27, 12:00 - Villa Park

Sun Sep 27, 14:30 - Elland Road

Tue Sep 29, 16:45 - Sandy Park

Sun Sep 27, 16:45 - Wembley Stadium Sun Sept 27, 16:45 - Wembley Stadium

Australia v Uruguay

Scotland v USA

Tonga v Namibia

Ireland vv Romania Romania Ireland

Thu Oct 1, 16:45 - Millennium Stadium

Sat Oct 3, 14:30 - Stadium MK

Fri Oct 2, 20:00 - Millennium Stadium

Thu Oct 1, 20:00 - Stadium MK

Wales v Fiji

Samoa v Japan

New Zealand v Georgia

France v Canada

Sat Oct 3, 20:00 - Twickenham Stadium

Sat Oct 3, 16:45 - St James’ Park

Sun Oct 4, 14:30 - Leicester City Stadium

Sun Oct 4, 16:45 - Olympic Stadium Sun Oct 4, 16:45 - Olympic Stadium

England v Australia

South Africa v Scotland

Argentina v Tonga

Ireland v Italy Italy

Tue Oct 6, 20:00 - Stadium MK

Wed Oct 7, 16:45 - Olympic Stadium

Wed Oct 7, 20:00 - Sandy Park

Tue Oct 6, 16:45 - Leicester City Stadium

Fiji v Uruguay

South Africa v USA

Namibia v Georgia

Canada v Romania

Sat Oct 10, 16:45 - Twickenham Stadium

Sat Oct 10, 14:30 - St James’ Park

Fri Oct 9, 20:00 - St James’ Park

Sun Oct 11, 14:30 - Sandy Park

Australia v Wales

Samoa v Scotland

New Zealand v Tonga

Italy v Romania

Sat Oct 10, 20:00 - Manchester City Stadium

Sun Oct 11, 20:00 - Kingsholm Stadium

Sun Oct 11, 12:00 - Leicester City Stadium

Sun Oct 11, 16:45 - Millennium Stadium Sun Oct 11, 16:45 - Millennium Stadium

England v Uruguay

USA v Japan

Argentina v Namibia

France vv Ireland Ireland

QF1

QF2

QF3

QF4

SAT OcT 17, 16:00 TWIckENhAm STADIUm

SAT OcT 17, 20:00 mILLENNIUm STADIUm

SUN OcT 18, 13:00 mILLENNIUm STADIUm

SUN OcT 18, 16:00 TWIckENhAm STADIUm

WINNER POOL B

WINNER POOL c

WINNER POOL D

WINNER POOL A

RUNNER-UP POOL A

RUNNER-UP POOL D

RUNNER-UP POOL c

RUNNER-UP POOL B

SF1

BRONZE FINAL

SAT OcT 24, 16:00 TWIckENhAm STADIUm

FRI OcT 30, 20:00 OLymPIc STADIUm

SUN OcT 25, 16:00 TWIckENhAm STADIUm

WINNER QF1

RUNNER-UP SF1

WINNER QF3

WINNER QF2

RUNNER-UP SF2

WINNER QF4

FINAL

SAT OcT 31, 16:00 TWIckENhAm STADIUm

WINNER SF1 WINNER SF2 All matches are BST, except for those played on or after Oct 25 which are GMT (UTC). Subject to change.

SF2

46|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Labelling & Information Law

Beyond the Food Label The EU is adopting a stricter new approach to food labelling and information law. Is your brand compliant? asks food lawyer Raymond O’Rourke.

FOOD companies may believe that everything is fine on the food labelling front if they did an inventory of their labels to ensure they were in line with the new rules contained in EU Regulation 1169/2011, the main provisions of which came into force on December 13, 2014. The EU rules covered the typical items on a food label: name of food, ingredients list, QUID, allergens, use-by/best before date etc.

It is important to be aware that these new rules cover food information rather than food labelling. The definition of food information: “means information concerning a food and made available to the final consumer by means of a label, other accompanying material, or any other means including modern technology tools or verbal communication.”

In that case, any information your company provides by means of social media will now fall within the ambit of these rules and therefore, you could be prosecuted for using information on a website that is not in line with the obligations contained in the EU Regulation: in that case, you should do an inventory of your social media communications to ensure they are in line with these new rules, despite anything you may have heard that the authorities are unlikely to be surveying numerous websites and Twitter accounts.

• • •

Food lawyer, Raymond O’Rourke.

banned the use of trans fats in processed foods, so there may be a move to do likewise in the European Union; In addition to per 100g/100ml indications, the declaration must also include a per portion basis or per consumption unit; All nutrition particulars must be presented in the same field of vision, in a set font size; Additional nutritional information can be provided once it is based on sound and scientifically valid consumer research, is objective, non-discriminatory and does not create obstacles to the free movement of goods.

Mandatory Nutritional Declarations Another point to be aware of is that nutritional declarations (the nutrition box on a food label) will be mandatory on all food labels as of December 13, 2016. Whilst you may already provide such nutritional information, the format in which this information is to be provided to the consumer will change in 2016, so you should be aware of this fact. Your existing nutrition declaration will have to be changed.

Declarations must now include: • energy value; • amounts of fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt: the order in which the amounts of each of these appears has changed, with fats now appearing first; • the following items can be added to the declaration as a supplement: mono-unsaturates, polyunsaturates, polyols, starch, fibre, vitamins or minerals; • trans fats: the European Commission is to publish a report by the end of 2015 to assess the need for a mandatory declaration for trans fats. It should be noted that the US Food & Drug Administration in June 2015

The European Commission is to publish a report by the end of 2015 to assess the need for a mandatory declaration for trans fats.

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|47

Labelling & Information Law ‘natural’ will come into force in December 2016. For example, the artisan definition demands that such products must be produced in limited quantities (1,000 Kg/litres per week) by skilled craftspeople, following a traditional method of production in an enterprise located at a single location and employing less than 10 persons. The idea behind these new rules is to avoid the consumer being misled by the use of marketing terms like ‘farmhouse’, which may imply the food product has been produced on a farm, when in actual fact it has been produced in a food manufacturing facility.

A New Legal Precedent The FSAI has highlighted that in enforcing food labelling rules, it will look at a food product’s packaging in its entirety to decide if it is misleading. This approach is reflected in a recent court judgement in Germany, which many food lawyers believe sets a new precedent for misleading food labelling and has been cited by the FSAI. The product in question, Felix Raspberry and Vanilla Adventure, contained the claim “fruit tea with natural flavourings” and pictures of vanilla orchids and raspberries on the packaging.

Neither raspberry nor vanilla were actually contained in the food product.

Nutritional declarations will be mandatory on all food labels as of Instead, the natural December 13, 2016. ingredients listed were hibiscus, apple, GDA Vs Traffic Lights sweet blackberry Nutritional information in addition can be provided frontleaves, orange peel of-pack, whether in a Guideline Daily Allowance (GDA) or and rosehip. traffic lights format as suggested by Member States. During The complainant the discussion of this proposal, consumer groups and the UK told the Government Dusseldorf wanted You must ensure the overall image regional traffic lights given to the consumer about your food court that to become product, by means of the packaging, “Any information your a consumer mandatory, food label and your social media sites, would while industry company provides by means is clear and cannot be seen to be reasonably wanted ‘misleading’. expect GDAs to be of social media will now fall the tea to mandatory. contain The outcome within the ambit of these vanilla and was the rules and therefore, you could raspberry or at least natural vanilla or raspberry ‘status quo’: flavouring. Teekanne, the food manufacturer, Member be prosecuted for using has been ordered to stop marketing the product States being in its current form. The ruling is somewhat of permitted to information on a website a game changer for food companies. Previous recommend case law of the European Court had allowed food to food that is not in line with the manufacturers to understand that they were not businesses obligations contained in the guilty of misleading consumers whenever correct whatever and complete information was provided on the front-of-pack EU Regulation.” ingredients list. nutritional This court case highlights what I wrote at the format they beginning about “food information”. In future, more than prefer. In that case, many Irish food products entering the just the label can make your food product fall foul of the food UK market, if they want to put the nutritional information labelling rules. You must ensure the overall image given front-of-pack, will have to follow the ‘traffic lights’ format, to the consumer about your food product, by means of the whereas the GDA format is the preferred format in Ireland. packaging, food label and your social media sites, is clear Food companies should also be aware that new rules and cannot be seen to be ‘misleading’. It is a new approach to established after a public consultation by the Food Safety enforcing food labelling law and you should be cognisant of it Authority of Ireland (FSAI) on the use of the marketing before it is too late. terms ‘artisan/artisanal’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘traditional’ and

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

Encona Sauces

Fire Up Your Sales with Encona Sauces Help consumers to ‘Banish the Bland’ with the tasty Encona Sauce range from Flanagan’s Foods.

FLANAGAN’S Foods are delighted to introduce the new range of Encona Sauces. Encona is the UK’s number one hot pepper sauce brand (Source: IRI UK Table Sauces, Chilli & BBQ, MAT 52 w/e June 20, 2015), established over 40 years ago and featuring a range of authentic flavours from around the world.

The Encona range is great as a dipping sauce, marinade, cooking ingredient or as a delicious, everyday table sauce for all consumers’ favourite foods! Diners can ‘Banish the Bland’ by drizzling over stir-fries, rice dishes, dips and salad dressings, or brush onto food during grilling or barbecuing, and stir into soups and stews.

The Heat is On Available in 285ml top-down squeezy packs in a range of heat levels to suit chilli aficionados and novices alike, Encona is the perfect addition to anyone’s kitchen to help ‘fire up the flavour’ for everyday meals and favourite foods.

The seven versatile flavours available from Flanagan’s Foods in 285ml top-down squeezy packs include Thai Sweet Chilli, Thai Mild Sweet Chill, West Indian Hot Pepper, Texan Chilli BBQ, Mexican Smokey Jalapeno, Jamaican Jerk BBQ and Indian Sweet Mango Chilli Sauce.

Mouth-watering Marinades To make barbeque dishes even more flavoursome, Encona Sauces has launched a new range of Marinades.

Available in 180g jars in three flavours, Moroccan Harissa, Korean BBQ and Jamaican Jerk BBQ, these marinades are perfect for adding an authentic spicy kick to all dishes.

The Encona range includes a range of delicious flavours from around the world in 285ml top-down squeezy packs in a range of heat levels to suit chilli aficionados and novices alike.

Jamaican Jerk BBQ is an authentic mild Jerk seasoning, blended with tomatoes and spices for a distinctive Jerk flavour without the heat. Moroccan Harissa is a spicy and fragrant Moroccan inspired paste made with a blend of chilli puree, herbs and spices, to create a perfect aromatic North African style marinade. Last but not least, Korean BBQ is made with a blend of Gochujang spices to create its sweet and spicy flavour.

Encona Sauces has launched a range of Marinades in 180g jars in three flavours, Moroccan Harissa, Korean BBQ and Jamaican Jerk BBQ.

Grace Hot Pepper Sauce is a delicious and tangy Jamaicanstyle condiment that can be used to help add a fiery flavour to a whole host of dishes.

Fiery Flavour Grace Hot Pepper Sauce is a delicious and tangy Jamaicanstyle condiment that can be used to help add a fiery flavour to a whole host of dishes from stews and soups, to pasta and pizza and it works wonderfully in cocktails too! It is the perfect table accompaniment for hot-sauce lovers.

For more information on stocking Grace Foods products, contact Flanagan’s Foods: Tel: (01) 4506100; Email: info@flanagansfoods.ie; Web: www.flanagansfoods.ie.

Exclusively available from: Flanagan’s Foods, D3 Riverview Business Park, Nangor Road, Dublin 12 Office Direct: +353 1 450 6100

E: info@flanagansfoods.ie

www.flanagansfoods.ie

www.gracefoods.co.uk

Source: IRI UK Table Sauces (Chilli & BBQ) MAT 52 w/e 20th June 2015.

*

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

Cereals

Perfect Start

Irish consumers eat more cereal per capita than anyone else in the world.

BREAKFAST cereals are big business, with Irish people the highest per capita consumers of breakfast cereals anywhere in the world and 25% ahead of our neighbours in the UK (Source: Europanel Data/CSO 2012).

Consumer demand for cereals in Ireland remains robust, with volume up over 1% in the latest quarter (Source: Kantar 12 w/e June 22, 2015), while another interesting statistic reveals that cereals is one of the most important categories in-store: a shopper basket with a cereal in it is worth up to four times more than the average (Source: Dunnhumby & EYC Symphony Data 2015).

Sales of cereals last year were valued at a whopping €219m, according to the latest report into the sector from Euromonitor International, who predict that it will add another €8m between now and 2019. Euromonitor forecast a slight decline in ready-to-eat cereals, but predict that growth in hot cereals will continue to drive value sales in this category.

Granola is another key growth area, with industry commentators reporting an explosive growth in granola, highlighting consumer appetite for innovation, which will continue to be a key sales driver for 2016 and beyond. Indeed, ACNielsen report that “well-loved brands like Crunchy Nut and Special K launching new products has seen granola sales more than double since 2013”.

Top 15 Cereal SKUs in Ireland € Sales Rank Product

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Weetabix 24s Kellogg’s Cornflakes 750g Kellogg’s Rice Krispies 510g Kellogg’s Cornflakes 500g Kellogg’s Coco Pops 550g Flahavans Porridge 1.5Kg Weetabix 48s Flahavans Quick Oats 500g Flahavans Organic Porridge 1Kg Kellogg’s Special K 500g Flahavans Porridge 1Kg Kellogg’s Special K 500g Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes 500g Weetos 500g Kellogg’s Rice Krispies 700g

(Source: ACNielsen Value Sales YTD July 2015 - PMP sales rolled into main SKU)

INCREDIBLE INSIDE

W E E TA B I X

T H E N o .1 C E R E A L B R A N D I N I R E L A N D

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

Cereals Nestlé Cereals Breakfast cereals remain the number one choice for 95% of households in Ireland. With household penetration at 94.5%, ready to eat cereals are still the most popular choice at breakfast for Irish households. Baskets containing breakfast cereals are far higher in value than the average basket, which really drives home the importance of this category to stores.

Health and taste remain the two driving need-states for this category and are integral to the Nestlé Cereals portfolio, with all Nestlé cereals with the green banner containing at least 8g of whole grain per serving, while not compromising on taste.

Whole grain is an important component of our diets and with six out of 10 Irish children not getting enough whole grain or fibre in their diets, finding a convenient, tasty solution to this problem is key for consumers.

Weetabix: a real winner with Irish consumers.

All Nestlé cereals with the green banner contain at least 8g of whole grain per serving, while not compromising on taste.

Children who eat whole cereals have a significantly higher fibre intake, which has an important role in digestive health and ready to eat breakfast cereals are the main contributors to whole grain intake in Irish children.

The Nestlé Cereals portfolio offers a huge variety of healthy and tasty products, from Shreddies, which is made from 95% whole grain, to Shredded Wheat, with its one single unprocessed ingredient, and not forgetting Cheerios, packed with four whole grains and great taste.

Responding to consumer trends is high on Nestlé Cereals’ agenda, with the recent launch of Low Sugar Cheerios containing less than 1/3 of a teaspoon of sugar per serving and the Nestlé Gluten Free Cereals range - Corn Flakes and Honey Flakes - giving shoppers a delicious, great value gluten free breakfast.

Weetabix The massively popular Weetabix family of brands includes Weetabix, Alpen, Ready Brek, Weetos, Oatibix and Alpen Cereal Bars.

The Weetabix brand has been manufactured and sold since 1932 and is exported to more than 80 countries around the world.

Weetabix On The Go Breakfast The Weetabix brand is Drink is a deliciously smooth portable drink, designed specifically synonymous with quality. for breakfast times. Delivering quick and easy breakfast fuel, it has all the energy, fibre and protein of a Weetabix cereal in milk. Its launch was a pioneering move for the breakfast category, which attempts

to provide alternative consumption options that are better placed to meet the needs of a more mobile and timesensitive generation of consumers, without forcing them to compromise on taste or nutrition.

With a vision to identify key drivers in order to unlock breakfast growth through innovation, Weetabix is the first to market ‘breakfast drinks’ and aims to capitalise on a category with massive potential. Weetabix On The Go Breakfast Drink aims to replicate similar nutritional breakfast requirements by being the only drink that can offer the same protein, energy and fibre equivalents as a Weetabix cereal in milk, and fortified with vitamins and minerals. With an ambition to fuel modern lifestyles, the milkshake drink is available in a 250ml single serve, resealable bottle in four different flavours: Chocolate, Strawberry, Banana and Vanilla.

The Breakfast Drink should be located within the ambient cereal aisle for shoppers to chill at home. It will also be available ready-chilled in c-stores and garage forecourts for consumers who purchase breakfast while commuting.

Weetabix On The Go Breakfast Drink is available in a 250ml single serve, resealable bottle.

Retail News| September 2015 |www.retailnews.ie|53

Cereals Weetabix recently unveiled a new communications platform, which, for the first time, encompasses the Weetabix portfolio of cereals. The new campaign will remind consumers of the incredible feats that our bodies perform every day and show how Weetabix cereals are specially designed to deliver the nutrition that we need to be at our best. Having previously focused on families, the new campaign aims to widen the brand’s appeal.

A major step change for the brand, the ‘Weetabix.

Incredible Inside’ brand platform has been developed in response to consumer research, which demonstrates the confusion around nutritional claims within the breakfast cereal sector. Given the negative perceptions of the category around nutrition, many consumers are not clear of the benefits of breakfast cereals and the specific nutrients they provide.

Featuring ordinary people doing everyday activities such as lifting the shopping, dancing and playing the drums, the advert surprises consumers with little known facts about their bodies. Did you know, for example, that human bones are, ounce for ounce, stronger than steel and the human heart beats 2.5 billion times in a lifetime?

Also part of the Weetabix portfolio, Alpen Original Muesli is the original Swiss style muesli, packed full of the

Valeo Foods Invests over €1m in Odlums VALEO Foods has invested over €1m in upgrading the Odlums milling facility in Portarlington, Co. Laois, and in expanding and modernising the Odlums brand.

The investment represents a major upgrade to the manufacturing operations of Ireland’s last remaining commercial mill, which will provide greater flexibility to produce a broader range of products. In addition to a new production line and efficiency upgrades, a key part of the investment has seen the creation of an in-house R&D unit, aimed at supporting the continued growth of the Odlums range through new product development.

Pictured are (l-r): fifth generation miller, Nigel Odlum, Operations Director, Odlums, with Oliver Sutherland, Chief Commercial Officer, Valeo Foods.

finest natural ingredients and classic muesli taste, including juicy raisins to help provide fibre, crunchy nuts, creamy rolled oats and wholegrain wheat flakes.

Meanwhile, Ready Brek, also part of the Weetabix range, continued to build on its existing Easy Sachets porridge range by adding two delicious new flavours to the mix. Available in Chocolate and Gingerbread flavour, these child-friendly smooth oat porridges are a great winter warmer and the perfect addition to any breakfast table.

Designed to appeal both to parents, looking to ensure their kids have a wholesome and nutritious start to the day, and kids who just want something tasty, the new flavours boost all of Ready Brek’s nutritional credentials. Made from wholegrain oats, a serving of Ready Brek is high in fibre, as well as delivering 50% RDA of Calcium and 25% RDA of Iron and Vitamins.

Ready Brek is also re-launching its Original Easy Sachet Porridge. First appearing on shelves back in 2012, the porridge has proven so popular with parents and kids alike that it will be re-launched with fun new packaging to bring it in line with the rest of the range.

Kellogg’s Kellogg’s is giving away up to €72,000 in free cash from August in its biggest prize promotion for the independent channel in years.

Customers can take advantage of the offer for 16 weeks by purchasing either on-the-go cereal pots with specially printed lids or branded cereal snacks at all good convenience and independent retailers. The promotion runs until November 30.

POS merchandise will be spread across the convenience and multiple channels to capture the spirit of the giveaway bonanza, with an array of tiered shopping units, dump bins, parasite units, counter top units and eye-catching posters.

Special K and Crunchy Nut, two of “The giveaway is Kellogg’s most popular brands, are the first ‘multi-brand’ part of the Pick Me Up promotion. on-pack promotion we have run across our core singles portfolio, so this is a great offer for retailers to have in-store,” enthused Nick Dawson, Kellogg’s Sales Director for Specialty Channels. “To drive sales, the strong visual impact of the POS units will get our Kellogg’s products noticed and excite shoppers to pick up the marked packets, leading to purchases.

“Everyone loves a freebie so the pull of getting cash for virtually nothing will encourage sales and I can’t think of

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

Cereals any shopper who wouldn’t want to try their luck at winning one of the 14,400 cash prizes.”

Pick Me Up is the first ‘multi-brand’ on-pack promotion Kellogg’s have run across their core singles portfolio.

Entering the competition couldn’t be easier – shoppers can visit www.kelloggs.ie/pickmeups and enter the last four digits of their product barcode from the specially marked pots and wrappers for a chance to win.

“The fact that a different winner is announced every five minutes should really make people determined to win,” Dawson concluded. “That’s €72,000 shared between 14,000 happy customers, so we’re encouraging retailers to stock up now to give their sales a pick-me-up.”

New Kelkin High Protein Muesli & Granola help to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

maintenance, as well as the maintenance of normal bones.

So much so, that as an official supplier to the IRFU, Kelkin is now supplying the Irish rugby team with this new High Protein range.

In recent research, Kelkin identified that cereals containing high protein are the perfect product to target gym-goers and fitness fanatics. In a survey carried out by Kelkin, consumers reported the new range to be a good way to start the day. The new recipes created by the team at Kelkin contain delicious toasted oats, fruits, nuts and seeds. For more information on these products, contact the customer service team at info@valeofoods.com.

White’s Leading Northern Irish oats brand, White’s have won two more Gold Stars at this year’s Great Taste Awards.

Speedicook Porridge Oats and their new Hazelnut, Almond and Honey Granola both took home the awards this year, bringing their Great Taste Hall of Fame to 43 Gold Stars.

“We are thrilled that our products have been so highly received again this year, as it shows the passion and Kellogg’s Pick Me Up promotion sees the brand giving away dedication we have for our business and our products,” up to €72,000 in free cash in its biggest prize promotion for the noted a company spokesperson. “Being part of a farmer’s independent channel in years. co-operative, we work with a network of 25 local growers, some of whom have been supplying White’s with oats for over three generations. It is the strength of these Kelkin High Protein Exercise places increased demands on the body, making it work partnerships with our local growers that allow us to produce quality award-winning porridge oats and cereals.” harder. To perform at their best, consumers need to train and fuel their body with the best. At Kelkin, they know that staying committed to healthy eating and exercise isn’t always easy and that’s why they’ve developed delicious High Protein Muesli & Granola, making the healthy choice the easy choice. With 20g of protein per 100g of muesli and 22g of protein per 100g of granola (100% more protein than existing Kelkin granolas and mueslis), these High Protein Cereals White’s have been milling quality porridge oats and oat based cereals since 1841. contribute to muscle growth and

one in two retailers who gets a shop insurance quote from us will buy from us Based on customers who obtained a quotation from us between 1 January - 30 June, 2015.

Most quotes take about 10 minutes.

1890 273 372

Ring us on call into your nearest AXA branch or ask your broker.

U

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IN S

No.1

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L

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LOBA

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2014 Interbrand Survey

redefining

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

The Future of Retail

10 Trends of Tomorrow How will retailing develop in the coming years? A new report from Planet Retail predicts fundamental changes in retailing.

RETAILING will become more personalised, collaborative and socially-influenced in the future, according to new research by Planet Retail.

The report, titled The Future of Retail: 10 Trends of Tomorrow and featuring case studies from retailers around the globe, warns that retailers should begin preparing themselves for another few years of significant structural change.

“Retailing has undergone seismic shifts over the past five years and we believe that further fundamental changes are just around the corner,” reveals Natalie Berg, Retail Insights Director and author of the report. “By 2020, we predict that shoppers will have to pay for home delivery, traditional points-based loyalty cards will become a thing of the past, pure-play retail will largely cease to exist and checkout-less stores will become a reality.

“A key theme across the 10 future trends is the need for collaboration. Retailers are finally beginning to recognise the benefits of working together, both in a bid for differentiation and providing a better service for the customer. We expect more retailers will join forces by 2020, primarily through instore concessions or collection points for online orders.”

Fulfilment When it comes to fulfilment of online orders, Planet Retail believe that there is a growing disconnect between shopper expectations and retailer capabilities. “The competitive state of the sector has resulted in a proliferation of retail delivery services, with lead times getting shorter and shorter,” explains Natalie. “As a result, shoppers now expect delivery to be fast, reliable and, crucially, free. This is unsustainable in our view, and we are beginning to see the first signs of cracks in the system. Looking to the future, we expect more retailers to begin charging for services such as home delivery and for low-value click & collect orders.”

When it comes to click & collect, Planet Retail feel

Retailers should begin preparing themselves for another few years of significant structural change.

that it will continue to bridge the gap between online and offline retailing. “Our own research shows that half of global shoppers are now influenced by a retailer’s ability to offer convenient collection points for online purchases,” she says. “Click & collect is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s now a prerequisite.”

Looking ahead, retailers must follow their own golden rule by putting the customer first. For many, this will require collaboration with some unconventional partners to improve speed and quality of service, while providing additional choice for customers. “The key will be to collaborate with non-competing chains that share an overlap in customer demographics, thus allowing the retailer to benefit from increased footfall and shopper satisfaction, without the risk of sales cannibalisation,” Natalie maintains.

“It’s for this reason that we are expecting more retailers competing in different sectors, e.g. fashion and beauty, to

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|57

The Future of Retail join forces in the name of providing a best-in-class click & collect service.”

In-store Technology The store of the future will be heavily influenced by technology, according to the report. “We expect more retailers, particularly the spacious, SKU-heavy hypermarkets, to invest in in-store navigation capabilities. In addition to the opportunity to better understand shopping habits, this technology is incredibly powerful as it enables the retailer to engage with shoppers just moments before potentially making a purchase,” Natalie stresses.

In the not too distant future, more shoppers will pay for items Natalie Berg, Retail Insights via their smartphones. The highly Director and author of The Future publicised launch of Apple Pay of Retail: 10 Trends of Tomorrow. in the UK has certainly created a buzz around mobile payments, but Planet Retail believe it will be some time before shopper usage catches up with awareness. “In fact, our own research shows that only 20% of shoppers globally have used their mobile phones as a method of payment,” Natalie reveals, explaining that consumer concerns over privacy and security must be addressed in order for mobile payments to be accepted beyond those early adaptors. “Convenience, ease of use and providing tangible benefits for the shopper are essential,” she stresses. “For example, some retailers have been testing checkout-less stores, allowing shoppers to use their smartphones to scan and pay for items as they add them to their basket.”

Retailers should also consider rewarding shoppers, potentially linking to loyalty schemes, as an incentive to make mobile payments, she argues: “It’s for this reason that we believe in the long-term success of a more comprehensive mobile wallet as opposed to mobile payments as a standalone option. Although such technologies can help retailers to differentiate today, it’s important to bear in mind that this will also lead to greater customer expectations and in the next five to 10 years such technologies will simply become the norm.”

Loyalty Controversially, the Planet Retail report argues that the end is nigh for points-based loyalty cards. “The rise of shopper promiscuity and general strive for more honest, transparent pricing has had a detrimental impact on traditional loyalty schemes,” Natalie feels.

“That said, the notion of rewarding your most loyal, most profitable customers will never go away. The future will revolve around personalisation, digitisation and ‘gamification’. We would also encourage retailers to look towards value-added perks, as opposed to money-off vouchers, such as providing VIP checkouts for cardholders or free hot drinks in-store.”

Personalisation Retailers must be prepared to enter a new phase of mass personalisation. Historically, bricks and mortar players have struggled to replicate the level of personalisation that can be found online. However, according to Natalie, recent advances in beacon technology mean that targeted, real-time offers are now a reality.

What’s more, Planet Retail research shows that 38% of global shoppers want to opt in to receiving relevant discounts when in-store, compared to the 15% of shoppers currently doing this.

“This combination of shopper enthusiasm and technological capability means that bricks and mortar retailers should be looking to take personalisation to new heights, driving both customer loyalty and spend,” she concluded.

The 10 Future Trends: 1.

Fewer, but more impactful, stores: In the future, shoppers will have to pay for home delivery, loyalty cards will become a thing of the past, pure-play retail will cease to exist and checkoutless stores will become a reality.

2.

Working together to stand apart: More retailers will join forces by 2020.

3.

Race for the most convenient store experience According to Planet Retail, the digital war is truly set to overtake the price war. Retailers are looking to technology to differentiate and improve the overall in-store experience. The latter is primarily being addressed through enhancements to in-store navigation and mobile payments, although they are also predicting increased investment in lowerpriority areas such as endless aisles and smart fitting rooms.

4.

Personalisation to reach new heights: Currently, only 15% of global shoppers receive and immediately redeem real-time promotions and discounts via their mobile while in a particular store. However, 38% of shoppers would like to do this.

5.

The end of points-based loyalty cards: “The rise of shopper promiscuity and general strive for more honest, transparent pricing has had a detrimental impact on traditional loyalty schemes. The future will revolve around personalisation, digitisation and gamification,” argues Natalie Berg, Retail Insights Director, Planet Retail.

6.

Power of the peer Retailing will become far more personalised, socially-influenced, collaborative, and seamless.

7.

Cracking the final mile Free delivery is unsustainable. In the future, shoppers will have to pay for low-value online orders.

8.

Death of pure-play With technology rapidly breaking down the barriers between online and offline, pure play retailers are beginning to look rather vulnerable.

Gone are the days when pure-players could boast lower overhead costs - and consequently lower prices - due to foregoing physical space requirements. Today, an absence of bricks and mortar space is fast becoming a competitive disadvantage since, as explored in the previous trend, rising shipping costs pose a greater risk to online-only retailers

9.

Click & collect Half of shoppers are influenced by a retailer’s ability to offer convenient collection points for online purchases.

10. From one-click to no-click

At-home replenishment will become commonplace.

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Confectionery

Sweet Success The confectionery category is big business for retailers, as Irish consumers treat themselves to their favourite brands.

IRISH consumers have a collective sweet tooth, as evidenced by the valuable confectionery market. However, the impact of the last few years has been felt heavily in the category, where high levels of promotional and discount offers have become commonplace, often on a rotating basis.

Health concerns are also impacting the confectionery sector, as Irish consumers move towards healthier and ‘better for you’ products, with manufacturers eager to both launch new lower fat products and highlight the lower sugar aspects of their portfolios.

New products and brand extensions help to heighten consumer interest in the category, however, with leading research experts Euromonitor International predicting steady annual value growth of 3% for chocolate confectionery, in the coming years, alongside similar predictions for sugar confectionery and annual growth rates of 4% for gum.

The popularity of gum in Ireland has long benefitted from its use by consumers as a breath freshening product, according to Euromonitor, while additional concerns relating to tooth and gum health have consistently driven consumers towards sugar free variations over sugarised gum.

Nestlé Loved by consumers since 1935, the KitKat brand is the leading brand in Nestlé’s confectionery portfolio. KitKat is synonymous with being the perfect snack to eat whilst having a break and KitKat’s ‘Celebrate the Breaks’ campaign, launched earlier this year, recognises that no two individuals are the same, so why should their breaks be? As a result, KitKat has announced the latest in a series of major initiatives for 2015 with the launch of new KitKat Snap & Share. The 170g sharing block is available in two

New KitKat Snap & Share 170g sharing block is available in two flavour variants: Milk Chocolate and Cookies & Cream.

flavour variants: Milk Chocolate and Cookies & Cream (RRP €3.63). Sharing blocks have emerged as a key growth area for the category, driven by the trend for consumers to choose confectionery that they can share. Nestlé is the fastest growing manufacturer in this format.

The two new products are expected to generate incremental sales for both the brand and the total confectionery category by tapping into a number of consumption opportunities. Firstly, the bars are designed so

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Confectionery Elizabeth Shaw Orange Flutes Shortlisted for IQFDAs

KitKat’s new limited edition 4 Finger Mocha bar.

consumers can “Snap & Share” them with friends and family, thus tapping into the major consumer trend for sharing confectionery. Secondly, sharing blocks are known to have a younger audience compared to chocolate in general and are therefore expected to introduce KitKat to an even wider audience. Take home confectionery continues to gain share in 2015 growing at +3.6% YOY. Pre-planned snacking and value seeking are habits now ingrained in Irish shopper behaviour.

The launch will be supported by a media campaign,

Aero Mousse consists of bubbly Aero chocolate, topped with a layer of velvety chocolate mousse, all wrapped up in a smooth milk chocolate shell.

The Rowntree’s brand launched a limited edition Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles Berries and Cream single and a permanent Berries and Cream sharing bag this summer

which will include TV advertising of the sharing blocks alongside the brand’s Celebrate the Breaks activity, as well as a bespoke outdoor campaign.

KitKat are also launching a limited edition 4 Finger Mocha bar (RRP €1.07). This is the first time the brand has launched a mocha variety, with each bar consisting of the delicious combination of four crispy wafer fingers covered in coffeeflavoured milk chocolate.

Nestlé Confectionery claims 15.3% share of the Irish confectionery market (Source: Nielsen Scantrack

ELIZABETH Shaw Orange Flutes, available exclusively from Flanagan’s Foods have been shortlisted for the finals of the prestigious Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards. Perfect for making any moment special, Elizabeth Shaw’s Orange Flutes were one of almost a thousand product entries which underwent three weeks of tough judging at the Dublin Institute of Technology’s School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology. Elizabeth Shaw & Flanagan’s Foods are delighted with the news: “This is fantastic news,” noted a spokesperson. “Fingers crossed for being selected in our category!”

These irresistible dark chocolate Orange Flutes are now in with a chance to win one of the prestigious awards in a glittering ceremony hosted by Irish celebrity Chef and proprietor of restaurant L’Ecrivain, Derry Clarke, on September 16 at the Round Room, Mansion House, in Dublin.

MAT, w/e July 12, 2015). Singles format is still the most important format in Ireland, with 36% of overall sales and growing +2.2% MAT driven by Chocolate +3.4%. KitKat is the fourth largest confectionery brand, worth €14.7m and experiencing +11.3% value growth. 55% of Irish households purchase the KitKat brand on average five times per year.

The new KitKat product launches will also join the newly launched Aero Mousse chocolate, which has been available since June in a single impulse bar and a sharing block. Each bar consists of bubbly Aero chocolate, topped with a layer of velvety chocolate mousse, all wrapped up in a smooth milk chocolate shell.

The Rowntree’s brand launched a limited edition Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles Berries and Cream single and a permanent Berries and Cream sharing bag this summer.

Each pack contains a mix of strawberry and cream, raspberry and cream, and blackberry and cream sweets. The Rowntree’s brand has value sales of €9.5m MAT and is the number one sugar singles brand in Ireland (All data sourced from Nielsen MAT, July 12, 2015).

Ferrero Ferrero’s power-brand, Kinder, is launching limited edition Kinder Surprise eggs containing Minions toys. Rolling out from September, the eggs aim to capitalise on the popularity of the animated characters, coinciding with the upcoming Minions film release in the UK and Ireland.

The launch will receive the Kinder treatment with a multi-touchpoint support plan, including TV advertising, video on demand, out of home and in-store media. The support plan starts on September 14 and forms part of a €300k media investment for the brand over the coming months.

“We continue to experience a stellar performance across our Kinder portfolio, spearheaded by Kinder Surprise,

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Confectionery growing sales by an additional 8.5% (Source: Nielsen, Total Coverage, Brand Value Sales, MAT to 11.07.15),” notes Levi Boorer, Customer Development Director at Ferrero UK. “Kinder is a household name that parents trust and their family love, and keeping people engaged with new and limited edition toys, such as Minions, is a fantastic way to help our loyal retailers drive sales.

“It is vitally important that we look at all new product development through a longterm lens, using robust insights Kinder is launching limited to ensure it delivers against the edition Kinder Surprise eggs containing Minions toys, sure key pillars of value, relevance to be a huge hit with Irish and uniqueness for shoppers and children. consumers. We’re really excited to introduce our latest Minions licence, which forms the beginning of another exciting wave of news for the brand.”

Kinder will be helping as many retailers as possible to take advantage of the new opportunity by offering in-store support and a range of POS materials suitable for all store sizes. Kinder Surprise single eggs carry an RRP of €1.14 and Kinder Surprise multipacks of three eggs carry an RRP of €3.

Lindt Growing at 18% year on year, Lindt Excellence is the largest dark chocolate brand in Ireland and now over twice the size of their nearest dark chocolate competitor (Source: ACNielsen, 52 weeks to July 19, MAT). Lindt Excellence offers a wide range of classic and contemporary Lindt Excellence offers a wide recipes, from the range of classic and contemporary iconic and refined recipes, crafted by the Lindt Master 70% Cocoa to the Chocolatiers. fusion of flavours of Orange Intense or the more adventurous Touch of Sea Salt. Crafted by the Lindt Master Chocolatiers, the rarest and most aromatic cocoa beans are blended with the finest ingredients, creating exquisite and refined chocolate of intense flavour and elegant texture. Lindt Excellence offers exciting and innovative flavours to match every palate.

This September will see the most comprehensive support plan ever put behind the Lindt Excellence brand in Ireland.

A heavyweight TV campaign will run throughout September for the first time on Irish television. Retailers will see a major in-store push, with Lindt Excellence offering an array of premium Point of Sale solutions. The Lindt Excellence range is available in all leading retailers and priced at €2.69.

As the number one premium boxed chocolate brand, Lindt Lindor continue to outperform the market and now

Search for Swizzels Sweet Taster is Over

ICONIC sweet brand Swizzels has unveiled its official sweet taster after a nationwide search which attracted thousands of entries.

Aine Hickey, who grew up in her family’s sweet shop in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, beat over 2,500 sweet fans across the UK and Ireland to be crowned the official sweet taster for the iconic brand.

Aine is now part of the new product development team, responsible for taste testing new sweets and Aine Hickey from Clonmel products before they hit was crowned official sweet shelves, as well as helping taster for iconic sweet brand, Swizzels. to develop new tastes and flavours.

To celebrate her first day on the job, Aine was flown over to spend the day behind the scenes at Swizzels headquarters in Derbyshire to see how iconic sweets such as Drumstick Lollies and Love Hearts, as well as newer lines including Squashies, are made.

Aine Hickey said: “The whole experience was amazing, from the walk up to the factory gate, where you instantly get the aroma of sweets, to seeing how my favourite sweets are made, in particular, putting the individual phrases on Love Hearts and seeing the soft chew of Refresher bars packaged up in bright colours.

I felt like a child at Christmas who got everything on their wish list and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming and the whole experience was a lifetime dream come true.” claims 9.1% market share (Source: ACNielsen, 52 weeks to July 19, MAT). Lindt Lindor’s success comes not only from timeless classics such as the iconic Lindor milk truffles, but through the continual exciting innovations they bring to the market every year.

2015 is no different, with the launch of Lindt Lindor’s newest creation, limited edition Lindor Milk Orange 200g (RRP €6.99).

Lovingly crafted by the Lindt Master Chocolatiers, each Lindor Milk Orange truffle is surrounded by a shell of luxurious premium chocolate that once broken, releases an irresistibly smooth melting orange filling.

Lindor TV advertising returns this winter as part New limited edition Lindor of a huge national support Milk Orange 200g is sure to campaign to drive awareness capture consumer attention and sales. this autumn.

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Forecourt Focus: News Maxol to Open Massive Mulhuddart Site MAXOL has announced plans to open the company’s largest service station to date, on the N3 at Mulhuddart, located North West of Dublin City. This historic move will create the company’s biggest service station footprint in Ireland and will lead to the creation of 50 new jobs.

Prominently located on the N3 primary route, the futuristic service station boasts 2.5 acres and will provide much needed services to the local community in the Blanchardstown area and commuters using one of Ireland’s busiest motorways. The development of the new flagship site represents a significant investment of over €4m by Maxol.

Mulhuddart is the biggest development project embarked upon by Maxol since the company’s foundation in 1920 and will use leading technologies, including the latest environmentially friendly and energy efficient equipment and design, in an effort to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

As well as offering a typically comfortable and convenient destination for commuters or locals on the go, the development will feature Maxol’s latest building design, offering a much brighter feel due to its abundance of glazing and open-plan arrangement, with ample seating.

The multi-level building will also see the introduction of a number of new franchises to widen its choice of food offerings, which are expected to be announced in the coming months, as well as a brand new off-licence, while retaining the latest Maxol MACE convenience store, a brand new Moreish ‘Fresh Food’ café and large open-plan relaxation and Wi-Fi areas, together with a children’s play area. In addition to an extremely spacious forecourt, the site will offer

Pictured are (l-r): Stephen Lynch, Site Manager, Weslin Constructon; Denis McElroy, Contracts Manager, Weslin Construction; and Brian Donaldson, Group General Manager, the Maxol Group.

a separate truck fuelling facility and extra car and coach parking.

Commenting on this significant milestone, Brian Donaldson, Group General Manager, The Maxol Group said, “We are extremely proud to announce this significant advancement for Maxol and look forward to opening the doors at this state of the art Mulhuddart site in January 2016. The creation of 50 new permanent jobs including retail supervisors, shop sales assistants and deli sales positions will be of huge benefit to the area and overall economy.”

Competition Commission Investigation of Esso Takeover Enters Phase Two

THE Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has decided to carry out a full (phase 2) investigation into the proposed acquisition of Esso Ireland by Topaz.

Following a preliminary investigation, the Commission identified a number of concerns and has determined that a full investigation is required in order to determine if the acquisition will substantially lessen competition in markets for goods or services in the State. The Commission has until November 30, 2015 to make a final decision on the proposed transaction (but may conclude its investigation in advance of this date).

This deadline may change, however, as the Commission can decide to issue a Requirement for Information. This suspends the time period until such time as the parties have complied with the requirements. A Requirement for Information must be issued within 30 working days after the decision to carry out a full (phase 2) investigation.

If the deal goes through, Topaz will acquire 38 Esso sites around the country, as well as the right to supply approximately 60 sites operated by independent dealers.

Always FRESH MILK

and the SAME BEANS as our coffee shops

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Forecourt Focus: News Legal Challenge to NRA Service Station Award

TWO of the country’s leading forecourt operators, Applegreen and Tedcastles Oil Products, have submitted a legal challenge to the former National Road Authority’s decision to award three new service station developments to Topaz. The developments in question are at Athlone on the M6, Kilcullen on the M9 and Gorey on the M11.

Applegreen and Tedcastles had formed a consortium, SuperStop, to tender for the design, construction, operation and financing of the three new services areas, and the companies are seeking an order quashing the NRA’s decision to award the contracts to Topaz.

Since the contracts were awarded, the NRA has been amalgamated with the Railway Procurement Agency to form Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

Applegreen and Tedcastles are seeking a complete reversal of the NRA’s determination and seeking orders requiring the NRA to re-select SuperStop as the preferred tenderer, arguing that “the NRA has breached SuperStop’s

legitimate expectation that the tenders would be evaluated fairly and in accordance with published criteria,” according to Barrister Joe Jeffers.

Maxol Sandyford Raises over €3,000 for Make-A-Wish

THE team at Maxol in Sandyford pulled out all the stops recently when they raised over €3,000 for Make-A-Wish in just one day, as part of the company’s annual retail ‘Today’s Local Champion’ (TLC) Awards.

The Awards aim to encourage and reward outstanding excellence in retail standards and customer service, while bringing an element of fun to the Maxol workplace, as well as fostering a great team-building environment.

As part of this year’s structure, Maxol retailers have been asked to come up with a plan to hold an event to raise money for Maxol’s charity partner, Make-A-Wish. The fundraiser at Maxol in Sandyford involved a bake sale, as well as forecourt activities such as oil checks for commuters.

Pictured at the fundraiser in Maxol, Sandyford, are (l-r): Carl McDonagh, Suzy Blunden, Dylan McDonagh & Jenny Moran.

Maxol Customer Feedback Winner MAXOL has announced its July winner in the company’s Customer Feedback programme. Rachel Freaney, was presented with €100 in fuel vouchers by Maxol Regional Manager, Mark Walsh. Rachel participated in the Maxol Customer feedback programme at Maxol Station Sandyford Road. The customer feedback programme is just one part of Maxol’s TLC awards, which awards retailers for their high standards and excellent customer service.

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

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Product Update Pritt Hits the Heights SINCE the world’s first ever glue stick was introduced in Dusseldorf in 1969, Henkel has sold over one billion glue sticks in 121 countries, distinguishing Pritt as a leading global brand. Pritt Sticks have always been immensely popular with children and have become a big hit in office culture too, which Pritt Sticks have always been has revolutionised our immensely popular with children gluing habits. and have become a big hit in office It currently has its culture too, which has revolutionised best ever formulation, our gluing habits. as its made from 90% natural and renewable resources and is up to 2.4 times longer than any other glue stick on the market. The Pritt range also includes rainbow sticks, liquid glue, correction

Mr. Pritt will take to the road across the UK & Ireland, visiting 15 schools in total, via their free to enter competition.

rollers, glue dots and much more and is perfect for all crafting tasks. Over 46 years since its launch, a Pritt Stick is purchased almost every second of the day; testament to the brand’s popularity amongst both children and adults.

After the great success with their Mr. Pritt & Mr. Maker competition in the 2014/15 school year across the

UK & Ireland, Pritt would like to continue to encourage more children to be creative, so will invest even more in 2015/16.

In May this year, Carrabane National School in Galway were the lucky winners of an exclusive crafting day at their school with Mr. Pritt & Mr. Maker from CBeebies run by the top selling glue brand, Pritt.

This year, to support the Pritt brand even more, Mr. Pritt will take to the road across the UK & Ireland, visiting 15 schools in total, that’s up to three times more schools and children in their free to enter competition. For more information, visit www.prittworld.co.uk.

Pritt’s long-term goal is to continue the Pritt Stick has its best ever tradition of coming up formulation, as its made from 90% with new ideas and natural and renewable resources and concepts that meet the is up to 2.4 times longer than any other needs of everyday life, glue stick on the market. for those who use Pritt on a daily basis. Time doesn’t stand still and neither will Pritt; its products will become stronger, faster, safer and more colourful as time goes on, which is why it will always be the nation’s favourite glue.

Change is on the Cards WITH the Payments Council predicting that cash will make up less than 50% of payments in 2015 (Source: Wired.co.uk), consumers are voting with their wallets and card transactions are leading the way. In fact, one in ten consumers say they now never carry cash (Source: Your Money), so offering the ability to pay by card is vital for SMEs. As more Irish shoppers turn to plastic, even for low value transactions, not offering your customers the choice of card payments could mean missed sales opportunities. By investing in chip and PIN facilities, SMEs can stay ahead of the curve and meet customers’ growing demand to pay by plastic, helping them to secure more sales and grow their business.

Luckily, implementing or upgrading payment processing equipment, such as chip and PIN terminals, is now more affordable and more easily deployable than ever, with independent payment services often offering small retailers better deals and stronger support packages than the traditional business banking partners.

Retail Merchant Services is the UK & Ireland’s largest independent card processing provider, delivering secure and trusted services for SMEs. With flexible, cost effective, electronic payment options, including chip and PIN terminals, contactless, online payments and mobile terminals, Retail Merchant Services enables Irish merchants to accept payments anywhere, anytime.

To find out how accepting card payments can transform your business, visit www.retailmerchantservices.ie or call (01) 4854946.

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Drinks News Franciscan Well Wins Top Awards THE multi-award winning Franciscan Well Brewery has won six coveted World Beer Awards. This brings to a total of 29 awards won by the brewery since 2013. Franciscan Well Jameson Stout won gold in the Flavoured Beer – Wood Aged category, with a second gold awarded for the Summer Saison in the category of Seasonal Pale Beer. The brewery also took silver in the same category for Franciscan Well Jameson Pale Ale, with further honours across for Franciscan Well Rebel Red Pale Beer, Franciscan Well Chieftain IPA Pale Beer and Franciscan Well Hopenweisse Wheat Beer. “To win six highlyrespected awards, with two golds, acknowledges the hard work and the process of trial and error that goes into brewing great beers. This gives us strong encouragement to continue innovating as brewers and work on further exciting brews and collaborations in the near future,” noted Shane Long, Founder of Franciscan Well (pictured).

TOP CRAFT BREWERIES GATHER IN DOOLIN IRELAND’S top craft beer breweries and bluegrass and roots musicians gathered in Co. Clare recently for the 2015 Doolin Craft Beer & Roots Festival, the largest event of its kind outside of Dublin. Breweries showcasing products at the festival include Dungarvan Brewing, Carlow Brewing Company, Dingle Brewing Company, Independent Brewing, Eight Degrees, Galway Hooker, Trouble Brewing, Franciscan Well, Metalman, Radikale and White Hag. The event also featured Dooliner Beer, an Irish Red Ale brewed by Seamus O’Hara from Carlow Brewing Company for Fitzpatrick’s Bar at Hotel Doolin. See www.doolinbeerandroots.com for more information.

CELTIC PURE WINS BBI GOLD MEDAL CELTIC Pure Irish Spring Sparkling Water has been awarded the British Bottlers’ Institute (BBI) Gold Medal for 2015. “This is the second year in a row for Celtic Pure to receive a BBI Gold Medal for our Irish Spring Water, which is a huge achievement for our company and a testament to the quality of our water. I wish to sincerely thank everyone at the British Bottlers’ Institute for this honour,” noted Clare Braiden, Celtic Pure Technical & Quality Manager. Established in 2000 by Padraig McEneaney and his wife, Pauline, Celtic Pure is located in Corcreagh, Raferagh, South Co. Monaghan, where they now employ almost 50 full-time staff members.

WHISKEY DISTILLERY OPENS IN DUNDALK THE Great Northern Distillery (GND) has begun to distil in the first of two distilleries built on the former Harp Brewery site in Dundalk, Co. Louth.

The two new distilleries adapted and extended the world class brewing facilities that existed on the site which had been brewing for 120 years up to 2014, at a cost of €10m.

Following the investment by GND, a 30m bottle a year capacity three-column still grain whiskey distillery is now producing new spirit. This will be casked in oak barrels and matured in bonded warehouses for at least three years before it can be called Irish whiskey. A sister distillery on the site is being commissioned and will begin distillation by the end of August. The second distillery has three large copper pots capable of distilling 12m bottles a year of single malt and pot still whiskey. GND is owned by the Teeling family and two former directors of Cooley Distillery, Jim Finn and David Hynes.

Teeling Signs Energy Deal with Vayo

THE Teeling Whiskey Company has signed a gas and renewable electricity supply deal with Vayu Energy. Valued at €250,000 per annum, the agreement will see Vayu supply Teeling Whiskey with natural gas and 100% green electricity to meet the year-round energy requirements for its newly opened distillery in Dublin’s Newmarket Square in The Liberties. Initiatives to date include the installation of a rainwater harvesting system in the distillery; the use of an onsite well to reduce water consumption; and energy optimisation measures, such as the harnessing of excess energy produced during the production process to heat the visitor centre. Pictured are Jack Teeling, Managing Director, Teeling Whiskey Company, and Stephen Behan, Energy Specialist, Vayu Energy.

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On The Vine

Wines to Fall in Love With Jean Smullen looks at the perfect wines to stock this autumn, from full bodied reds to up-front fruit-driven affairs.

AS the nights draw in and the weather gets colder, our wine preferences change or so we are told. Yes, we see more full bodied robust reds coming on the shelves but the current consumer mind-set is surprising in terms of what is being sold. Alcohol levels are being watched closely and the Irish wine consumer is now much more conscious of them and is tending to steer away from the higher ABV wines. That said, white wine currently outsells red at the moment, as evidenced by share of the Irish market by wine style, with red wine sales commanding 45% of the market, white wine sales accounting for 51% and Rosé 4% of all wines sold here.

The other thing to remember this autumn is that almost

two-thirds of consumers place ‘price’ ahead of grape variety or region when purchasing wine, so value offers are still driving wine sales.

Consumption figures broken down by sex show that 57% of wine sold in Ireland is consumed by Irish females and 43% by males. Wine enjoys the highest penetration level (41.9%) amongst Irish female drinkers between the ages of 25 and 44, while penetration levels amongst male drinkers in the same age bracket is 40.8%.

So what drives wine sales? The “old reliables” include white grapes Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, or anything light and fruity. The current trend for fruit flavour wines is

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On The Vine starting to really take off here and we will look at that sector in its own right in the coming months. Prosecco is still selling in great volumes, particularly as a treat wine for special occasions. This Italian wine style seems to have gained a social cachet of its very own, despite there being a huge range of other really good value sparkling wine styles on offer here. The Irish wine consumer knows what he/she likes and for the younger consumer, it has to be Prosecco!.

Price is all important and so too are alcohol levels. The consumer will buy more red wine as the winter approaches and people start cooking stews and roast dishes. So the advice this autumn is to keep a range of fresh and fruity red wines on your shelves but make sure you include wines with lower alcohol levels.

You should increase your range of red wines. Good full bodied quality wines from Australia and Chile are still driving red wines sales here, but make sure you also have an Argentine red on your list as this rapidly becoming a “must stock”, especially, Argentine Malbec.

Red wines from France are also very much in vogue, French wine achieved sales of 987,920 nine-litre cases for off trade sales in 2014, a volume increase of 6.1%. Value sales of French wine for the same period increased by 7.1%. Most of the off trade growth for French wine can be attributed to price promotional activity.

Spain is another country to keep an eye on. Look out for a generic promotional event in Dublin this autumn which is being organisd by the regional bodies of Rueda and Ribero del Duero from the region of Castilla y Leon.

We will look now at the some of the wine offerings out there this autumn that will help drive wine sales for the retailer.

Trapiche (Coman’s Wines) Argentine Malbec is very much on trend at the moment: the full bodied wine style is robust and will appeal to the red wine drinker. Trapiche is a winery in Mendoza, which was founded in 1883. It was twice awarded IWSC Argentine wine producer of the year, in 2004 and 2008. Most of the fruit produced by Trapiche comes from the eastern part of the Mendoza region. Coman’s will be holding their portfolio tasting in the Radisson Blu in Golden Lane, Dublin 8 on October 6 (see separate panel). Make sure you go and taste the Trapiche range, which will be on promotion this autumn.

First Cape (10 International)

Coman’s Portfolio Tasting COMAN’S Wines will be holding their Wine Trade Fair on Tuesday, October 6 in the Goldsmith Hall at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Golden Lane, Dublin 8. The event is exclusive to trade and press guests by invitation. It will commence at 13:00 with a Masterclass with Marcelo Belmonte from the Trapiche Winery exploring Malbec, followed by the wine fair, which opens at 14:00 and will run until 18:00.

Coman’s are keen to highlight the comprehensive range of wines in their portfolio. Representatives from 20 of the world’s greatest wineries will be travelling to Dublin to take part in the show. As well as having the opportunity to meet with the winery representatives, there will also be lots of great wines available to taste and assess.

Some of the wineries taking part include: Champagne & Sparkling Wine: Joseph Perrier AOP Champagne, Castillo Perelada DO Cava; New World: Casa Lapostelle (Chile); Finca las Moras (Argentina), Peter Lehmann (Australia); Robertson (South Africa), Simonsig (South Africa); Trapiche (Argentina); Undurraga (Chile) and Wither Hills (New Zealand); France: AOP Beaujolais & Burgundy, Mommesin; AOP Bergerac, Chateau Pique Segue; AOP Bordeaux, Burkes of Bordeaux; AOP Chateauneuf du Pape, Victor Bernard; AOP Corbiere, Chateau Carbonac; AOP Giondas, Pierre Amadieu; AOP Rhone, Boisset; Chateau de Sancerre & Pouilly Fume, Marcel Martin; AOP St Emilion, Château Boutisse; AOP Touraine, Sablenay; Germany: Mozel, Dr Loosen; Italy: DOCG Chianti, Fattoria Machiavelli; DOCG Gavi Nicola Bergaglio; Spain: DOC Navarra, Bodegas Ochoa; DO Rias Baixas, Salterio; DO Rueda & Ribero del Duero, Protos, DOCa Rioja, Bodegas Muga.

For more information, contact: Redmond Gavin, Coman’s Wines, Belgard Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24. Tel: (01) 4519146, www.comans.ie. The wine fair organiser is Jean Smullen Tel: (086) 8168468 (jean@jeansmullen.com), who can be contacted for invitations.

Argentine Malbec is very much on trend and Trapiche is one of the finest examples on the market.

First Cape, the hugely successful South African wine brand, is produced by an amalgamation of small South African producers and is one of the big success stories of the current downturn.

Their pricing and quality is a key to the brand. The wine is available in a range of styles including red, white and rosé.

Il Tauro (Luca Botter)

(Barry & Fitzwilliam) Salice Salentino is a wine region in the southern part of Apulia, known as the heel of Italy. Wines from this region were enormously popular about 10 years ago and now they seem to be gaining a presence once more. Made from the Negroamaro grape, the alcohol levels are relatively low and the normal RRP is €14. Look out for this on offer this autumn: a lovely fresh Italian red wine style with much appeal.

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On The Vine: Top Wine Brands Cockburn’s Port

(Barry & Fitzwilliam) Fortified wine is another wine style that the consumer turns to as winter approaches. To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Cockburn’s Port, keep a look out for their Special Anniversary Tins (free of charge on Special Reserve), available in selected outlets this autumn.

Chateau Tour de Perrigal Bordeaux Superieur (Ampersand)

This delightful Bor Sup is from one of the niche estates owned by the largest French Wine Producer, Les Grands Chais de France. This wine is produced in the new up-front, fruit driven style that is proving most popular and is helping to revive everyday consumption of Bordeaux wines. With an RRP of € 12.99, this wine will appeal to independent retailers.

Chateau Avalon Corbieres (Ampersand) Chateau Avalon is located in the heart of the Corbières and is worth stocking to meet the current demand for southern French wines. Grape varieties used are similar to the RhoneCarignan; Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Grenache made in a very modern style. At an €11.99 price point, this is a must stock for the independent retailer.

“Le Clarion de Anges” Costieres de Nimes (Ampersand) This is a southern Rhône classic made from selected Grenache, Syrah and Mourvédre grapes harvested at optimum ripeness from old vines (RRP € 11.99). Accorded AOC status in 1986, the southernmost of the Rhone Valley wine-growing areas perfectly exhibits all the characteristics of its Roman history and culture: the vineyards lie to the south east of the city from which they take their name, producing predominantly red wines of very high quality. Take part in Rhone Wine Week from Nov 2-8 and highlight your Rhone wines. See www. rhonewineweekireland. com for more information.

Barossa Valley Estate

(Delegat Europe Ltd) This is one of the most famous single estates in Barossa, Australia’s most famous red wine

The BVE range includes GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvédre), a lighter style of Australian red, as well as a soft and elegant Shiraz.

region, known for the iconic E&E Black Pepper Shiraz. BVE was bought two years ago by Delegat, the New Zealand company best known for Oyster Bay. They have two wines in the range, the GSM (Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvédre), which is a lighter style of Australian red, fruit forward with a lovely juicy finish, as well as a Shiraz, which is very soft and elegant and made in a refined style. The RRP is €16.99 and the quality of the fruit very much justifies the price.

Keep an eye out for both wines on offer this autumn.

Marques de Caceres Crianza

(Cassidy Wines) Spanish wine is also very much in vogue this autumn. Spain sees a huge volume of Irish visitors, mostly due to our lack of summer. The Spanish DOCa Rioja is one of the most popular wine styles with the Irish red wine drinker. They love the soft velvety vanilla flavours of this aged Spanish wine style. Marques de Caceres is very widely available and this autumn will be on offer at €14.99, down from its usual price of €16.99. Make sure you have some on your shelves.

Faustino V & Faustino Silver

(Richmond Marketing) Another great Rioja wine, Faustino is very popular here and one of the biggest selling Rioja wines in Ireland. Look out for discounted prices on these two wines in the Faustino range this autumn.

Amaru from El Esteco (Classic

Drinks) El Esteco was founded in 1892 by French immigrants David and Salvador Michel. El Esteco lies in the heart of the Calchaqui Valley in the Salta region in northern Argentina, and is amongst the highest vineyards in the world.

Relatively new to the market, the Amaru range of wines is exceptional and consists of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Torrontés and Torrontés Rosé wines.

McKenna

(Coman’s Wines) This historic Chilean wine was specially created for the Irish market to celebrate Irishman, Juan McKenna, one of the leaders of Chile’s 1810 revolution. With Chile now the most popular country of origin in terms of wine volume and value sales, this wine range, produced

by Undurraga, a winery originally founded by the McKenna family, offers good price/quality value.

The McKenna range was specially created for the Irish market to celebrate Irishman, Juan McKenna, one of the leaders of Chile’s 1810 revolution.

Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie|69

Market News MOY PARK IS AN IQFDA FINALIST!

MOY Park’s innovative Roast in the Bag product range has been shortlisted for the finals of the prestigious Irish Quality Food and Drink Awards. The new ‘shelf to oven’ whole chicken product was launched under the Moy Park ‘Good Kitchen’ range and developed to target a growing market for added-value fresh chicken products. The roast-in-the-bag ‘ready to cook’ whole chickens are locally sourced and come in two flavours, ‘Extra Tasty’ and ‘Garlic & Herb’. “It is fantastic recognition for our new roast in the bag product to be short-listed at these prestigious awards,” said Briege Finnegan, Moy Park Brand Marketing Manager. “We developed the range to offer consumers a convenient shelf to oven roast in the bag chicken, making it ideal for those who don’t like touching raw meat or don’t have time to prepare a raw chicken from scratch.” The Irish Quality Food & Drink Awards ceremony takes place on September 16.

VITA COCO COCONUT OIL THE craze for coconut oil is set to go coco-nuts this autumn, when Vita Coco, the nation’s best-loved coconut water brand, unveils its very own Vita Coco Coconut Oil. Organic, 100% raw, extra-virgin and cold pressed, it’s the oil for every occasion: the ultimate cooking ingredient, the beauty secret you need to know and one of the best natural energy supplements out there. Vita Coco Coconut Oil can be used in place of other cooking oils and added to your morning smoothie or coffee. It provides lasting sustainable energy and is known to boost the immune system. A natural beauty all-in-one, it makes a great, hydrating moisturiser and can help even out skin tone. Vita Coco Coconut Oil Jars are available in Tesco nationwide and select Boots stores.

MOISTURISER GETS MANLY NIVEA Men, the official male skincare partner to the FAI, have just launched Nivea Men Creme, a no-nonsense, all purpose moisturising cream, made especially for men. With a fresh, masculine scent, Nivea Men Creme is suitable for face, body and hands, combatting dry skin everywhere, with just one tin. The light, nongreasy formula absorbs super-fast and leaves nothing behind but well-moisturised and healthy looking skin, making it ideal for the man who wants to look after his skin, but likes to keep his regime simple. Packaged in a double-embossed screw-top aluminium tin and engineered for men’s hands, it is the ultimate manly moisturiser. Available from pharmacy and grocery stores nationwide, Nivea Men Creme is available from September 2015 from just €4.49 (75ml) and €5.99 (150ml). See www.niveamen.ie or www.facebook.com/niveaireland for more information.

KELKIN’S NEW HEALTHY SNACKING RANGE LEADING Irish food company Valeo Foods has invested €500,000 in its new healthy snacking range, The Kelkin Natural Biscuit Company. The new range, which has been in development by Valeo Foods for the past 18 months, was created in response to changing consumer habits and increasing demand for healthy children’s snacks, with healthy snacking being the number one aspirational goal for Irish mothers, according to new research conducted by Coyne Research. The Natural Biscuit Company has already been launched in the Republic of Ireland and Valeo Foods also plans to introduce it into the UK in October. The new range is being supported by a fully integrated marketing campaign, anchored by a new TV ad that went to air on August 19.

SIMPLE: KIND TO SKIN

GOLD STANDARD FOR CARR & SONS

DEHYDRATION is one of the main causes of skin sensitivity, and that’s why Simple’s new Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water is specially formulated to instantly hydrate the skin. Made with triple purified water, skin loving ingredients and multi-vitamins, Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Water gently removes make-up, and leaves no residue. Also new are Simple Kind To Skin Micellar Cleansing Wipes, which bring the convenience of a wipe together with the clever cleansing of Micellar Technology, leaving skin makeup free and instantly hydrated.

AWARD winning seafood producers Carr and Sons Seafood Limited have steered their way to achieving the coveted Grade ‘A’ accreditation with The British Retail Consortium. Attaining this certification provides independent confirmation of the rigorous standards adhered to throughout the entire supply chain at their Killala plant in north Mayo.

Carr and Sons Seafood supplies a premium range of high quality ready to eat seafood products, including smoked salmon and shellfish, to both the Irish and export market.

70|Retail News|September 2015|www.retailnews.ie

Shelf Life BRENNANS Bread has launched its Dedicated advertising campaign, which cleverly taps into the heart of what they do. Showing why Brennans remains one of Ireland’s most loved brands, the new Brennans Dedicated advertising campaign sheds the spotlight on the unsung heroes amongst us. The new TV commercial, from DDFH&B, celebrates the truly dedicated who work through the night, to deliver a job well done, often without the glory.

“With this new campaign, we set out to show what real dedication is and how the truly dedicated often go about their business unnoticed,” said Ivan Hammond, Head of Marketing at Brennans Bread. “The ad aims to celebrate these unsung heroes, their dedication and their significance in our everyday lives. We at Brennans are proud of what we do and of our people, who show year round dedication to get fresh bread delivered to Irish homes nationwide.”

QUINOLA Mothergrain’s Express Quinoa & Quinoa Grain range are now available to purchase nationwide as part of Centra’s Live Well range. ‘We are delighted that due to popular demand, Quinola will now be available to buy in 150 Centra stores nationwide,” enthused James Livingstone-Wallace, the founder of Quinola Mothergrain. The range available includes the three award winning Quinoa Grains, Pearl, Red & Black quinoa, voted Peru’s best quinoa and sourced from a single estate under Fairtrade terms. The Express Quinoa range includes two quinoa mixes: Pearl & Red Quinoa and Pearl & Black Quinoa, as well as Quinoa & Split Peas, which was the overall winner of the Store Cupboard category in the Free From Awards, and Spicy Mexican Quinoa - a meal in its own right.

FRIESLAND Campina has launched Optiwell, a great-tasting and healthy new kind of yogurt drink for adults, with a €34m marketing campaign in the UK and Ireland featuring Holly Willoughby. Optiwell is primarily aimed at health-conscious women aged 25 to 40 as a delicious and refreshing alternative to unhealthy snacks and drinks. It has no added sugar, contains only 64 calories per 200ml glass, and is fat-free. It is available from September in 330ml on-the-go and 1-litre in-home formats, in strawberry & raspberry, and peach & apricot flavours made with natural fruit juices.

POW, Ireland’s first low calorie and low sugar sparkling energy water, has just launched in both retail and convenience stores across the country. Created by the Powerful Water Company, POW has been developed using natural ingredients to offer a drink that refreshes, rehydrates, and revives. POW has three flavours: Coconut & Lime, Citrus & Zest and Cranberry & Apple, with less than 60 calories in each 440ml bottle.

With an RRP of €1.99 the new drink is aimed at functional rehydration for young adults aged 20-35. Distribution is being handled by C&C Gleeson across the country and the brand is being produced by Northern Ireland based company, Norbev, in Ballymena. For more, see www.powerfulwater.co.uk.

KEELINGS is delighted to announce the relaunch of the Snack Pot range. Keelings identified a distinct gap in the market for individual fresh fruit portions for people leading busy lifestyles who want to incorporate one of their five-a-day into their daily diet. Equally, the Snack Pot range is the perfect addition for the lunch box, just in time for children heading back to school, and as we approach the winter months. Keelings’ Snack Pot varieties include Blueberries, Baby Strawberries, Cherries, Mixed Berries and Grapes, depending on seasonality. Snack Pots are now available in stores nationwide.

THE eighth upcoming ProSweets Cologne is generating a lot of interest among exhibitors. Over 300 companies from the areas of manufacturing, packaging and ingredients are once again expected in Cologne from January 31 until February 3, 2016. The 2016 event will also focus on snacks, and around a third of the exhibitors already registered for ProSweets Cologne 2016 manufacture products for the production and packaging of snacks. The support programme for ProSweets Cologne includes a Speakers Corner platform, with presentations and panel discussions, while this year sees a Power Nuts & Cereals event being presented for the first time. For more, see www.prosweets.com. , THE Burren Smokehouse has signed a contract with global logistics company UPS as part of plans to broaden its overseas footprint. The deal coincides with an announcement by the producer of Burren Smoked Salmon, Trout and Mackerel products to invest €150,000 in its existing operations and to create new jobs at its production facility in Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. The collaboration with UPS will ensure The Burren Smokehouse products sold online can be efficiently delivered to their customers in Ireland and overseas. Birgitta Hedin Curtin, owner of The Burren Smokehouse, is pictured with members of the UPS team in Lisdoonvarna, from left, Karen Andrews, Christina Gallagher, Martina Clancy and Niamh Naughton.

MR. Crumb, the Co. Westmeath food manufacturer has been selected as a national champion and will represent Ireland in the 2015/16 European Business Awards. Mr. Crumb competed with the best businesses in the nation to win the chance to represent the country in The Business of the Year Award for medium sized enterprises, sponsored

by RSM. Mr. Crumb will now go on to compete in the next phase of the competition, resulting in successful organisations being short-listed as Ruban d’Honneur recipients in The European Business of the Year Award. “This is a great honour for everyone at Mr. Crumb and recognises the impact that rural businesses have within their own communities and at both a national and international level,” according to Jason Coyle, Director of Mr. Crumb (pictured).

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

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ROUND UP

N W D DO

N U O R

Rounding is being rolled out on October 28th to reduce the use of 1c and 2c coins. For businesses, this means less coin handling, less hassle, and lower bank charges. Applying it couldn’t be simpler. When a customer pays by cash their change will be rounded up or down to the nearest five cent. Your customers will welcome it, but it is voluntary for you both. To get your head around Rounding, visit betterallround.ie, and find out how it can benefit your business.

A small change that’s better for everyone