Craig Edge

Keep your eyes on Tesco Marketplace Those of us who have been around a while will remember Tesco Direct, the catalogue based non-food business that Tesco launched in 2006. That business was closed in 2018, killed off by competition from Amazon (and others) who could offer a broader range, cheaper prices, free delivery and without having huge amounts of capital tied up in stock sat across various stores and warehouses. This week though, more than 10,000 products have gone live on the new Tesco Marketplace. What makes this different? The listed products are sold by 3rd parties. For a while Tesco Direct was a good concept, rivalling Argos and effectively killing off Index. By pivoting the proposition to a 3rd party marketplace Tesco effectively capitalise on their huge online traffic while removing the fundamental weaknesses of their previous catalogue business, namely breadth of range and capital tied up in stock. Following the successes of marketplace offerings from Amazon, Walmart, Carrefour, Decathlon, B&Q, BestBuy, Kroger and Macy’s it really is no surprise that Tesco’s have launched their own. The fact that they are later to the game than others is irrelevant. Their website traffic is so significant that adoption will soon be comparable and then exceeding much longer established platforms. The range is limited for now, but I doubt their is anyone who doesn’t expect it to grow, and quickly. Launch categories include Garden&DIY, Home and Kitchenware, Toys, Furniture, Sport & Leisure and Baby & Toddler. I would expect that clothing, small electrical and gifting will be added shortly, and some broader food categories within the next year-eighteen months. What’s worth keeping an eye on though are the Spirits and Pet categories. These are product categories that are easily transferable into store. In the past products from new and niche suppliers would have been trialed in a limited number of physical stores, with distribution increased should sales warrant it. Now, I believe, new products from these categories will be trialled 3rd party via the Marketplace, with products that sell well then being selected to be distributed instore. With greater access to pricing, promotions, media, sponsored search and a level playing field in terms of search & content optimisation, I wonder how long it will be before some of the best selling 3rd party products find their way onto the physical shelf? With space on the physical shelf limited, another product will have to be delisted to make way. That makes me wonder how long it will be before some ‘established’ brands start to disappear from our physical shelves? Time to watch Tesco #digitalcommerce #ecommerce #marketplaces #cpg #cpgindustry #fmcg #fmcgindustry #digital #foodanddrink #drink https://lnkd.in/ec-EQS-x

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Drayton are thrilled to be working with Greggs plc. to secure an outstanding #SupplyChainDirector, based in the North East.   As a renowned leader in the food retail industry, Greggs has continually pushed boundaries and set benchmarks for excellence. With millions of products manufactured and distributed across the country to 2,500 shops every day, Greggs' supply chain is a testament to meticulous planning, coordination, and efficiency.   In its latest Annual Report and Accounts published in April, the business reported that it: ✔ Focused on their four strategic pillars: quality, service, value and engagement. ✔ Continued to ensure its people are at the heart of the business. With 32,000 amazing colleagues, its people that makes Greggs successful. Greggs refer to its unique culture as being the ‘secret sauce’, because when people enjoy coming into work, they do a better job, and that makes Greggs a stronger, better business. ✔ Continued to enhance their offering by growing and developing the Greggs estate with 220 new shop openings. ✔ Developed their digital channels, including the Greggs App and a new delivery partnership with Uber Eats. ✔ Expanded their evening trade by keeping 1200 shops open until 7pm or beyond, and opened its first 24-hour drive-thru locations. ✔ Consistently delivered exceptional financial performance – 13.7%+ company-managed shop like-for-like sales, driving sustainable growth. ✔ Focused on community engagement and sustainability initiatives, making significant progress towards the ten commitments outlined in The Greggs Pledge and donating at least 1% of its underlying pre-tax profits to its corporate foundation - the Greggs Foundation each year.   The Supply Chain has seen significant investment too – with a fourth savoury line installed at Balliol Park manufacturing site where their iconic rolls and bakes are made; allowing for 4 million additional bakes every week. An additional pizza line at their Enfield site was commissioned in late 2022 and has doubled their capacity, and there are exciting plans to build two state-of-the-art facilities in the Midlands opening in 2026, crucial for securing future growth.   This opportunity isn't just about leading a supply chain; as a member of the operating board, reporting to the CEO, it's about shaping the future of an iconic brand. As the Supply Chain Director, you'll have full ownership of all in-house manufacturing, the owned logistics fleet and associated warehousing as well as managing the capital investment strategy. This is a chance to leave a legacy in an iconic British business. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more about this career-defining opportunity!

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Impulse purchases amounted to £9.7 billion of spending in the UK as of 2023. With promotions and discounts also influencing 50% of all unplanned purchases, it’s critical that retailers are able to display impulse items in the best way. In a recent discussion with The Retail Times, we share how Harrison Retail supported Morrisons with the design of efficient impulse shelving bays at their at their self-serve checkouts to optimise Travel Accessory sales. Click on the link to read more 👇 #impulsebuy #retail #Morrisons #bespokedesign

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Impulse purchases amounted to £9.7 billion of spending in the UK as of 2023. With promotions and discounts also influencing 50% of all unplanned purchases, it’s critical that retailers are able to display impulse items in the best way. In a recent discussion with The Retail Times, we share how Harrison Retail supported Morrisons with the design of efficient impulse shelving bays at their at their self-serve checkouts to optimise Travel Accessory sales. Click on the link to read more 👇 #impulsebuy #retail #Morrisons #bespokedesign

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Our latest British Grocery Market Share report shows Sainsbury’s market share rising by 0.5 percentage points over the 12 weeks to 4 August, its largest year-on-year gain since July 1997. Sainsbury’s remains the fastest-growing traditional supermarket, with sales up by 5.2%. Tesco has extended its streak of market share gains, up 0.6 percentage points to 27.6%, with sales increasing by 4.9%. Asda now holds a 12.6% share, while Morrisons is at 8.6%. Explore current and historical #GroceryMarketShare data on our interactive data viz: https://loom.ly/ZAB5Bf8 Read the full article here: https://loom.ly/upGdnaU #Kantar

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Suppliers Push Back Against Sainsbury’s New Data Fees Some of Sainsbury’s suppliers are reportedly refusing to pay new fees to access the supermarket’s forecast data, which was previously provided for free. The store-level forecast data has long been shared with suppliers via Sainsbury’s Horizon system for no charge. However, according to trade publication The Grocer, suppliers will now require a ‘Silver Tier’ subscription to access a new data platform. The report revealed that the subscription charge is based on the size of the supplier, with some firms facing a fee of up to £400,000. The Grocer said that the introduction of the new charges has been met with widespread resistance from suppliers, which has led to a delay in the planned decommissioning of the old Horizon system. One major supplier is quoted as saying: “We fall into the camp of suppliers that refuse to pay. If they insist, then we will just do without the data.” They added: “A strange way to try and make money. They should stick to putting things on shelf and selling them.” The replacement for Sainsbury’s Horizon system is called SupplyHub, with access to data split into three tiers: ‘Free to Air’, Bronze and Silver. The free tier replaces “existing operational data systems”. The top Silver tier gives access to “the most complete analytics” to allow suppliers “to pinpoint opportunities for the most advanced decision making” based on “store level forecasts for demand and supply chains”. Ged Futter, founder of supermarket supplier consultancy The Retail Mind, told The Grocer: “The deeper insights – I think people are prepared to pay for. But they’ve chucked into the top tier data they get for free that is crucial for the commercial teams. “Forecasting data is now going to be costing suppliers a huge amount of money. All of a sudden, it comes to this being implemented, and it kicks off big time. Suppliers are saying ‘I’m not paying’.” NamNews Implications: * In the absence of precise forecasting data… * …suppliers will have to carry buffer stocks to facilitate availability. * An additional financing cost that suppliers will attempt to transfer to Sainsbury’s… #IncrementalRevenue

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𝐒𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲’𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 Sainsbury’s has reported a slowdown in sales growth recently as food inflation eases and consumers shop “more cautiously” due to poor weather and the ongoing cost of living crisis. Read More: https://bityl.co/QqOA #sainsburys #growth #Sainsbury #news #NewsUpdate #businessupdate #newsdaily #BusinessNews #thecioworld

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Morrisons is trialling the personalised, AI-powered initiative, which rewards shoppers for purchasing particular brands they select from a list, something it says will provide value for both the consumer and brands https://lnkd.in/egX2BkZU

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Our latest article for the Grocer….

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Morrisons Snaps Up 38 C-Stores In The Channel Islands Morrisons has expanded its convenience estate with the acquisition of 38 stores in the Channel Islands from SandpiperCI. All of the stores are currently supplied by Morrisons and 19 already operate under its Daily fascia. The transaction includes six fuel forecourts. The stores are located on the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, generating sales of £124.5m over the last year. Morrisons has had a relationship with SandpiperCI since 2018, when the two companies signed a long-term franchise and wholesale supply agreement. Under the terms of the transaction, around 520 SandpiperCI store and operations staff will transfer to Morrisons. The business will be managed by Joseph Sutton, Morrisons Convenience, Online and Wholesale Director and his team, which includes Miles Foster, the Convenience Operations Director. “We have had a solid and successful supply and franchise partnership with SandpiperCI and we have a strong relationship with the business. I look forward to welcoming 520 more colleagues into the Morrisons family, together with 38 popular and well-located convenience stores,” said Rami Baitiéh, Chief Executive of Morrisons. “Our convenience business is now well set and growing rapidly. The addition of a further 38 stores will bring us another opportunity for growth and a strong position in the important Channel Islands’ convenience market.” Morrisons now has around 1,600 convenience stores, of which 600 are operated under franchise agreements. NamNews Implications: * Morrisons should benefit from six years close relationship with the 38 stores… * ..besides giving more intimate coverage of the Channel Islands convenience sector. * Also, despite debt issues… * …a strong ‘business as usual’ signal to rivals. #Morrisons #ChannelIslandsRetail

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Sales Momentum Building At Morrisons After Progress With Recovery Plan Morrisons has delivered another “solid quarter of progress” as new CEO Rami Baitiéh implements his recovery plan, which has focused on improving the chain’s product availability, loyalty scheme, and price competitiveness. In its second quarter to 28 April, group’s like-for-like sales up 4.1%, total sales up 3.7% to £3.8bn.,underlying EBITDA H1 as a whole up 16% to £321m. Morrisons also revealed the group’s debt down by 35% to £4.0bn from £6.2bn after acquisition by PE firm CD&R. The group completed £2.5bn sale of its petrol station business to MFG, and bought 38 Channel Islands convenience stores from SandpiperCI. McColl’s conversion programme concluded, now targeting 2,000 Morrisons Daily convenience stores in 2025, up from 1,600. “I am pleased with the overall performance of the business in the second quarter with supermarkets, convenience, wholesale and online all delivering growth,” said Baitiéh. “Over the last eight months, we have listened carefully to over 340,000 customers, colleagues and suppliers, and the insights from this exercise are helping to refine and shape the activity in all three pillars of our strategy: commercial excellence, operations optimisation and new value creation. It’s clear that availability and our loyalty scheme are the two areas our customers talk about the most and so we are focusing intensively on these areas.” Baitiéh noted that its Aldi and Lidl Price Match scheme introduced in February had given shoppers increasing confidence in the chain’s competitiveness. He also revealed that the investment made in its More Card loyalty scheme had been “very positive”, with over five million active members and transactions using the card growing by around 35% in the last eight months. Morrisons is now aiming for 70% of transactions to go through its More Card over the medium term, up from the current 50%. Chief Financial Officer Jo Goff concluded: “This has been another solid quarter of progress with sales and volume improvements right across the business. Our debt has now reduced by over a third, and we made further progress on our cost savings programme with £78m delivered in the quarter, taking the total since the start of this year to just over £450m, in line with our £700m three year target.” Currently celebrating 125 years since Sir Ken Morrison’s father established the first Morrisons store. Despite sales improvement in 12 months, Morrisons’ market share slipped from 8.8% to 8.7% over the year to 9 June 2024 [Kantar]. NamNews Implications: * Improvements patently taking place in terms of - product availability, - loyalty scheme - price competitiveness. - Debt reduction of 33% - EBITDA up 16% * i.e. key improvements for a PE financed company * Key that it soon results in growth of market share… * Watch this space! #Morrisons #GroceryMarketShare

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Sainsbury's Argos reports the reality of a washout summer ⛈ ☔ Sainsbury's this week has reported weaker than expected growth driven by poor performance in its Argos business and Non-food ranges due to poor weather. https://lnkd.in/e2muwVFv The start of a wave 🌊 of reporting across similar retail and grocer summer ranges? Homebase The Range Tesco B&Q John Lewis & Partners Marks and Spencer With sales weak and peoples appetite too buy into summer seasonal ranges significantly reduced as we move passed the longest days, the outlook is one of trepidation... Christmas stock needs to land in warehouses throughout the retail sector in the next 6/8 weeks to ensure businesses such as Sainsbury's can recover lost sales in the next (and it's largest) seasonal event! But there is a problem!! 🚨 🚨 If you haven't sold your summer stock, it's in your warehouse - WHERE DOES THE CHRISTMAS STOCK GO? It's time to take action... mark down summer lines 75%??? Take the hit on margin?? OR Work with Visku Overwinter "evergreen" Summer SKU's Protect Margin 🌟 Clear warehouse space for Christmas 🌟 Maintain brand value 🌟 Reduce re-buy requirement for 2025 🌟 https://visku.com/ #flexiblewarehousing #Visku #Overwintering #summerseasonal #retail

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Tesco redefined loyalty programs in the retail sector when it brought out the Clubcard. Tesco's team focused on analysing behavioural patterns to create personalised customer experiences. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Scoring Points: How Tesco Continues to Win Customer Loyalty by Clive Humby, Terry Hunt and Tim Phillips. It's just as relevant for B2B. Tesco's approach to identifying and engaging high-value customers through personalised offers can be applied to building relationships with key business clients. By using data to recognise top customers and creating incentives that resonate, B2B marketers can deepen client loyalty and drive sustainable growth. Scoring Points is both a case study and a toolkit. For me, the core takeaway is 'how to harness customer data to generate actionable insights.' It's also a reminder that loyalty is about consistently recognising and rewarding your best customers - a lesson every marketer, regardless of sector, can benefit from. Have you read it? #B2BMarketing

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