The introduction of Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pickle Flavour illustrates Kraft Heinz’s commitment to fast, insight-driven innovation, aimed at delivering unparalleled taste experiences to consumers worldwide.

This launch marks a significant milestone in Kraft Heinz’s ongoing mission to elevate taste profiles and expand its taste elevation platform across the globe.

Elaine McCague, Head of Commercial and Marketing at Heinz said: “We are dedicated to investing in innovation across all markets, and we are so excited to see how our new Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pickle Flavour is received in Ireland.

“This new flavour is a delicious fusion of two beloved classics, combining the timeless tanginess of tomato ketchup with the irresistible zing of pickles. At Heinz, we are constantly exploring new avenues to elevate flavour profiles, and with the country’s growing love for pickles, introducing this product to the Ireland market was a natural progression.”

Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pickle Flavour is crafted with a commitment to quality, with a recipe free from artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives, making it suitable for both vegetarians and vegans.

Heinz Tomato Ketchup Pickle is available to buy in Dunnes, SuperValu and Tesco stores nationwide in Ireland for €4.59.

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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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Consumers like names they can trust and symbol groups are the perfect combination of local faces with trusted brands, thus encouraging return trade and a relationship between shopper and store.

The latest data from Kantar Worldpanel to 14^th May 2023, shows the Northern Irish grocery market saw sales grow by 8.5% in the year to 11^th June 2023, with shoppers spending an additional £308.4 year-on-year.

With grocery inflation at 16.1% for June, the average grocery bill is set to rise by £840, from £5221 to £6061 if consumers don’t make changes to what they are buying.

But shoppers are savvy, and are continuing to look for ways to manage household bills and as part of this, they are returning to store more often, picking up less each time.

What they are choosing to buy is also changing, as own-label items now account for a bigger share of the sector year-on-year. Indeed some €2.9 billion was spent on own-label groceries in NI in 2022 (estimated), with Mintel noting that 71% of Northern Irish consumers avoided buying premium products due to the cost-of-living crisis in 2022.

“Irish shoppers have felt the impact of increased grocery prices in 2022, and have shifted their shopping behaviour accordingly, with a greater level of consumers reporting that they are avoiding premium brands and many using more own-label brands and discounter retailers,” said Brian O’Connor, Senior Consumer Analyst at Mintel.

Convenience is key and is fast becoming the cornerstone of everyday life. Gone are the corner shops of yesteryear. It’s all about the customer experience – and symbol stores have taken that concept to heart – by making the efficiency and ease of shopping at the core.

The symbol sector has actively capitalised on making the ‘shopper experience’ at the centre of their business ethos – smart, stylish, well lit, clean, clear labelling – with value for money being the driving force – this savvy sense of driving the sector forward has its roots in research, category management, and sound business sense.

THE SHIFT TO SYMBOLS

Retail analysts are identifying a clear shift in consumer behaviour and attitudes that is favouring the convenience sector.

On average, shoppers are returning to store nearly 17 times more, but are picking up less volume -2packs when compared to this time last year.

These new attitudes towards grocery shopping are supporting growth in the convenience sector, meaning retailers should adapt to drive change and keep pace with these new shopper behaviours.

These trends are presenting the symbol sector with a new raft of opportunities. Along with technology developments, it’s a clear response to customer needs and demands. It’s being predicted that these trends are likely to continue to evolve rapidly over the next five to 10 years.

Travel and movement patterns have altered in recent years, with more people working from home, resulting in people travelling on the road at different times of day. These pattern shifts are also changing the way consumers view and use convenience stores – but most importantly, consumers want the assurances and certainty that a recognised symbol secures – that meets their expectations.

THE ’CONSUMER EXPERIENCE’

At the cutting edge of change, the symbol sector is creating great shopping experiences for consumers, alongside the essential services and facilities they are known for.

The Henderson Group, which boasts some 500 stores across Northern Ireland – a mix of company-owned and independent retailers – has committed to significant investments throughout 2023, with a capital programme of over £60 million to be invested.

“We are a successful, independent, family-run, family-owned business and we have an ethos and culture of continual reinvestment to drive the business,” said Paddy Doody, Sales and Marketing Director.

“That’s about partnering with our independent retailers, investing in their business, investing in new stores, investing in promotional and price activity to give better value to the shopper, and investing in our infrastructure.”

‘Shoppers in Northern Ireland spent an additional £6.7 million in symbols versus last year, with 76.7% of Northern Ireland households purchasing their groceries in a symbol group over 2023’

As food and drink prices continue to climb, with average prices up 10.1% compared to last year, the impact on shoppers’ budgets is unavoidable for many Northern Irish consumers.

As shoppers look for ways to manage costs, many are turning to cheaper alternatives such as retailer own-label lines, where sales are up £193 million compared to last year and versus branded products, which are up £119m year-on-year.

All retailers are seeing year-on-year growth in the latest 52 weeks. Total symbols are seeing the slowest growth among retailers, at 2.4% year-on-year.

Shoppers in Northern Ireland spent an additional £6.7 million in symbols versus last year, with 76.7% of Northern Ireland households purchasing their groceries in a symbol group over 2023.

On average shoppers pick up groceries in a symbol group 65.3 times over the course of the year, which is down only slightly, at 0.1% on last year.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Retailers will need to continue to make efforts to be more sustainable, as 78% of Northern Irish consumers noted they consider their lifestyle to be environmentally friendly to at least some degree, notes Mintel.

Some 71% of Northern Irish consumers believe that unless there are changes from big businesses, the planet cannot be saved. As such, grocery retailers that can successfully display green/ethical initiatives to support sustainability, will likely appeal more to shoppers.

With more consumers struggling to justify ‘splashing out’, adding a sustainable angle to grocery shopping may help to alleviate any ‘buyers’ guilt that consumers might feel in splashing out in a time where they may feel they need to deny themselves luxuries.

Having set out to achieve a 12% carbon reduction by the end of 2023, SuperValu and Centra retailers have achieved a 9% carbon reduction, a year on from the launch of the €25m Musgrave Sustainability Fund.

In June last year, Musgrave announced the first of its kind €25 million sustainability fund aimed at realising this target and reducing emissions across its operations, ultimately to achieve net zero by 2040. In order to reduce emissions to net zero by 2040, Musgrave is aiming to achieve a 46% reduction in carbon emissions (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030.

Ian Allen, Managing Director of SuperValu and Centra said: “Our stores are at the heart of communities around Ireland, and we are proud that our network of SuperValu and Centra retailers are on track to reach our carbon reduction goal by the end of this year.

“Our retailers have shown real passion and enthusiasm to continue to lead by example and implement sustainability measures across their leading supermarket and convenience stores.”

Retailer Philip Woods, who operates four SuperValu and Centra stores in the Armagh and Portadown areas, has invested £660,000 to reduce his store’s carbon emissions and make them more sustainable, supporting brand owner Musgrave Northern Ireland’s sustainability goals.

Investing in new energy efficient refrigeration, LED lighting, and solar panels, the retailer has also been supported by Musgrave NI’s £3.6 million Sustainability Fund.

Mr Woods is the first retailer in Musgrave NI’s network to use the Sustainability Fund for solar panels, which have been installed by local company Solmatix into SuperValu Fruitfield, Richhill and Tandragee, plus Centra Dobbin Road.

The solar panels will reduce carbon emissions by saving a predicted 49 tonnes of CO2 across the four sites each year helping to achieve Musgrave NI’s overall target of net zero carbon by 2040. This is the equivalent to planting 1,856 trees.

TO VIEW THE FULL MID-YEAR SYMBOL REVIEW IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER JULY ISSUE, CLICK HERE

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