A passionate journalist with about a decade of experience, Pooja has developed a strong hold on the UK grocery retail sector. From exploring legislative changes, supply chain shifts, consumer buying habits, trends to retail crime, her work is driven by a deep belief in investigating, finding the truth and telling authentic unbiased stories.
Be it convenience pathbreakers, wholesale trendsetters or Post Office Horizon scandal victims, Pooja has an equal flair for deciphering industries as well as human complexities. At Asian Trader, she aims to bridge the gap between policy, trade, and the shop floor, always keeping a finger on the pulse of what matters most to retailers.
DCS Group has recently added impartial advice and features for 2024 to help retailers, wholesalers and cash and carry businesses grow their sales and profit in its earlier-launched free to use online website.
The UK’s leading distributor of household, health, beauty, baby, pet care and healthier snacking brands, launched the site in early 2023 and it saw a phenomenal success over the last 12 months.
www.CoreRange.com is an impartial category advice website that is free to use and is designed specifically to help convenience retailers navigate their way through the personal care, babycare, healthcare and medicines, laundry and household, healthier snacking and pet care categories.
The website has seen usage increase significantly in recent months, with traffic last month (February 2024) having trebled in comparison to three months prior, with retailers and wholesalers using the website to help set up their stores for success.
One wholesaler that DCS Group has been working closely with, to help make sure their retailers are stocking the right range in store, is Parfetts. Head of Retail at Parfetts, Steve Moore, said, “We use www.CoreRange.com alongside Unitas Plan for Profit to help define the right range for new stores, giving our retailers the confidence that they can attract loyal shoppers and maximise their sales and profit.”
Key improvements for 2024 include larger ‘XL’ planograms, helping retailers who have more shelf space to stock a core and extended product range in order to maximises their sales. New category advice pages and planograms for the healthier snacking and pet care categories are also now available, broadening the information freely available to retailers.
The refreshed www.CoreRange.com website lists all the latest category and product insights on the website for free, making is easily accessible for busy store owners.
Product range recommendations are impartial and are based on the latest market data and shopper insights. They will be stocked at supplying wholesalers who can also use the recommendations to make sure they have all the best-selling products listed in depot and online.
Matt Stanton, Head of Insight at DCS Group, said: “We have been delighted with the response to www.CoreRange.com. We have built our business on the importance of data and our aim was to make our insight more accessible to convenience store owners and wholesalers so they too can make well-informed decisions to capture lost shopper sales.
“As a convenience retailer, stocking the right products for a store’s customer base is crucial to growing sales. But with so many choices, picking the right SKUs isn’t always easy.
“We originally launched www.CoreRange.com because we wanted to help all UK convenience retailers stock the right range to help grow their sales. In the first 12 months, we have been blown away by the response to the website, proving when insight and data is easily accessible, retailers can grow their business.
“This helped us make the decision to improve and update our advice for 2024. The website now offers insights in more categories and provides a wider range of planograms. As the experts in the sector, we are well positioned to give retailers all the information they need to select a best-selling, efficient core range that is right for their store.
“The seven categories we champion are important and contain essential, high-value products that convenience stores should stock. They drive shoppers into stores, both for planned top-up shops and distress missions.
“When it comes to offering the right mix on shelf, brands are particularly important, as is own label in some categories. What we are doing, is interpreting the insight to help busy store owners make informed decisions.”
Included on www.CoreRange.com is all the information a retailer needs to select a best-selling, efficient and profitable household, pet, health and beauty product range:
Category insights covering household, health & beauty, baby care, healthier snacking and pet care
Shopper behaviour insights relevant to all categories across the whole of the convenience channel
Planograms for small, medium, large and XL stores
Lists of best-selling and must-stocks SKUs
www.CoreRange.com is optimised for use on mobile devices and tablets, which retailers can carry around and use easily whilst they are in their store. It also looks great on full-size desktop and laptop screens.
www.CoreRange.com supplements the existing DCS Group website, www.dcsgroup.com.
Almost all convenience stores in Wales engaged in some form of community activity last year, shows a latest report, shedding light on the value that Wales’ 3,000+ convenience stores provide as community hubs, local employers of over 26,000 people, and significant contributors to the Welsh economy.
Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has officially launched its 2025 Welsh Local Shop Report, celebrating the key contributions that Welsh convenience stores make to their communities.
The report acts as its own standalone branch of the ACS Local Shop Report, focusing on the positive impacts that Welsh convenience stores have on their local communities, often providing key services that have declined or disappeared from those areas.
The 2025 Welsh Local Shop report was launched today (26) at Tŷ Hywel, Cardiff, where members gathered together to discuss and celebrate the significant role that local shops play in Welsh communities, as well as the unique challenges faced by Welsh businesses.
Key figures from this year’s report include:
Welsh shops contributed to £656bn in GVA over the last year
Welsh shops provide over 26,000 secure, local jobs to their communities
38 per cent of these stores are isolated with no other retail or service business close by
93 per cent of independent retailers in Wales engaged in some form of community activity over the past year
Welsh convenience stores were voted the second most important business in supporting their local economy by Welsh shoppers
Over the last year, convenience stores in Wales have invested over £43m in their businesses. 65 per cent fund investments from own reserves while refigeration turned out to be the most common area of investment, states the report.
87 per cent of Welsh independent retailers own one store, while 14 per cent of retailers never take holidays.
33 per cent of Welsh convenience stores offer delivery service while 29 per cent has a Post Office.
Talking about food to go, 38 per cent of Welsh convenience stores has customer operated coffee machine, 27 per cent has food preparation area, 25 per cent has in-store bakery while 21 per cent has hot food counter.
About 77 per cent of stores has EPOSW and 52 per cent has store website, adds the report. 96 per cent of stores has CCTV.
The average basket size is 2.7 items and average spend is £8.29.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said, “The Welsh convenience sector has once again proved its resilience in providing secure, flexible jobs and acting as an important service hub for customers to access the products and services they need daily.
“We hope that the Welsh government will support retailers in Wales such as the rising operational costs of trading, so that they can continue to act as community anchors for their residents.”
British inflation slowed more than expected in February, bringing some relief to consumers ahead of a likely new pick-up in price growth and to finance minister Rachel Reeves before her budget update speech today (26). However, analysts have warned that it inflation will be pushed again soon due to costs arising from the Budget.
Consumer prices rose by 2.8 per cent in annual terms in February after a 3.0 per cent increase in January, the Office for National Statistics said, as clothing and footwear prices fell for the first time in more than three years.
Economists polled by Reuters had pointed to a reading of 2.9 per cent in February while the Bank of England had expected 2.8 per cent in a set of forecasts published in early February.
Economists warned that rising energy prices will push inflation up again soon.
"February's slowdown is a false dawn as notable near-term price rises are already baked in, with next month's jump in energy bills and national insurance likely to push inflation perilously close to 4% sooner rather than later," Suren Thiru, Economics Director at accountancy body ICAEW, said.
He said the BoE would remain wary about price pressures.
"While a May policy loosening remains on the table, rate setters will want to gauge the effect of April’s major jump in business costs and any measures announced in the Spring Statement before proceeding with another rate cut," Thiru said.
Responding to the latest CPI inflation figures, Kris Hamer, Director of Insight of the British Retail Consortium, said, “Headline inflation fell marginally in February, driven by marginal drops in housing and household services and clothing and footwear entering deflation.
"Despite continued cost pressures, namely energy price volatility, food inflation remained unchanged. There was good news as some dairy products such as milk, cheese and eggs all saw price drops on the month.
"Heavy clothing and footwear discounting continued into February, as fashion sales continue to suffer due to unseasonal weather throughout the month.
“Retail operates on tight margins and it would be impossible to absorb all £5bn of new costs which hit the industry in April.
"Food inflation has jumped significantly in recent months and is forecast to hit 5 per cent by the end of 2025 as a result of the costs arising from the Budget.
"On top of this, retailers are still burdened by an outdated business rates system. It is vital that the government’s reform of business rates doesn’t impose additional costs onto retailers. Reform must leave no shop paying more.”
Premium mixer brand Fever-Tree saw its revenue growth accelerate to 7 per cent in the second half of its financial year to 31 December, helping it recover from a wet start to the summer season in 2024.
The firm’s total revenue was up 4 per cent to £364 million over the 12-month period, despite a 3 per cent drop to £111.1m in the UK, where low consumer sentiment and a declining gin category hit demand for its products.
Performance was driven by its operation in the US, where revenues jumped 9 per cent to £128.0m after growing its presence in the off-trade.
Meanwhile, a significant gross margin improvement resulted in a 66 per cent increase in adjusted EBITDA to £50.7m, which was in line with analysts’ expectations. Fever-Tree stated that this was helped by operational improvements such as the localisation of production.
In January, Fever-Tree entered into a deal with Molson Coors that saw the brewer become the exclusive sales, distribution and production partner for the mixer brand in the US.
The tie-up was underpinned by Molson Coors acquiring an 8.5% shareholding in Fever-Tree for a cash consideration of £71.0m.
Fever-Tree entered the US market in 2008 and has since become the number one tonic and ginger beer brand in the country. The British firm noted at the time that the combination with Molson Coors’ expertise and scale would allow it to “drive the brand to the next level in its largest and most dynamic market”.
Fever-Tree said today that while only a few weeks have passed since the announcement of the deal, sales momentum has remained strong and good initial progress has been made.
The company stated that it was expecting 2025 to be a “transition year” for the US business and, therefore, was “comfortable” with consensus expectations of low single-digit group revenue growth and around 12 per cent adjusted EBITDA margin for the year.
Tim Warrillow, Co-Founder and CEO, commented: “The Fever-Tree brand performed well in 2024, despite the subdued consumer environment.
"Across every key region, we are gaining market share, with more consumers discovering, enjoying, and becoming loyal to Fever-Tree each year across a growing variety of drinking occasions.
"This was particularly noticeable in our largest region, the US, where once again the brand grew strongly and well ahead of the market.
“Our growing market share continues to be driven by our deep understanding of global drinking trends allowing us to make the most of evolving consumer preferences. As a result, non-Tonic products now make up c.45% of our global revenues, driven by the success of our Ginger Beer and our expanding position in cocktail mixers and adult soft drinks.
“Looking to the future, our focus remains on unlocking Fever-Tree’s long-term potential across the world and capitalising on the unique position the brand has established sitting across alcohol and non-alcohol occasions.”
Co-op is stepping up the price war in the convenience sector by rolling out its version of the Aldi price match pledge, which has been adopted by several of the supermarket multiples in recent years.
From Wednesday (26), the Co-op will start matching the discounter’s prices on over 100 everyday essentials, including fresh fruit, milk, eggs and bread.
However, the savings will only be available to Co-op members, of which there are currently six million. And all of the items covered by the offer will be Co-op own brand lines.
As well as being available across all of Co-op’s 2,400 shops, the price commitment will extend to its quick-commerce delivery platforms, including Shop.coop, Deliveroo and Uber Eats, which it claims is an industry first.
Some of the Aldi price matched lines include Co-op 1 Pint British Milk (85p), Co-op Carrots 500g (38p), Co-op Chopped Tomatoes 400g (47p), Six Co-op British medium free-range eggs (£1.45), and Co-op Tiger Bloomer 800g (£1.45).
The launch of the price match commitment will be supported by a major marketing campaign.
The retailer stated that the move takes its investment into lowering prices to almost £170m over the last two years. This has included the launch of its Member Prices scheme in April 2023, with Co-op aiming to build its membership to eight million people.
“I am very clear that, in this current economic climate, price is most often the deciding food shopping factor for our members and customers,” said Matt Hood, Managing Director for Co-op.
“Which is why we are taking this big step to price match, in our stores and online, as we know discounter prices are often the benchmark of value for consumers, and we are facing directly into that … Price has often been perceived as the Achilles heel of convenience shopping, but this new initiative will change that and show there is no compromise in value, quality, or range to shopping conveniently.”
Sainsbury’s extended its Aldi price match scheme to its convenience chain in November last year, covering 200 items in its 800 Local format stores.
Hundreds of potential candidates have applied for the vape industry’s first ever Chief Misinformation Officer job, according to the employer who created the role.
The job vacancy was opened through quit smoking missionaries, Riot Labs, in a bid to tackle the “flood” of misinformation on vaping in recent months.
Since the job advert went live on Indeed and the Riot Labs careers page, over 200 prospective hires have applied for the role.
The “unprecedented” number of applications has been fuelled by influencers and KOLs, or Key Opinion Leaders, in the vape sector re-posting and sharing the job according to Riot Labs CEO Ben Johnson, who added:
“This is all part of our Riot Activist work to stand up for the vape sector and it’s clear the role we’re hiring for has struck a nerve within the industry. People are sick of having vape misinformation shoved down their throats.
“Lightweight research, unpublished reports that aren’t peer reviewed, and opinion pieces lacking facts are flooding into mainstream media and misleading adult smokers trying to quit.
“It’s a massive issue that will impact the long term health of smokers, which is why we felt the industry needs a Chief Misinformation Officer to fight for the vape sector.”
Since the Chief Misinformation Officer role went live at the start of the month, dozens of KOLs in the sector have reposted the advert including the head of the UKIVIA, John Dunne and Counterfactual founder, Clive Bates.
The successful applicant will be responsible for monitoring false information in the media, tracking and dissecting the latest studies, and drawing attention to misinformation to help provide a balanced counter argument for the benefit of the public - specifically adult smokers trying to quit.
— (@)
Riot Labs confirmed the application process is still open and the company intends to have the role filled with the perfect candidate for the start of the summer - as the UK braces for more vape legislation including the June 1st disposables ban.
Johnson, who founded Riot Labs in 2016, revealed the idea for the new job role was a reaction to a story that hit the mainstream in February on the “deadly” effects of vaping. The Chief Misinformation Officer role aligned perfectly with the company’s Riot Activist campaign work that sees them stand up for the vape sector and protect adult smokers trying to quit.
The damaging story was based on research from Manchester Metropolitan University, which Johnson says was “misleading”, adding: “Dig a little deeper and readers would find the cohort for the study was based on 20 vapers, wasn’t peer reviewed and was conducted over 3-months - nowhere near long enough to reach a solid conclusion.
“This stuff makes great mainstream headlines but it’s misleading and the vape sector should be fighting back to call it out.”
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, formerly Public Health England, backs vaping as the best tool for adults to quit smoking and is proven to be 95 per cent less harmful than cigarettes, while vaping is considered a vital tool to help achieve the government's own target of being SmokeFree by 2030.
The current “tsunami of vape misinformation in circulation is preventing access to reliable sources of information for those looking to quit”, claims Johnson, who added: “The successful candidate for the Chief Misinformation Officer role needs to be ready to roll up their sleeves and stand-up for retailers and consumers in the fight against vape misinformation.”