As food inflation returns, government is looking desperate
It’s tough for retailers to make strategic choices right now. Put simply, UK food retailers are faced with rapid increases in operational costs and an inability to raise prices. However, price increases now remain their only choice. P&Ls cannot sustain the pressures around them. Having seen the scale of CPIs in the pipeline, two months […]
Tariffs could spell end of the line for some smaller Canadian food makers: experts
As tariffs on Canadian goods and retaliatory levies filter through supply chains, industry insiders say some smaller Canadian food manufacturers may not be able to weather the storm much longer. “I think you may see some companies just not making it,” said Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada association. […]
Amazon ruins GSCOP’s reputation. Why is the GCA allowing it?
Mark White took over as Groceries Code Adjudicator in October 2020. As measured by the YouGov GCA annual survey, the percentage of suppliers experiencing GSCOP-related issues was 29% at the time, having declined consistently year on year from 79% in 2014. Since then, the issues have risen to 35%, 36% and then 33% in the 2024 survey. This doesn’t […]
Meeting with Karen Proud – Canada’s first Grocery Code Adjudicator
What a week here in Canada. The Tariff ‘Yo-Yo’ debacle continues, causing frustration, distraction & uncertainty for CPG manufacturers & all those involved in the grocery supply chain & beyond. But now, sitting in the shadow of the Canadian Parliament & the House of Commons here in Ottawa, there is sense of occasion, privilege & […]
Choice or price? But is it really?
The implications for suppliers in Australia of the recent 10% range reduction announcement by Coles supermarkets, our #2 retailer with c.25% market share, are significant and those suppliers that are not prepared could face a tough time.
Big four must differentiate to avoid further job cuts
Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons have announced job losses in the thousands, citing various reasons. Morrisons outright blamed the government’s budget and Sainsbury’s indirectly blamed it, saying it will need to work with suppliers to keep prices down. The budget has put a burden of millions on retail, and it’s very difficult to see how the government is pro-business as it ploughs ahead with further […]
Grocery bills are set to rise as annual price freeze ends. Here’s how it works
This February, Canadians will notice some prices at the grocery store creep higher. Around the end of January, an annual industry-wide freeze by grocers on prices from suppliers comes to an end. “We do have a freeze where we don’t take any cost increases between November and early February. So in the next few weeks, […]
Fmcg innovation is worse than ever. Here’s why
Just over 1% of product launches in the UK are ‘distinctive innovation’. So concluded the innovation report commissioned by the British Brands Group last year, which identified only 77 products that met the criteria in 2021. The remaining 5,423 were only ‘everyday innovation’, found the study, published in The Grocer in May. This is a […]
Retailers should rethink their National Lottery communications
Suppliers always need to ensure a ‘triple win’: the shopper, the retailer and, of course, the supplier themselves. They all need to see a benefit or no worthwhile business happens. Not so when it comes to the National Lottery. Here, it’s actually a quadruple win. The additional participant is not the prize winner, but the good […]
Suppliers Struggling To Get CPI Requests Approved
Supermarket buyers have been using avoidance tactics or flat-out refusing to engage over requests for cost price increases from suppliers. This is according to a YouGov report commissioned by Groceries Code Adjudicator Mark White, which was released at this week’s GCA conference in London. Analysis of the report by trade publication The Grocer suggests retailers […]
