Tag Archives: Supermarket

Food & Drink, News

Altrincham based Hip Pop expands functional drinks range in Booths

A Cheshire based drinks business has increased their product selection in renowned food and drinks grocers, Booths, less than two years after securing their first retail listing.

Originally stocking four products from Hip Pop’s range of functional kombucha, consumers can now browse up to 10 products, soon to be 12, including their recently launched Living Soda, infused with apple cider vinegar and living cultures.

Hip Pop products have also been moved from the back of the store to the front, now including multipacks consisting of four cans in each pack.

Hip Pop’s co-founders, Emma Thackray and Kenny Goodman, secured the brand’s first major retail listing with Booths in the summer of 2021, following an impressive period of online growth. Their second retail listing was secured in 2022, with London’s leading department store, Harrods.

On the expansion, Emma said: “We are always looking for new ways to grow our business and achieve more brand recognition. One of the best ways we’ve been able to do this is by working directly with leading retailers, such as Booths.

“Our product range has grown substantially over the last 12 months, and we are excited to see an increasing number of Hip Pop products on the shelves.

“With new products in the pipeline, as well as moving into a larger brewery later this year, we hope this will open doors to further discussions with other retailers as our production capacity increases, allowing us to build long lasting relationships.”

Originally founded in 1847, Booths is now a leading grocery chain with 27 stores located across Northern England. Having secured second place in the list of the World’s greatest Food Retailers, the firm prides itself on working closely with British suppliers.
Based in Altrincham, Hip Pop’s team has grown substantially, and they now employ a team of 16, including Juliet Barratt, co-founder, and previous chief marketing officer of Grenade.

In the latter half of 2022, Hip Pop permanently slashed their prices by up to 50% to support new and existing customers throughout the cost-of-living crisis, and cemented a partnership with Manchester homelessness charity, Lifeshare, with one meal donated for every 24 cans sold.

The brand has received several industry accolades, including two stars at the Great Taste Awards, and the title of ‘Independent Drinks Producer of the Year’ at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival in 2022.

For more information, visit: www.drinkhippopr.com

Marketing, PR and SEO, News

RAMONA’s rolls out first nationwide poster campaign

RAMONA’s is rolling out its first nationwide, out-of-home advertising campaign, hitting nearly 250 Sainsbury’s stores across the UK on Wednesday 19th January.

The posters aim to put the Mediterranean food brand on the centrepieces of tables across the UK, using the brand’s slogan ‘Made with love’ accompanied by an image of their staple ingredient.  

The drive is accompanied by a full-page ad in the current issue of Sainsbury’s in-store magazine, which offers consumers a 25p off coupon to purchase any of RAMONA’s available houmous and falafel products.

The move comes after RAMONA’s range hit the shelves in over 300 Sainsbury’s stores in November last year, leading to a “very positive” uplift in sales, as claimed by the brand’s head of sales and marketing, Andrew Dobson. 

“A national rollout was the next best step for RAMONA’s after entering Sainsbury’s last year,” he added. “We believe this activity will significantly raise further awareness of the houmous and falafel range available at our stores. Plus, with more and more people signing up to Veganuary each year, we knew there wouldn’t be a more poignant time to utilise this format which inevitably aids the decision-making process before purchasing. By using this platform, we aim to cause an even greater impact on sales. We knew positioning RAMONA’s, at this time, would help consumers transition their meals to become more plant-based and vegan friendly”.

RAMONA’s have spent a six-figure investment on marketing the available product range in the supermarket’s in-store magazine and national poster rollout this month. The decision to invest in this area of marketing was made easier after Sainsbury’s launched 1,900 new products in 2021 and began its mission to open between 25-30 convenience stores per year over the next three years, including 18 ‘Neighbourhood Hub’ convenience stores, according to their annual report and financial statement in 2021.

The push uses RAMONA’s vivid brand colours, featuring images of the available products and popular recipes, all helping to aid consumers with meal and snack inspiration. 

Ramona Hazan, founder of RAMONA’s, said, “Many supermarkets are unleashing new vegan products for Veganuary. We are absolutely thrilled to be the first brand that shoppers will see when they come through the doors at Sainsbury’s this month”.

RAMONA’s will be advertising their range across 250 Sainsbury’s digital six sheets until Tuesday 8th February. The in-store magazine is on sale until Wednesday 2nd February. Coupons can be redeemed until the 28th of February. 

Research, Retail

Improved accuracy in stock reporting could boost retailer’s sales up to 8%

Retail stores are missing out on millions of pounds in increased sales due to inventory record inaccuracy, according to new research from emlyon business school. In fact, the researchers found that retailers could boost their sales by up to 8% annually if their stock record was more accurate.

The research was conducted by Yacine Rekik, a professor of operations and supply chain management at emlyon business school, alongside research colleagues from Cardiff Business School and TU Darmstadt, and in collaboration with the industry and trade body for shrinkage and consumer demand, Efficient Consumer Response (ECR). Though it is a common knowledge that inventory record inaccuracy has a negative impact on sales in the retail sector, this is the first study which has put an actual specific figure on the financial implications of inaccuracy in inventory reporting.

To understand this real financial impact, the researchers worked with seven well-known retailers – across four European countries – in the grocery/general merchandise and fashion/apparel sectors. They studied data on around 233,000 different individual products throughout the whole research project.

To collect these findings the researchers conducted a 24-week inventory experiment where they compared two different stores per retailer, with each store having a different stock take method. In one of the stores the researchers completed a thorough stock take at the beginning and end of the 24-week period but not during this, whilst for the other store the researchers completed a thorough stock take at the beginning and the end, but also in the middle of the 24-week period, re-correcting any errors in inventory stock numbers.

Researchers then compared the differences in profit margins per store, finding that the store which had a more accurate and frequent stock take had on average 4-8% better profit margins. The researchers also found that at any point in time, around 60% of the retailer’s inventory records are likely to be wrong. This not only impacts the firm’s sales and turnover, but also the stock that is available to customers, often leaving shelves unfilled. Correcting these inaccuracies can lead to an increase in the average sales of the retailer between 3.83% and 8.38% with an average of 5.98% across all retailers, according to the researchers.

Professor Yacine Rekik says,

“There can be a number of reasons as to why these stock records can be so inaccurate. Most of the time it comes down to damages to products, misplacement problems such as products being moved to different shelves, human or computer errors when entering stock levels into systems, or even the products being stolen. It is extremely important that retailers look to report their stock levels more accurately and more regularly so that they are not under or over reporting stock levels – as this inaccuracy either way has a negative effect on annual turnover.”

When looking into these inventory inaccuracies, the researchers also found that the type of product also had an impact on how accurately it was reported for inventory purposes. The researchers found that products which can be described as fast-moving goods, generating up to 75% of the whole turnover, are much more likely to be inaccurately reported in stock takes compared to slow-moving goods.

Professor Yacine Rekik also says,

“There are a number of ways that retailers should be looking to improve their stock accuracy, which would consequently boost sales and annual turnover. Firstly, looking into technological solutions, such as intelligent products identification which are able to update inventory levels when purchased is a way to remove human error and shrinkage risk, but of course costly and fairly untested. Whilst more simply, improving the efficiency, frequency and intelligence of current stock taking practices is a practical way to do so. Though this would take more time and be more costly in the short-term, it would ensure inventory is more accurately reported, eventually saving money long-term. Whilst another option would be to employ business intelligence, such as data analytics to stock-taking in order to better identify stock evolution patterns and improve the record accuracy.”

The researchers are now looking into the second phase of this research project. After confirming and identifying the specific financial implications of inaccurate stock inventory in the first phase, they will now be researching innovative and effective ways that retailers can use for more accurate inventory reports thereby improving their financial performance. Conclusions are soon to be published.