THE UNITED KINGDOM has the world’s highest proportion of private label penetration in the grocery market, Professor David Hughes told members of the New Zealand Food & Grocery Council at its annual conference in Surfers Paradise in November.
Professor Hughes, who was speaking on the theme Marketing Premium Grocery Products in Tough Economic Times, said in 2008, private label represented 48.2% of the grocery market by volume and 52.7% by value. The European average was 45%.
But, at the same time, he said premium label products were back in growth in the UK because “people want treats”.
He said over the next two years it would continue to be really hard graft in the UK as unemployment levels were still rising.
“We are going to continue to see cut prices for the next two years,” he told delegates. In the medium term he said there would be increased volatility in raw material supplies, with risk management skills being at a premium.
He said there would be a new era with focus shifting back to national food security with more food sourced locally, much greater emphasis on climate change and green issues going mainstream. Professor Hughes said Marks & Spencer was working on sustainability initiatives in the UK and so, too, was Walmart in the United States.
In 2010 the Carbon Trust in the UK would be putting retailers into a league table based upon their carbon footprint performance. But he said “food miles” no longer had the clout that they had had three years ago.
