Good Food Locally Sourced comprises a range of almost 150 products, offering a variety of everyday wholesome tasty food, including meat, poultry, dairy and meal solutions – all sourced from local suppliers across the island of Ireland.

Brought to market in partnership with suppliers including McAtamney’s Gourmet Kitchen in Portglenone and Strathroy Dairies in Omagh, the new range delivers convenient products to Northern Irish customers at the great value the retail brands are well known for and will be made available to more than 200 stores.

Customers nationwide can shop the range from 6^th May, enjoying fresh milk, a selection of meat cuts, as well as delicious readymade offerings such as lasagne, pies and bakes. Global cuisine influences include the popular honey chilli chicken, chicken tikka masala and an NI favourite – the peppered chicken stack – all with the quality assurance of local.

Julie Cherry, Trading Director at Musgrave NI said: “Good Food is an authentic promise of taste, quality and value, while Locally Sourced makes an equally important promise that the range is sourced from here.

“Our investment to bring Good Food Locally Sourced to market reflects our already firm commitment to supporting local producers and suppliers – we spend £166 million annually on local food and drink, we work with 3,000 local farmers and 240 local food and drink suppliers, and stock over 4,500 local products across our stores.”

The launch will be supported with in-store POS, mix & match promotions, and a through-the-line marketing campaign including OOH advertising, TV and radio.

Good Food Locally Sourced will be available to purchase from 6^th May 2024 and will be available from SuperValu, Centra and Mace stores.

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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

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This is the largest amount ever raised by the retail brands, which are part of Musgrave NI, in one year, and will help keep the charity’s mobile detection unit, the Big Bus on the road.

Fundraising initiatives throughout the year, including the Sponsor a Mammogram and the Frank and Honest coffee Time to Espresso we Care campaign, were ardently supported by SuperValu and Centra retailers and their teams, and by caring customers who gave so generously.

Desi Derby, Director of Marketing for SuperValu and Centra said: “I am absolutely delighted by the amount of money raised by our customers, retail partners, and colleagues for Action Cancer during 2023 and want to thank every single person who contributed, for their support.

“There are very few partnerships that have this type of longevity, and to have raised this incredible total in 2023, which was also Action Cancer’s 50^th anniversary year, demonstrates support for the charity is stronger than ever. I am very proud that these funds will help ensure the Big Bus continues to visit communities across Northern Ireland, saving lives, and enable Action Cancer to deliver its health education programme in schools across Northern Ireland.”

‘Without the incredible financial support of SuperValu and Centra, The Big Bus would simply not exist’

Gareth Kirk, Action Cancer CEO added: “The partnership between SuperValu and Centra is one of the longest and most enduring charity partnerships across these islands. Without the incredible financial support of SuperValu and Centra, the Action Cancer mobile clinic The Big Bus would simply not exist.

“The Big Bus is truly a one-off vehicle with no similar vehicle with onboard free breast and skin cancer detection services operating anywhere else in Europe.

“This life-saving service is only made possible through the incredible generosity of the Musgrave Group and its superb customers – thank you. Together we have not only made a difference to the lives of local people and communities, but through early detection of cancer, saved lives.”

In addition to 2023 being Action’s Cancer’s 50^th anniversary year, it was also a very special year for the Big Bus, the year when yet another unique life-saving service was introduced, a skin cancer detection service.

Throughout 2023, the Big Bus visited 119 communities across Northern Ireland. A total of 2,122 mammograms were completed, providing reassurance to women in these locations and detecting early-stage breast cancers in nine women, who had no symptoms. As a result of onboard health checks, 838 people were referred to their GP for further investigation. Nearly 600 men and women were assessed for a potential skin cancer resulting in some 9% being directly “red flagged” into the hospital system for further assessment.

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This award rewards the brains who pique consumer interest in what they have created and make sure everyone wants to have a look – and a taste – for themselves.

Independently judged by Spotcheck, the awards were judged to exacting standards over a three-month period – and there was one clear winner in this category.

Judges said: “This campaign was effective in reaching the target audience and was innovative and engaging, yielding a significant uplift in website traffic, social media growth and increased sales.”

Jennifer Morton, who is Brand Manager for Centra NI, collected the award at the Crowne Plaza Belfast on Friday 20^th October, and said she was “delighted to have won” for their epic deals campaign.

The Neighbourhood Retailer Awards reward excellence, recognise achievement, raise industry standards, and reward entrepreneurial spirit and are Northern Ireland’s most prestigious retail awards.

The post ‘Effective campaign’ helps Musgrave NI win Digital Marketing award first appeared on Neighbourhood Retailer.

The title was claimed by McCullagh’s Centra Campsie Road, Omagh and owner Niall McCullagh was delighted to collect the award on stage at the Crowne Plaza Belfast.

Independently judged by Spotcheck, the awards were judged to exacting standards over a three-month period. For this category, they were looking for a Confectioner, Tobacconist and Newsagent which clearly met the needs of its customers and specialised in an extensive variety of CTN products.

Judges said the store was “small but is well organised”.

They added: “Services and facilities are well aligned with the customer profile. Staff are quick, efficient and engaging.”

Speaking after receiving the award, Niall McCullagh told NR that they were “honoured and privileged” to win the CTN of the Year, adding that they were “very happy to have won”.

The Neighbourhood Retailer Awards reward excellence, recognise achievement, raise industry standards, and reward entrepreneurial spirit and are Northern Ireland’s most prestigious retail awards.

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