COMMENT: Looking forward to another successful year
2023 saw Musgrave NI take the business in new directions, forging an alliance with Dobbies Garden Centres and a trial partnership with M&S Food, while they grew their portfolio welcoming four new Centra stores and five Mace stores to their network, as Paddy Murney Retail Sales Director at Musgrave NI explains.
Musgrave had a solid performance in 2023, in terms of growth in sales, acquisitions, stores and new stores and new partnerships. While businesses everywhere were faced with the challenge of rising energy costs and the cost-of-living crisis, we continued to deliver for both our customers and retail partners and remain in a strong position as we head in 2024.
We focused strongly on our value offering for shoppers. Indications show that inflation is beginning to slow down, and 2024 could be more stable than previous years. However, insights demonstrate that while spending will be up for some consumers seeking quality food-to-go products, others will remain cautious and value and own brand will remain a priority.
Research shows that increasingly consumers are trusting own brand labels and the gap between them, and the big brands is closing. Accordingly, value will remain a priority for us, as we continue to offer excellent value on everyday essentials in SuperValu with our campaign ‘Saving is as easy as 1, 2, 3’ and in Centra with ‘Shop Smart, Feel Good’. Both brands will continue offering savings on big brand items through our Epic Deals campaign while ‘Savvy Savers’ will be continued in Mace stores.
We continued to support our retail partners to reduce their environmental impact through our Sustainability Fund. Research shows sustainability remains prevalent in the minds of shoppers, but it’s too big an issue for individuals to tackle themselves, therefore they’re calling for businesses to act.
AMBITIOUS INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
At Musgrave, we’re already making great strides in achieving our 2040 net zero emissions ambition and our Fund has played a vital role, enabling our retailers to introduce measures that are making a real difference in terms of reducing energy usage by, on average 10-15% per store, reducing paper consumption and saving CO2.
Expansion in 2024 will be a driver for Musgrave. We have an ambitious investment programme ahead that will welcome new retail partners and stores to the business, help our existing retailers grow their businesses, and develop our company owned portfolio.
We are always on the lookout for new opportunities, whether that’s identifying a greenfield site for a new development, changing the use of an existing business or competitor conversions and would encourage any interested parties to get in touch.
We are looking forward to another successful year for our SuperValu, Centra and Mace brands and my thanks go to our retail partners and teams for their continued hard work and dedication to serving their local communities with the best in modern convenience retailing and providing shoppers with excellent value, choice, and quality across our stores.
TO READ PADDY MURNEY’S INDUSTRY COMMENT IN THE 2024 NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER YEARBOOK AND MARKETING GUIDE, CLICK HERE
