Your Budgens March-April 2024

Get set for a cracking Easter season!

Fight crime with Booker’s new support package.

Improve choice with 900 new lines!

Stock up on mmmmore flavour!

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Biren

START THE NEW SEASON ON THE right foot

Discover how Budgens Retailers can stand out from the competition this Easter?

A very warm welcome to the latest issue of Your Budgens as we begin to gear up for the critical summer sales period. At Budgens we have plenty of plans in place to help you maximise the opportunities over the spring and summer months and you can learn about many of them inside.

With Easter on the near horizon, we have a cracking selection of deals available to help you make the most of this key seasonal event. You’ll also find inside some details on our forthcoming Budgens Wine Festival, another great opportunity to drive excitement, generate fresh footfall and grow your sales and profits in an important category.

With choice as important to your shoppers as ever, we’ve been working hard on delivering the perfect range for your stores. Recently we’ve added more than

900 new lines to help you provide your shoppers with the choice, quality and value they expect when they visit a Budgens store.

Make sure you check out our feature on coffee pods too, one of the fastest-growing sectors of the total coffee market. More people than ever are trying to replicate the coffee shop experience at home and pods are core to this experience. Best of all, it doesn’t require much shelf space or time to create a great pods section that will bring more shoppers to your door.

Finally, don’t miss our range of exclusive and discounted deals on a range of highquality, effective crimeprevention solutions. Retail crime is a real challenge and Budgens has developed relationships with key suppliers to give you discounted access to solutions that can help you clamp down on in-store crime.

I wish you all fantastic trading over the next few months.

Industry News

Booker has opened a new retail distribution centre in Fareham that creates a shared delivery network for the first time, allowing deliveries to all Booker customers from a single hub.

“The changes we are making will benefit our customers as well as their shoppers and we will always ensure as a business that we continue to improve choice, price, and service for many years to come.”

Colm Johnson, MD – Retail

New distribution centre adds choice, price and service

Booker is continuing to focus on improving choice, price and service for all retailers by investing back into its supply chain with the launch of a new shared delivery hub in Fareham on the south coast.

The new retail distribution centre represents a key part of Booker’s strategy of continually investing back in its customers and offers increased delivered capacity and, for the first time, creates the opportunity for a shared delivery network for all Booker customers from a single hub.

As part of this, Booker has improved choice with expanded ranges and Premier retailers serviced by the new hub will have access to 35% more range.

The range available from the new hub has been tailored to specifically meet the needs of independent retailers in terms of breadth, depth and pack sizes. The range has also been created to maximise profits for independent retailers.

For example, the range of tuna available has been slightly reduced to eliminate duplication but also to ensure that every product delivers a minimum of 30% POR. Price reductions of over £1 have also been made on a number of products.

In line with other Booker business centres, the new hub will continue to stock bestsellers, but duplications have been removed and the space dedicated to declining categories such as Ales has been reduced while the space dedicated to growing categories such as World Beers and RTDs has been expanded.

This will all be supported by stronger promotions for both retailers and shoppers, along with offering more Group Exclusive products such as the Kellogg’s Chocolate Corn Flakes PMP launched in February and Corona Ligera, which will be available exclusively from Booker for six months over the summer.

Colm Johnson, Managing Director – Retail said: “Firstly, I would like to thank all our customers for their continued support. The changes we are making will benefit our customers as well as their shoppers. We will always ensure as a business that we continue to improve choice, price, and service for many years to come.

“Our ranges offer retailers breadth and quality, allowing them to grow their businesses and gain sales by taking advantage of the leading market trends.”

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Convenience spend continues to grow as inflation eases

The latest monthly Barclays Consumer Spend Report shows that spend in independent stores continued to grow in February even though food inflation fell to its lowest level since April 2022.

The value of shopper card spend in independent stores continued to grow in February, up 2.7%, despite food inflation falling to 7% in the same month, its lowest level since April 2022, almost two years ago.

The effect of falling food inflation on the value of sales is reflected in the fact that the number of transactions actually grew by 7.3% in February in independent retailing. In other words, volumes grew substantially but the value of that growth was softened by falling food inflation.

Lower prices at the pump meant that fuel spend fell 12.2% in the period.

Total shopper card spending in the UK grew by just 1.9% in the month, the lowest growth since September 2022.

The deceleration in food inflation has helped ease concern

Shopper frustration over online hidden charges

about rising grocery prices although 84% of shoppers still cite this as an area of concern.

Two-thirds (66 per cent) of shoppers are still looking for ways to get more value from, or to reduce the cost of, their weekly shop. To save money, two-fifths (42%) of this group have cut down on impulse buys, while a third (32%) are stocking up on essential products when they are on offer. A further quarter (25%) are sticking to basic ingredients or cupboard staples – such as pasta, rice and vegetables – to prepare simple, cheaper meals at home.

Consumers’ concerns about inflation and rising household bills also softened to 84%, the most positive figures for more than two years – indicating that easing inflationary pressures are having a positive impact on household finances.

As shoppers continue to pay close attention to their finances, over a third (36%) say they have noticed more examples of brands and retailers adding extra and hidden charges at the checkout when spending online, otherwise known as “drip pricing”.

This is most frequently spotted when paying for food delivery services (39%). In response, almost seven in 10 consumers (68%) welcome the Government’s plan to ban unavoidable hidden fees, requiring businesses to disclose all costs upfront, as part of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (DMCC).

Close to four in 10 (37%) say drip pricing is their biggest shopping frustration when paying online while 28% cite altered or surged prices in response to demand – also known as dynamic pricing – as a key gripe.

Team steps up to charity walk

A team from CT Baker’s Budgens store in Aylsham and Holt have completed an arduous 20-mile walk to raise funds for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust.

Five members of the CT Baker Budgens of Aylsham & Holt team completed a 20mile walk in aid of the retailer’s charity of the year.

Team members Andrew, Maggie, Jack, Susan, and Jess walked through wet and windy conditions in aid of Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust.

The retailer had donation buckets located in store for a week to collect funds for the charity.

In addition, the retailer held an Easter Raffle to raise funds for the Pulmonary Fibrosis Trust.

The charity said: “CT Baker Budgens of Aylsham & Holt are onto their next fundraiser. They never stop!

“What a great way to raise funds and awareness for pulmonary fibrosis.”

What a big heart you have

Budgens Stock, in Essex, has donated a hamper to Windmill Theatre School.

The hamper was a raffle prize at the school’s production of Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs at Stock Village Hall.

The raffle raised funds for The Royal Marsden Hospital, mental health charity Basildon MIND, and Parkinson’s UK.

The school said: “Thank you to Budgens for their generous hamper raffle prize.”

Care in the community

Robinson’s Budgens of Kimbolton in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, has helped raise funds for local community projects.

The store sponsored the cost of hiring nearby Manderville Hall to hold a jumble sale with all proceeds going to local projects.

Robinson’s Budgens recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its opening in Kimbolton with a free-to-enter prize tombola for customers.

All ready for GroceryAid Day 2024?

GroceryAid Day takes place on Thursday 9 May and is the annual awareness day of our industry charity GroceryAid, offering the ideal opportunity to let your colleagues know about the free, confidential support that is available.

Thursday 9 May will see this year’s annual GroceryAid Day help elevate the awareness of the industry charity in stores and businesses across the UK – and GroceryAid wants your business to be one of them.

Support and further advice are also available through the website, groceryaid.org.uk/get-help. The website has an accessibility toolbar which translates the content into over 100 different languages, as well as text to speech in 60 languages.

The special day offers you the chance to join hundreds of organisations in letting your colleagues know about the charity’s free and confidential financial, emotional and practical services available to them 24/7, 365 days a year.

Colleagues can access GroceryAid’s services and support from the first day of their employment. After just six months of continuous employment, if colleagues have experienced a drop in income, they may be eligible for a non-repayable financial grant.

For regular updates about the help available and the latest on financial support such as the School Essentials Grant, follow the charity on Facebook @groceryaid or Instagram @ groceryaid_uk.

All of GroceryAid’s services are completely free and confidential and support partners do not disclose any details back to the charity. Emotional and practical support is also available to spouses, partners and dependants.

If they need immediate emotional support, they can call GroceryAid’s FREE and confidential Helpline, which is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 08088 021122. Their call will be answered by a trained counsellor who can either give them immediate support or signpost them to another GroceryAid service that may help. More than 200 languages are also supported through the Helpline, on request.

GroceryAid Day is a great way to help you ensure that your colleagues can reach out to GroceryAid for support.

Free GroceryAid Day comms kit

Order your free GroceryAid Day communications package now at groceryaid.org.uk.

From posters and leaflets to wallet cards and stickers, there’s everything you need to make all of your colleagues aware of the free and confidential financial, practical and emotional support that is available to them, should they need it.

9 May 2024

Fresh foot forward

Biren and Bhavna Patel have been successfully meeting local needs since 2008 when they first established what was then a 1,200sq ft Premier store at the heart of a thriving residential estate in Wellingborough.

However, following 11 years of strong trading, in 2019 Biren and Bhavna made the bold decision to take the business in a new direction – overhauling the store’s offer with a new fresh-focused range that would meet an even wider range of needs.

Biren explains: “The old store had worked very well but we were keen to push that success even further by making a number of key changes, the first of which was a significant expansion of our fresh and chilled offer.

“We have a lot of competition from large supermarkets nearby and I knew that expanding fresh would unlock even further growth.

“I went to visit a number of stores and was really impressed with Budgens’ offer. It fitted perfectly with my vision.”

With lockdown looming, a £280,000 store development project began on 1 March 2020.

The work would see the store extended by 600sq ft, followed by a top-to-bottom refit.

Behind the scenes, brand new office, storage, loading and kitchen space was also created, allowing Biren and Bhavna to also drive key operational efficiencies.

“We closed the store entirely while the work was done,” Biren recalls. “It was a really worrying time. Talk of lockdown was rife and I knew that any delay to the build would have a really negative impact – potentially preventing us from re-opening.

“Fortunately, we had a fantastic team of builders, shopfitters and merchandisers who all pulled together to get the job done

Biren and Bhavna Patel took the bold decision to take their business in a fresh new direction – and they’ve not looked back!

and we re-opened under the Budgens fascia as planned on 19 March 2020.”

“Shoppers couldn’t believe their eyes when we re-opened. Their reactions were exactly what we had hoped for and more. For the first time ever, local people could now rely on us to offer them a comprehensive fresh and chilled offer. Elderly shoppers and busy parents no longer needed to make dedicated trips to the larger supermarkets; they could now get all their daily essentials from us – right on their doorsteps.”

Budgens Berrymoor’s large and impeccably merchandised fresh and chilled offer includes one three-bay chiller for fresh fruit and vegetables, plus five doors for fresh meat and fish products.

“Prior to the refit, basket spend was limited to around £8 on average. Now it has grown to £17 and sales are still growing. In fact, last week we recorded our best ever trading week – and that was in early February!”

Biren Patel

Wide, well-lit aisles lead to a further six doors for ready meals and desserts and four doors for dairy.

“We now get five deliveries a week, which is fantastic and ensures that our offer is always top quality,” says Biren.

“We also have seven doors for frozen, which is doing very well, and eight doors for soft drinks.”

Another element that is “doing very well” is the store’s showstopping food- and drinks-to-go proposition.

“Cooking has always been a passion of mine and food to go is a category that I find really exciting,” Biren adds. “As such I was keen to create a proper kitchen where we could bake and prepare a wide range of products.”

Housed in a dedicated ‘food court-style’ zone at the front of the store, shoppers can now select from a variety of hot Bake & Bite goods, including pies, pasties and baps, as well as chilled baguettes, wraps and sandwiches made fresh each morning by the in-store team.

A Rollover hot dog unit and a range of locally made meat samosas and cakes complete the offer.

Shoppers’ drinks-to-go needs are also met by Tango Ice Blast, Slush Puppie, F’real and Costa Coffee machines.

“Food to go has been a major success story and huge footfall driver. The old store never offered anything of this scale, it’s been a real transformation,” Biren adds.

A keen focus on social media and the introduction of a Snappy Shopper home delivery service has also helped to propel the store’s success.

Initially launched by Biren’s daughter as a way of supporting vulnerable shoppers during the pandemic, the home delivery service has since grown long legs – with delivery sales alone currently worth more than £1,000 a day and climbing.

The secret to its success? Biren says it’s all about personal service. “We have dedicated staff who look after the picking and packing and a great team of regular drivers who have built up strong relationships with shoppers.

“Attention to detail is crucial if you want to make a success of home delivery. If a product is not available my team will call the shopper to inform them and ask if they would like an alternative.

“If they are not able to contact the shopper, the driver will take a range of possible alternatives, so that they can select what they want.

“If a busy mum orders the ingredients to make a spaghetti bolognaise for dinner and we don’t have minced beef, it’s no good for us to just deliver the other ingredients minus the mince. Her dinner would be ruined and she’d have to make another trip out to buy it, or an alternative, from elsewhere.

That’s why we would always call first to see if we can help to find a solution. That kind of service is what drives loyalty.”

That personal service extends all around the store, where helpful, engaged staff are always on hand to help with any queries or requests.

“We also pride ourselves on sourcing specific products for customers. I get a real kick out of doing that,” Biren adds.

“Customer service is another of our big strengths and differentiates us even further from the competition.”

The store’s busy till points are a hive of activity and friendly conversation but for those shoppers after a “quick service” solution, a new self-service till is also available.

The Point Four-powered self-service till only accepts card payments and is “particularly popular with the younger generation,” Biren says.

“It was important that we offer modern payment solutions as part of the development. In this industry, you always have to keep future needs in mind.”

Also helping to futureproof the store are 135 solar panels which have been fitted on the front and back of the store’s large sloping roof.

The panels, which cost £58,000 to install, have already contributed to a 30% fall in energy consumption, with Biren expecting to see payback in just under three years. Other energy-efficient investments include chillers with doors, and LED lighting throughout.

Looking back, Biren and Bhavna agree that their “brave” move has more than paid off.

“I had quite a few sleepless nights during the planning and build stages, but I can now say that the development was the best decision we ever made,” Biren grins.

“Prior to the refit, basket spend was limited to around £8 on average. Now it has grown to £17 and sales are still growing. In fact, last week we recorded our best ever trading week –and that was in early February! Our catchment area has also ballooned from a one-mile radius to more than five now.

“We’re now in the strongest possible position for the years ahead and I feel truly blessed.”

FACTFILE

Store name: Budgens Berrymoor

Retailers: Biren and Bhavna Patel

Size: 1,800sq ft

Staff: 10

Opening: Mon-Sat 7am-9pm Sun 8am-7pm

Best-performing categories: Fresh and chilled, food to go, BWS.

Services: ATM, National Lottery, Food to go, Snappy Shopper

Fresh pickings

Budgens Vendees is winning shoppers over with its vibrant fresh and chilled mix.

It’s been just over eight months since Stockport’s shoppers were first invited to “step in and stock up” at Budgens Vendees on Wellington Road – and as the store’s footfall and sales figures suggest, it’s an invitation they have been only too happy to accept.

Operated by directors and lifelong friends, Muralidharan, Sethuraaman and Premnath, the 2,200sq ft store describes itself as a place “where shopping is a pleasure”.

And with floor-to-ceiling windows that allow sunlight to shine through, a vibrant array of fresh

and chilled choice and a striking glass-fronted beer cave, it really is.

However, the store’s new fresh-focused interior is a far cry from its previous guise as a deep discounter.

“The previous store was an ultra-low-priced discounter so we knew that with Budgens we would be bringing a very different type of offer to local shoppers,” director Muralidharan Salaikuberan explains. “However, given the store’s location, we were confident that it would work well.”

Located on the busy A6 through Stockport and just a few metres from Stockport College, the Magistrates Court, numerous offices and a large hospital, the site represented a “significant footfall opportunity.”

“There’s also a large residential estate just behind the store and construction work on 400 new flats is just about to begin directly in front of it,” Muralidharan adds.

“Given all that, we knew that we had a great chance to open a store with an excellent fresh and chilled offer that could meet the needs of existing and future residents as well as all the passers-by.”

“Budgens’ fresh offer and the margin were two of the main reasons that we chose to go with the brand, and we’ve certainly not been disappointed.”

Fresh and chilled sales mix is just under 30%

The store, which opened in July 2023, devotes a bright and beautiful eight metres of space to fresh and chilled produce at the front of the store.

“From avocados to pineapples, when it comes to fresh produce, we have it all,” Muralidharan says.

“Budgens’ fresh offer and the margin were two of the main reasons that we chose to go with the brand, and we’ve certainly not been disappointed.”

Muralidharan Salaikuberan

The store’s fresh and chilled sales participation is currently just under 30% – driven by produce and great-quality chilled foods including dairy items, fresh meats and ready meals.”

Adding to this chilled splendour is a cavernous 300sq ft glass-fronted beer cave packed with great value promotional stacks of beer and lager, top-selling wine brands and marketleading RTDs and more.

Separated from the main shop floor by a wall of glass and featuring large floor-to-ceiling windows that allow shoppers to look in from the street outside, the spectacular sales space is more prism than cave – and is helping Budgens Vendees to rack up a sparkling 22% BWS sales mix.

“Fresh, chilled and BWS are some of our best-selling categories,” Muralidharan says.

“We’ve also become a hotspot for food and drinks to go thanks to our Costa Coffee, Bake & Bite and Jolly Rancher slush offers.”

Food and drinks to go are big footfall and sales drivers and especially popular with the local students and many passers-by. Helpful services, such as parcel collection, act as further magnets.

And, thanks to Budgens’ strong promotional package and array of everyday low prices, the store still boasts a strong value offer. Coffee lovers can also enjoy loyalty discounts, including a ‘buy five get one free’ offer on coffee, while students get 10% off their shopping (excluding vapes, tobacco and lottery).

The store has also signed up to the ‘My DD Points’ digital loyalty scheme, which offers app users the chance to earn points and access special member-only low prices.

Further value for money can also be found in the store’s large five-door freezer zone, where Jack’s products and the Budgens Meal Deal offer shoppers fabulous frozen choice.

“Jack’s is doing really well for us,” Muralidharan says. “Products are sited in every category, but we also have a whole bay dedicated to Jack’s on the shop floor which really helps to boost sales.”

And it’s not just local shoppers who have welcomed Budgens Vendees to Stockport with open arms. The town’s local mayor, Graham Greenhalgh, has also been a vocal supporter – happily presenting an array of prizes to shoppers during the store’s ‘6-week Grand Launch offer’ and since.

“We’re so grateful to the local mayor for his support and all the support we have received from Budgens so far,” Muralidharan adds.

“We’re also very thankful to our wonderful in-store team who work so hard to make this store the best it can be. It’s wonderful to see sales growing and knowing that we still have so many great things yet to come.”

FACTFILE

Store name: Budgens Vendees Local, Stockport

Retailers: Muralidharan Salaikuberan, Sethuraaman Meyyappan and Premnath

Palanisamy

Opening hours: 6am-11pm.

Size: 2,200sq ft

Staff: 6

How to crack Easter

The three phases of Easter Mondelez International recommends that retailers split Easter into three phases:

l Getting off to a fast start (January to Valentine’s Day).

l Building momentum (from Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day)

l Gearing up for a ‘gifting finish’ for the last three weeks as the period reaches its finale.

Top Tips for cracking Easter sales

l Seasonal convenience confectionery shoppers have a £12.50 higher spend per visit, so make the best possible use of seasonal POS to build eye-catching displays.

l Strong promotion communication is key during the Easter season, so make sure to highlight all key deals with the relevant supporting material.

l Did you know that more than half of shoppers buy chocolates and flowers together? Think about highlighting these in store to drive trade-up.

l Gifting gears up in the last three weeks before Easter so make sure your shell eggs and boxed chocolate ranges are on point!

l Social media is a great way to drive awareness of your Easter offer. Snaps of your bright and beautiful displays are sure to drive footfall into store.

Budgens is helping retailers to make the most of the egg-stremely valuable Easter opportunity.

As one of the biggest seasonal opportunities of the year, Easter has always helped retailers add some muchappreciated bounce to their sales.

Easter 2023 was a record breaker according to Kantar data, with 38 million chocolate eggs and treats bought in the week running up to Easter Sunday – that’s a cracking five million more than the same period in 2022.

In fact, on average, households spent nearly £14 on Easter chocolate over the four weeks to 16 April 2023.

With figures like that, it’s little surprise that retailers across the country will be hoping for an equally, if not even better, performance in 2024.

However, with Easter Sunday falling on 31 March this year, the season is over a week earlier than last year, leaving retailers with less time to focus on driving those all-important sales.

Fortunately, Budgens is here to help, with an egg-cellent range, attention-grabbing promotions and showstopping POS packages to support retailers in doing just that!

INNOVATIVE IDEAS

New products remain a powerful way to drive growth within the season and Budgens has certainly delivered this year. The 2024 Spring Pre-sell included more than 100 new lines and stacks of Group Exclusives to help sales bloom.

New for 2024 is the Cadbury Creme Egg Bar. Perfect for sharing and self-treating, the new tablet form of one of the UK’s favourite Easter SKUs is sure to be a popular pick.

The bar comes in a case size of 16x123g and is available on a ‘Any 2 for £3,’ deal offering retailers a POR of 21.1%.

In addition to new products, the return of old and muchloved favourites, such as the Malteser Bunny and the classic Cadbury Creme Egg, will also help retailers to get those allimportant Easter sales clucking.

Small, self-treat and novelty items such as these are perfect for driving unplanned impulse purchases throughout the season, especially when backed with multi-buy deals.

From Kit Kat Bunnies to Milkybar Eggs, this Easter Budgens retailers have access to a raft of small seasonal treats available on ‘2 for £3’ and ‘3 for £2’ deals.

As the end of the Easter season approaches, the gifting trend comes into its own, prompting shell egg sales to shine.

As such, Cadbury advises retailers to gear up for a ‘gifting finish’ for the last three weeks before Easter Sunday, with a wide range of shell eggs and other gifting formats.

Traditional medium-sized eggs remain a firm favourite with shoppers and Budgens retailers can offer them all that their hearts and baskets desire with its cracking range of topselling eggs from big-name brands – some of which, such as the Kit Kat Chunky Medium Egg and the Maltesers Medium Egg, are available on an incredible ‘2 for £4’ deal.

And while traditional medium-sized eggs remain the heartland for seasonal shell egg sales, giant eggs are the fastest-growing Easter egg segment across the total market, with sales up just under 60% year on year, Nielsen says.

Budgens has a fantastic range of Giant and XL eggs available

LET THEM EAT CAKE

The Easter season is also famous for blooming cake and bakery sales and 2024 will be no exception with a tasty array of branded cakes from big-name brands including Mr Kipling and Cadbury – whose Creme Egg and Mini Egg cakes both offer a POR of 20.1%.

including the supersized Galaxy Caramel Giant Shell Egg, which also offers a hefty POR of 21.2%.

From in-demand US offerings, such as the Reese’s XL Shell Egg, to innovative brand mashups, such as the KitKat Biscoff XL shell egg, the Budgens range has you covered.

Also riding high on the gifting wave are boxed chocolates and cartons, perfect for treating others and sharing among friends and family. Budgens’ range of boxed delights includes 110g Maltesers Boxes which are available on a ‘2 for £4’ deal, large cartons of Cadbury Roses and Heroes on offer for £4.49 and 360g boxes of Cadbury Milk Tray on offer for just £5.99 among many others.

HOME BAKING

With their sweet gooey centres, crispy crunchy exteriors and novel colours and shapes, many Easter confectionery items also double up as ideal toppers for indulgent seasonal desserts and beautiful bakes.

Perfect POS

Budgens retailers can bring their Easter displays to life with an array of smart POS materials featuring indulgent chocolate eggs and ‘Happy Easter’ wording.

The blue, gold and chocolate-coloured POS bundle includes bunting, posters, shelf edge strips, barker ears and header cards.

For more details, speak to your Budgens RDM.

In fact, Mondelez says that it is increasingly seeing shoppers use its products to whip up baked goods over the Easter season.

Products such as the classic Cadbury Creme Egg and Cadbury Mini Eggs are perfect for topping traybakes and cakes or mixing into brownies. In fact, Cadbury Mini Eggs grew by 19% in 2023 according to Mondelez, as shoppers snapped up the Easter staples to munch alone and use within bakes and desserts.

If space allows, why not consider dual siting certain seasonal products, such as Cadbury Mini Eggs, within your home baking aisles? Just over 70% of shoppers buy Easter confectionery from a secondary location, so multi siting clearly does pay!

Budgens retailers can offer their shoppers a fantastic deal on 80g bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs and Group Exclusive Cadbury Mini Eggs Orange, both of which can be offered on an ‘Any 2 for £3’ deal, with a POR of 20%.

Other tasty deals on mini egg variants include Group Exclusive 77g Cadbury Dairy Milk Daim egg bags and 75g bags of Kinder Mini Eggs available for £1.89 or on a ‘Any 2 for £3’ deal, offering a POR of 25.1%.

GROUP EXCLUSIVES

MINI EGGS ORANGE

Case size: 24x80g

WSP: £23.99

RSP: £1.89

POR: 36.5%

LINDT GOLD BUNNY SAFARI

Case size: 12x200g

WSP:

RSP: £4.99

POR: 20.5%

THORNTONS CLASSIC GIFT EGG

Case

WSP:

RSP: £10.99

POR: 22.5%

And of course, chocolate treats aren’t the only categories to shine over Easter. Last year saw the number of hot cross bun packs sold rise by 5% in the four weeks to 16 April 2023, according to Kantar data. Budgens retailers have access to fantastic value Jack’s Hot Crossed Buns which have an RSP of just £1.25, offering a POR of 20.8%.

As with last year, the continued squeeze on household spending is also likely to prompt many families to celebrate the long Easter weekend at home.

And, with more shoppers choosing to buy from their local stores, retailers will have a meaty opportunity to rack up strong sales across other categories.

From stock cubes to stuffing and not forgetting Jack’s Yorkshire Puddings, Budgens has everything that a shopper might need to accompany a rip-roaring roast.

Jack’s new Fresh 4 promotion also has their veggie needs covered, with White Potatoes, Broccoli, Onions and Carrots all on offer at amazing value price points.

So with all that said and done, it’s clear that Budgens retailers have all they need to give the Easter Bunny a run for his money and get their Easter sales hopping.

XL AND GIANT SHELL EGGS

SWEET TREATS AND PORS

Clean up with Jack’s

The arrival of spring-cleaning season presents retailers with a sparkling opportunity to scrub up their homecare sales.

The days are getting longer, temperatures are climbing, and buds are breaking into bloom – it can only mean one thing: spring is most certainly in the air.

So too is the fresh scent of soap and the snap of rubber gloves, as shoppers across the country arm themselves with mops, buckets and cloths and prepare to take on spring-cleaning season.

And with Easter just around the corner, the pressure is now well and truly on for those shoppers looking to get their homes ship-shape in time for celebratory occasions.

As such, retailers have a clear opportunity to set their homecare and cleaning sales shining.

However, with value for money remaining front of mind, many shoppers will also be looking for ways to clean up their acts, without breaking the bank.

Mintel says that value for money is driving increasing competition between branded and private labels with 27% of shoppers saying they have switched to lower-priced household care products in the past year.

And that’s where Booker’s great value Jack’s brand comes in.

From window care to polish, disinfectants and more, the Jack’s

cleaning range includes a sparkling mix of pricemarked products to help shoppers take on all manner of jobs.

NEARLY HALF OF UK CONSUMERS SPEND TWO TO FOUR HOURS PER WEEK CLEANING.

With most products in the range priced at under £1.45 and many products featuring the amazing value RSP of just £1, the Jack’s brand really hits the value for money mark.

Like all products in the Jack’s range, Jack’sbranded cleaning and homecare products also offer retailers polished PORs.

(MINTEL)

27% OF CONSUMERS SAY THEY HAVE SWITCHED TO LOWER-PRICED HOUSEHOLD CARE PRODUCTS IN THE LAST YEAR.

(MINTEL CLEANING IN THE HOME REPORT 2023)

Most items in the Jack’s range boast PORs of more than 36.2%, with a number of items, such as Jack’s Toilet Gel, offering PORs of 48.8%.

Budgens Holt is enjoying sparkling sales of household cleaning products since expanding the offer as part of its recent store development.

“In addition to a lot of residential housing, there are also numerous holiday homes and rentals close to the store, so we took the opportunity to expand on our homewares and homecare market,” the store’s managing director Carl Milton explains.

“Delivering value for money is key at the moment and the Jack’s products allow us to do this in a powerful way.

“I’m passionate about bringing value and quality to our shoppers and Jack’s is certainly able to deliver on both fronts.”

And of course, it’s important to remember that cleaning isn’t just a spring fling.

In fact, thanks to the growing popularity of so called ‘cleanfluencers’ – cleaning has never been so cool, with clever cleaning hacks and tips from leading

“The Jack’s brand provides a key medium through which we can offer great value. The brand is exactly what shoppers want these days. They tell me that the quality of Jack’s products is excellent and made even better by the value price tag. The PORs that we can make on Jack’s products are also very strong. What more could you want?”

Charles Rispin, Budgens Rispins, Hull, Humberside

cleanfluencers such as Sophie Hinchliffe (AKA Mrs Hinch) taking social media by storm.

In addition, a One Poll survey commissioned by cleaning brand Dr Beckman back in November 2023, revealed that 58% of shoppers named cleaning products, such as

air fresheners, stain removers and microfibre cloths, as their most desired gift items – ahead of technology and clothing!

So, with all that said and done, there’s clearly never been a better time for retailers to get in on the cleaning act and brush up those sales and profits.

KEY JACK’S CLEANING LINES

Shine up your shelves

Merchandising is also key when it comes to polishing up your cleaning sales.

l A good idea is to merchandise the category by format, room, and then specific tasks.

l The Jack’s range includes a variety of products for different rooms and tasks including laundry care, bathroom and toilet cleaning, kitchen disinfectants, surface polishing, and window cleaning.

l Make sure that all products are correctly faced up with price marks showing.

*All prices correct at time of going to press.

M293056

M293058

M293062

Unlock the power of pods

Coffee pods account for nearly 20% of the coffee category in the UK –but only 8.5% in the independent retailing sector – representing a huge opportunity to grow sales, footfall and profit.

Top of the pods

l Pods account for 20% of retail coffee sales.

l Pods represent a huge opportunity for c-stores.

l Budgens retailers can now access smaller Tassimo packs.

l Retailers will soon have access to new Dolce Gusto £3.99 PMPs.

l Market leading shopper promotions from NP2.

Once a niche market, coffee pods have gone mainstream in recent years. Today, pods account for nearly 20% of the UK retail coffee category and are worth a whopping £253m.

This success is reflected in supermarket sales where around 20% of coffee sales come through pods.

In the independent convenience retailing channel, only 8.5% of coffee sales are pods, meaning the channel hugely undertrades on pods.

READY MARKET

Sales of pods in convenience, however, have been growing twice as fast the total market over the last five years. The scale of this opportunity is enormous for all Budgens retailers.

To help leverage that opportunity to the hilt, Budgens offers a wide range of pods and has implemented an Every Day Low Pricing promotional calendar with market-leading deals between Tassimo and Dolce Gusto.

MINI MERCHANDISING MASTERCLASS

Nestlé offers the following three-step merchandising advice to help grow your sales of pods:

l Merchandise left to right, like a book, from value to premium.

l Pods should go on the top left of the shelf.

l Merchandise the coffee fixture from value at the bottom through to premium at the top.

Recent data suggests more than half of all homes (52%) now own a coffee machine and a further 27% of people say they intend to own one in the near future. In other words, there will be around seven million homes with a coffee machine in the next couple of years.

Trips to coffee shops are also on the wane – down 53% in 2023 alone according to JDE – and that is certain to drive growth in the at-home consumption market.

Why do shoppers love pods?

According to Nielsen data, the key reasons why shoppers choose pods are as follows:

l 76% – Taste

l 70% – Quality

l 52% – Variety

l 50% – Aroma

l 45% – Value for money

WHY PODS?

Nestlé, the company behind Nespresso and Dolce Gusto brands, says pods is forecast to be the fastest-growing coffee segment (after Core Instant) by 2028, up 5.6%, growing the category by £103m. Pods will grow share by 1.2% by 2027, the biggest growth share of any coffee sub-category.

According to Nestlé, the main reason shoppers choose pods is to “create a coffee shop experience at home”. Nielsen data from 2023 confirms this, with 76% of shoppers choosing pods because of the taste they deliver, 70% because of the quality and 45% because of their value for money.

PMP KEY

In a premium category like pods, price-marked-packs (PMPs) can be invaluable in reassuring shoppers that they’re getting value for money. According to Nestlé data, PMPs grew their share of the pod market from 32% to 46% in 2023 alone.

By value, the PMP pod market increased by 41.9% in 2023 which equates to £9.3m. It’s clear that PMPs offer shoppers a single, guaranteed and affordable price point ensuring no price fluctuation.

MERCHANDISING MASTERCLASS

One of the many attractions of pods is that they don’t require much space, although it’s vital to ensure that they command enough

Core range

space in your store to catch the eye of your shoppers.

Nestlé says 15-20% of coffee shoppers leave the fixture empty handed due to merchandising issues like not being able to find product quickly enough, the product they want not being listed and difficult fixture navigation.

The key to avoiding these sales losses is relatively simple: ensuring impulsive segments are at eyeline and trading shoppers up vertically and horizontally will help drive value.

In practical terms, this means merchandise left to right, like a book, from value to premium. Pods should go on the top left of the shelf and the fixture should be merchandised with value at bottom through to premium at the top.

If you sell pods in your store it’s also really important to tell shoppers that you do. Make sure that your pods range is well signposted and why not shout about it on social media too?

POD PROFITS

The opportunity is clear and, just as importantly, the solution is really quite simple. Creating some space on your fixture, ranging and merchandising the fixture in line with the advice above and telling your shoppers about it, is all that’s required.

So why not sit down with a hot cup of coffee and plan how you too can profit with pods?

Budgens recommends the following products as the basis of a good core pod range:

KIT KAT CHUNKY LOTUS BISCOFF WHITE

WSP:

RSP:

POR:

FOSTER’S SHANDY

OLD MOUT CIDER PINEAPPLE & RASPBERRY

WSP:

RSP:

RSP:

POR:

LUCOZADE BLUE

WSP:

RSP:

POR:

LUCOZADE SPORT BLUE FORCE

LUCOZADE ENERGY BLUE RUSH PM

Case

WSP:

RSP:

LUCOZADE ENERGY BLUE BURST

LUCOZADE SPORT BLUE FORCE PM

LUCOZADE ENERGY BLUE BURST PM

WSP:

RSP:

Costa Coffee RTD has added more value to the RTD category than any other RTD brand* Nation’s

Costa Coffee RTD is up 41% and growing nearly 3x faster than the RTD coffee segment*

To find out more email connect@ccep.com, call 0808 1 000 000 or visit my.ccep.com.

Your Budgens: Wine Festival

Uncork additional sales and profi ts with the Budgens Wine Festival

The Budgens Wine Festival is back with a barrel load of opportunities for retailers to enjoy grape sales this summer.

Mega Deals!

The Budgens Wine Festival will include Mega Deals on the topselling McGuigan and Secretary Bird brands.

SECRETARY BIRD

WSP: £27.49

RSP: £6.49

POR: 15.3%

MCGUIGAN

BLACK LABEL

WSP: £25.45

RSP: £5.99

POR: 15.0%

WineBudgensFestival

DATES 22 April-19 May

McGuigan and Secretary Bird Mega Deals

‘In vino veritas’: ‘In wine there is truth’ –or so the old Latin saying tells us. And of course, the bottling of truth is not wine’s only superpower. As a category, wine is also a powerful driver of footfall, sales and profits – especially at this time of year, as shoppers look forward to the return of warmer weather and the stellar Budgens Wine Festival.

Running from 22 April to 19 May, the Budgens Wine Festival will once again provide retailers with a corking opportunity to boost basket spend with an array of showstopping promotions.

SWEET SUCCESS

This year’s serving of special offers has been carefully designed around key brands and trends including wines with sweeter taste profiles and fruity flavours such as Hardys Bin 161’s Jammy Rich Red.

Packed with flavours of blackberry, plum and a touch of spice, the sweet South African offering is sure to go down

Festival Fizz Specials

a treat with shoppers this Wine Festival – especially when they take note of the fantastic RSP of just £6.99.

Deals are on offer across every price bracket, including value, mid and premiumpriced products, allowing Budgens retailers to meet the needs of a wide variety of different shoppers and social occasions.

ADD SOME SPARKLE

With demand for sparkling options remaining high, especially as we approach the summer, this year’s Budgens Wine Festival also includes a number of fantastic deals on sparkling products to suit all budgets.

Key deals for shoppers include 75cl bottles of Canti Prosecco and Canti Prosecco Rosé on offer for just £8.49 – offering retailers a POR of 17.6%.

Shoppers who want to enjoy their bubbles without the ABV will also not be disappointed, with the Budgens Wine

Canti Prosecco/Prosecco Rosé 75cl Brut WSP: £34.99 RSP: £8.49 POR: 17.6%

Plaza centro Prosecco/Prosecco Rose Brut WSP: £31.79 RSP: £7.49 POR: 15.1%

Freixenet Prosecco / Italian Sparkling Brut WSP: £43.95 RSP: £10.99 POR: 20.0%

19 Crimes Sparkling WSP: £39.95 RSP: £9.99 POR: 20%

Canti Prosecco/Prosecco Rosé 20cl Single serve WSP: £21.99 RSP: £3.99 POR: 44%

GROUP EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS

BAREFOOT RIESLING

RSP: £6.49

POR: 21%

NOBILO NEW ZEALAND SAUVIGNON BLANC

RSP: £9.49

POR: 21%

GRAHAM NORTON’S OWN MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC

RSP: £8.49

POR: 20.7%

NEW PRODUCT!

BIN 161 Jammy Rich Red

WSP: £25.79

RSP: £6.99

POR: 26%

Hardys BIN 161 is the seventhbiggest Still Wine brand in Impulse, worth £36m annually and outperforming total Still Wine by five ppts.

One bottle of Hardys Bin 161 is sold every six seconds!

Marvellous merchandising

l Have at least two or three facings of your bestselling wines.

l Support promotions with displays in prominent sites in your store like gondola ends.

l Chill all white and rosé wines where possible.

l Make use of all the Wine Festival POS available.

Festival also including deals on fantastic low- to no-alcohol wine brands. Deals include sparkling options such as Nozeco Spumante 75cl which has an RSP of just £3.49 – offering retailers a POR of 20.1%.

Deals are also available across a range of formats, including cans, helping retailers to add further interest to their ranges.

NEW AND NOW

This year’s Wine Festival also stars a number of new products, including the first-to-market launch of Echo Falls’ brand-new Watermelon & Kiwi Fruit Fusion variant.

First to market to Booker customers, the new Watermelon & Kiwi flavour features an ABV of 9% – offering shoppers a sweet option and refreshing alternative to RTD cocktails or fruit ciders.

Trend watch

In terms of flavour trends, wines with sweeter taste profiles continue to lead the pack.

This trend lends itself to Australian and South African wines so it’s a good idea for retailers to have a good core Australian and South African offering across each of the price brackets.

WINE: TOP TIPS

l Having the right range will drive more sales than simply having a big range.

l Delist lines that aren’t working to make space for big sellers.

l Focus on the brands that sell.

l Offer a solid range across the key price points.

l Follow the RSPs.

l Sweeter wines are on trend, so try to reflect this in your range. Australian wines are a great option.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF…

I’m Cath Marston and I’m Head of Sustainability for Booker, a role I have held for 16 years – although I’ve actually been with Booker for more than 37 years. I live in rural Northamptonshire with my husband (who also works for Booker) three alpacas and two rescued cats. I love being out in nature, meditating, yoga and even chanting !

HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN PASSIONATE ABOUT THE PLANET?

Completely! I’m not ashamed to say I’ve always been a tree-hugging hippie. Even in my early days with Booker as a secretary I started recycling programmes at Equity House, Booker’s Head Office. I constantly encouraged ‘switch off’ awareness and was often badgering buyers about responsible sourcing of our products. So, when the new role of Sustainability Manager came up, I leapt at it. It was a big change for me to move from being PA and leave the Trading team to join the Distribution team and set up a brandnew department, but thank goodness I took that leap. I have loved making

Say hello to... Cath Marston

In this issue, we catch up with Sustainability Manager Cath Marston to hear more about how she and her growing team continue to drive remarkable progress on Booker’s commitment to the environment and the planet.

such a positive impact on the business and customers in terms of both driving efficiencies and improving our planet credentials.

HOW EASY WAS IT TO CREATE AN ENTIRELY NEW SUSTAINABILITY DEPARTMENT?

To be fair, I got lots of support from day one and Booker were clearly committed to making progress fast. It was my role to find out how we could do that. In the very early days it was largely about quick and simple wins: improvements across the business that drove efficiencies and cut carbon. But it progressed quickly and we were soon making very significant changes to how the business was run. These days sustainability or the Planet is an official Group purpose which means literally every one of Booker’s 14,000 colleagues has sustainability built into their job role. It’s everyone’s responsibility - and that’s exactly how it should be?

AND YOU’VE ACHIEVED AMAZING SUCCESS…

Yes, working with our colleagues we

have made some very significant improvements. A good example would be food waste: since 2012 we have donated more than 24 million meals to families in need through our charity partners Fareshare and OLIO. In 2023 alone we redistributed six million meals and fed 15,260 families through OLIO and supported 727 Fareshare charities. In addition, we have supported our independent retail customers to reduce food waste within their own premises, helping 674 businesses redistribute over 151 tonnes of food through Too Good To Go.

WHAT OTHER AREAS DO YOU FOCUS ON?

To ‘End Waste’ is just one of five core pillars that sit at the heart of our industry-leading ‘Better Trolley For A Better Planet’ series of hugely progressive commitments that we made in 2022 to provide a strategic structure for ensuring that we serve customer, communities and the planet a little better every day. Better Trolley also commits us to tackling Sustainable Consumption, Human Rights, Climate Change and Product. These pillars translate into real-world actions that ensure that Better Trolley informs and

drives literally every aspect of what we do at Booker.

GIVE US A FLAVOUR OF THOSE ‘REAL-WORLD ACTIONS’…

Better Trolley has changed enormously how we operate, across every aspect of the business. We’ve installed LED lights in all Booker sites; we’re trialling electric delivery vehicles; we’ve ensured that all palm oil and soy in our supply chain is 100% sustainable; we’ve made sure that 100% of our eggs are cage free; we’ve moved to make sure that 100% of our own-brand paper is deforestation free and FSC certified; we’ve expanded our plant-based range; we’ve ensured that all high-risk products and ingredients like tea, coffee, bananas and cocoa are ethically sourced through Fairtrade or the Rainforest Alliance; we’ve removed non-recyclable plastics from all own-brand packaging; we recycle over 10 million litres of used cooking oil a year… I could go on and on and on!

SO IT REALLY IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE?

Absolutely, and a huge difference at that! Take the core Jack’s own-brand range: it is now 100% ethically sourced, and recyclable packaging. Similarly, on

ABOUT CATH

Meet the Team: Cath Marston, Sustainability Manager

food waste we now donate on average over 90% of edible food.

YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY SINCE 2008?

It’s unbelievable really. But the support we’ve had from Booker and the wider group along the way has been phenomenal. Achieving shifts of this magnitude in a business the size of Booker is not a simple thing to do, but everyone at the business has played their part. On a sustainability front, I think we can all be proud of what we have achieved in the last 16 years.

BUT THERE’S STILL LOTS MORE TO DO?

Yes, there’s lots more to do. Delivering our Better Trolley commitments means we have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s a challenge that I relish, as you might imagine it all helps our precious Planet. It also helps that Booker has invested in the Sustainability Team and we now have four full-time members of the team: Maria Clark who leads on deforestation and handles analytics and reporting, Jess Clouder, who supports the entire team and leads on food waste, Andy Duffy, who supports the branches on waste and recycling, and then me. The bigger team obviously means that we

can accelerate the progress that we are making and keep on serving our customers, our communities and the planet a little better every day.

HOW CAN YOUR CUSTOMERS HELP?

If I could ask one thing of our customers, it would simply be that they do what they can to help embed sustainability within their businesses. Booker has put in place an entire support network and infrastructure to help them across vital areas like energy usage, waste and recycling. Often there are Group-exclusive discounted deals that they can take advantage of and by tackling these areas they can often reduce their own costs. It’s a real winwin. Additionally, by supporting Booker own brand products, our customers can be sure the products are sourced responsibly and protect human rights across the supply chain. Shoppers are more conscious than ever of sustainability issues, so making moves to progress on sustainability can also make for great PR both in-store and on social media. We all have to step up and face into this difficult challenge but, working together, we can achieve unbelievable things and build on the amazing achievements we’ve already made together.

Cath Marston is Head of Sustainability and has been with Booker for 37 years. Her career began as a secretary in the Buying department – back in the days before computers – before she progressed to become a PA for the Commercial Director. In this role she supported the Trading team for more than 22 years before moving to the newly created role of Sustainability Manager in 2008.

Cath leapt at the chance to take on her “dream job” and has never looked back. Her efforts and achievements over the last 16 years have made a hugely positive impact on the business in terms of both driving efficiencies and improving our planet credentials.

Line up!

Budgens retailers can now access 900 new lines as Booker continues to improve choice.

Budgens retailers have always been able to offer their shoppers an outstanding array of choice, but that choice just got even better thanks to the addition of 900 new lines, guaranteed to help drive footfall, sales and profits for their stores.

Available now, the winning mix of new lines covers all the key product categories, including beers, RTDs, confectionery, soft drinks and more.

When it comes to beers, retailers now have access to a winning new range of top-selling brands and formats guaranteed to make their sales hop.

New additions include lines from leading brands including Asahi, Brewdog, Carlsberg, Guinness and Budweiser.

With spring almost sprung, retailers also have access to a wide range of new and on-trend RTD lines – perfect for shoppers planning outdoor occasions and impromptu gettogethers.

For those after a longer drink, Budgens’ stellar spirits line-up has been shaken up with the addition of a number of new

drinks from top-selling brands including Aperol, AU and Ciroc.

New lines cover a range of formats, case sizes and flavours, from original classics to in-demand flavours such as rosé, berry and spice, perfect for mixing into cocktails, drizzling over desserts or sipping over ice.

For wine drinkers, the new additions also include a number of fresh and fruity rosé lines, perfect for toasting the return of warmer weather. New lines include two products from the Mirabeau brand as well as Blossom Hill and Shy Pig.

The dynamic soft drinks category has certainly not been left out, with retailers now able to get their hands on new lines from top-selling international brands such as Mogu Mogu as well as Prime Hydration.

Other new lines from big-name brands including Red Bull, Lucozade and Monster will help retailers to take advantage of 2024’s key flavour trends like peach and melon.

Confectionery choice has also been supercharged with a tasty array of new lines across the chocolate and sugar confectionery categories.

New RTD lines

AU Vodka Cherryade RTD 12X330ml, RSP: £2.99, POR: 29.0%

Smirnoff Passionfruit Martini 12x250ml, RSP: £2.39, POR: 28.7%

Smirnoff Ice Raspberry 6x70cl, RSP: £3.49, POR: 22.7%

WKD Iron Brew 6x4x250ml, RSP: £5.49, POR: 20.7%

DS Blue Pineapple & Kiwi 8x500ml, RSP: £3.29, POR: 22.5%

DS Blue Raspberry 8x500ml, RSP: £3.29, POR: 22.5%

NEW SPIRIT LINES

Aperol 6x70cl, RSP: £19.99, POR: 20.3%

AU Vodka Cosmic Berry 6x70cl, RSP: £35.68, POR: 18.4%

CocoCariba Coconut Schnapps 6x70cl, RSP: £8.99, POR: 18.5%

Fireball Liqueur 6x70cl, RSP: £23.39, POR: 19.0%

Silq Rose Cream 6x70cl, RSP: £14.89, POR: 18.8%

Edinburgh Rhubarb & Ginger 6x70cl, RSP: £27.99, POR: 19.2%

Sourz Cherry 6x70cL, RSP: £10.49, POR: 6.7%

Cactus Jack’s Cherry 6x50cl, RSP: £6.79, POR: 18.7%

NEW BEER LINES

Asahi 1x12x330ml, RSP: £18.99, POR: 33.7%

Birra Moretti Sale Di Mare 12x660ml, RSP: £3.69, POR: 47.2%

Brewdog Punk IPA 12x330ml, RSP: £2.99, POR: 26.4%

Budweiser Budvar Czech Lager 6x4x500ml, RSP: £7.19, POR: 26.2%

Carlsberg Pilsner 1x18x440m, RSP: £17.29, POR: 19.8%

Guinness Original 6x4x440ml, RSP: £6.99, POR: 21.5%

New lines include popular American brands and plenty of ontrend sour and tropical options too.

Shoppers after a savoury snack can also bag a wide range of new crisp and snack lines from their local Budgens store.

New lines answer the call for hot and spicy flavours with additions including Golden Wonder Spicy Bikers, Wotsits Flamin’ Hot and Wheat Crunchies Spicy Tomato, the latter of which are available in cases of 16x70g and price-marked at £1.25.

The trend towards popcorn snacks has been answered with new lines from the Popstar brand, while shoppers after a fruity treat can enjoy new Urban Fruit snack packs.

Also helping retailers to take advantage of the warmer weather and associated rise in lighter lunches and sociable outdoor occasions are a number of new chilled and deli lines, ideal for packing into picnics or lounging on lawns.

From chicken wings to cheese snacks, drumsticks, pates and dips, the Budgens range really does have it all.

All that remains is for retailers to list them and watch the sales roll in.

FRESH PICKINGS

With summer just around the corner, new lines include picnic-perfect products such as Delamere Roast Chicken Drumsticks which offer a tasty POR of 58.9%. The range also includes Roast Chicken Thighs and Tikka Chicken Breast Slices.

New lines also include a fantastic mix of new grocery products such as Clay Oven Bakery Plain and Spicy Naan breads – the perfect accompaniment to a home-cooked curry! Offering a POR of 37.9% on a pack of 2, they are also perfect for spicing up profits.

Shoppers after a quick and tasty meal solution can also grab packs of Yumsu Instant Noodles for an RSP of just £1.49 – offering a POR of 34.1%.

SOFT DRINKS

Mogu Mogu Nata De Coco Melon 24x320ml, RSP: £1.29, POR: 37%.

Monster Lewis Hamilton 12x500m, RSP: £1.55, POR: 35.6%.

Monster Ultra PeachyKeen 12x500ml, RSP: £1.55, POR: 35.6%.

Pepsi Max Mango 12x500ml, RSP: £1.35, POR: 38.6%.

Prime Hydr Strawberry & Watermelon 12x500ml, RSP: £2.50, POR:40%.

Prime Hydration Cherry Freez 12x500ml, RSP: £2.50, POR: 38.8%.

Red Bull Apricot 12x250ml, RSP: £1.89, POR: 34.7%.

Coca Cola Zero Cherry 6x1.75ltr, RSP: £1.99, POR: 31.80%.

SUGAR CONFECTIONERY

Nerds Grape & Strawberry 36x46.7g, RSP: £1.29, POR: 25.1%

Nerds Watermelon & Cherry 36x46.7g

RSP: £1.29, POR: 25.1%

Rainbow Drops 60x10g, RSP: £0.20, POR: 32.5%

Skittles Tropical 36x45g, RSP: £0.75, POR: 31.2%

King Tango Big Spray 12x60ml, RSP: £1.25, POR: 32.4%

Sweetzone Candy Floss Tray 48x20g, RSP: £0.65, POR: 35.5%

Candy Kittens Watermelon 10x140g, RSP £2.85, POR: 30.6%

Your Budgens: Retail Crime

Exclusive deals to help you fight retail crime

Booker has put together a range of exclusively discounted deals with leading security solution providers to help Budgens retailers combat the rising wave of crime they are facing.

Many Budgens retailers will undoubtedly be aware of the alarming growth of retail crime over the last few years and the impact this has on both the business itself and the people working there.

This trend is borne out in the latest Association of Convenience Stores’ (ACS) Crime Report which shows that the theft index, which measures shoplifting in-store, has reached record levels and is higher than it has ever been.

In England and Wales in the 12 months to September 2023 there was a huge 32% increase in shoplifting. The Report also found that 63% of all shop theft is committed by repeat offenders.

BODY CAMERAS

RELIANCE PROTECT

l Budgens retailers can access the VT100 body camera at discounted rates.

78% of users have greater confidence when working alone.

l The VT100 body camera has a 2-hour record time with footage stored directly to the cloud.

l The user friendly system features HD video and audio recording.

VT100 Exclusive Booker Pricing

12 months: £49.95

24 months; £38.73

36 months: £34.18

250gb Cloud Storage per month: £20.

ACS Crime Report 2024

Key findings from the Association of Convenience Stores’ Crime Report 2023 include:

l 63% of shop theft is committed by repeat offenders.

l 79% of retailers believe that the costof-living crisis has led to an increase in theft.

l 87% of colleagues working in convenience stores have experienced verbal abuse over the last year.

l Retailers estimate that just 16% of crimes against their business are reported to the police.

l £228m was invested by convenience retailers in crime prevention measures over the last year.

FACIAL RECOGNITION FACEWATCH

l Budgens retailers get 10% off.

Facewatch has been proven to reduce theft by 35%.

l Facewatch detects the biometrics of individuals that enter a store and allows retailers to categorise them in the event of an incident.

l Individuals who have been previously categorised will set off a discrete alert to staff when they enter.

Facewatch Exclusive Booker Pricing: £295 per month.

Including: Installation, cabling and switches. 1 x camera, AI processor, SD video 7-day storage, mobile router, high gain aerial, SIM, iPhone + SIM, ceiling mount & camera painting.

The Report also says that there were over 1.1m incidents of theft reported last year, yet only 16% of crimes are reported to the police.

The most commonly stolen items as reported by retailers are meat, alcohol and confectionery – typically highvalue items that can then be sold on by those with a drug or alcohol addiction, or who are part of wider organised crime groups.

The reasons behind the increase in theft and abuse are likely linked to the effects of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. Indeed, the Report discovered that 79% of retailers believe the cost-of-living crisis to be the key driver behind the rise in theft.

ACS has called on police forces and the Government to do more to take retail crime seriously - issuing a new five-point plan which includes a for retailers be incentivised to invest in crime prevention measures.

EXCLUSIVE BOOKER DEALS

To help Budgens retailers battle this crime epidemic, Booker has negotiated a number of attractive deals with leading security solutions providers. These deals offer Budgens retailers exclusive discounts on some highly effective technological solutions that have been proven to reduce crime, including theft and in-store abuse of colleagues. These heavily discounted solutions include facial recognition software and hardware, CCTV monitoring software that detects suspicious gestures and body worn cameras.

GESTURE RECOGNITION

VEESION

l Veesion supplies gesture recognition software that simply plugs into existing CCTV cameras and monitors the images recorded.

l Veesion’s software detects any gesture that would be considered suspicious. For example: an individual placing an item in a bag or pocket.

l Each gesture is categorised into five categories, ranging from low suspicion to highly suspicious.

l Retailers using Veesion are alerted to the suspicious gestures and can choose which level of category they wish to be alerted to.

VEESION EXCLUSIVE BOOKER PRICING

GREAT NEWS

Starting today, all applicable* Premier, Londis, Budgens, and Family Shopper locations across the UK will be eligible for a new rate of 0.8% for American Express Card transactions.

There’s no better time to accept.

If you are already set up to accept American Express® Cards and would like to have this rate applied to your business, please call our Servicing team at 0800 032 7216 to get this updated.

Did you know?

AMERICAN EXPRESS® CARDMEMBERS SPEND 3.8X MORE ANNUALLY COMPARED TO THE AVERAGE UK CREDIT AND CHARGE CARDMEMBERS?1

Otherwise, if you are not set up to accept American Express and would like to take advantage of this rate, all you need to do is send an email to wthuk@aexp.com including your name and phone number and our team will call out to you to complete the set up or follow the QR code for a digital form.

Once you receive your American Express Merchant Number(s), simply contact your payment provider who will program your terminal(s) to accept American Express Cards.

Calling time

on crime

As the ACS publishes its Crime Report 2024, James Lowman says it’s time to stop talking tough on crime and take action.

Visit acs.org.uk/research/crime-report-2024 to read the report.

This ACS recently launched its Crime Report 2024. Titled, “Working Together to Tackle Britain’s Retail Crime Crisis,” the report had two objectives: to quantify the cost and distress that convenience retailers are facing every day due to rising retail crime, and to identify what retailers, the police, courts and the government can all do to address this problem.

Let’s start with the figures: depressing, shocking yet unsurprising and very much in line with recent reports from the Co-op, the BRC and others, and consistent with what we hear from retailers literally every day.

The cost of crime has increased to £245m with more than that (£339m) being spent on crime prevention, adding up to a total cost equal to a 10p “crime tax” on every single basket.

In an ongoing cost of living crisis, that adds up to a big impact on families and of course retailers who in reality have to absorb some of that cost.

The statistic that captured media headlines was the fivefold increase in incidents of shop theft. We looked hard at this vast increase… but it still only amounts to two incidents per week per store and I think it’s an underestimate of the frequency of shop theft.

The report also confirms the link between shop theft and

violence. Shop theft is the biggest single trigger for the 76,000 (also almost certainly an underestimate) violent incidents that happen in convenience stores every year.

You can read all the statistics in the report, but I want to talk about how we can work to reduce these figures in future ACS Crime Reports. I see this as links in the chain and the first link is the retailer themselves: if we don’t report crime, we cannot expect it to be dealt with.

A growing number of police forces are introducing userfriendly reporting platforms to help this to happen more quickly and effectively. It’s then up to the police to investigate these incidents.

The final link in the chain is the courts system. Yes, we need tougher sentencing and more options for the courts to punish offenders, which is why a standalone offence for assaulting retail workers would be a step forward.

It’s also about making sure cases get to court in the first place, and that the penalties imposed break the cycle of reoffending.

I think the Retail Crime Action Plan and the best practice we see from some Police & Crime Commissioners set the right agenda. It’s now about delivering against that.