Jacqueline Makin, Senior Brand Manager for Purdey’s Natural Energy Drink at Britvic, tells us about the healthily expanding functional wellness market and why the well-established and now thoroughly refreshed brand, Purdey’s, is a market leader – and perfect for convenience.
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A room of one’s own
Serving more than customers
The store's unique feature is its upstairs space – approximately 900 to 1,000 square feet dedicated entirely to community use. The facility includes modern amenities such as air conditioning, free wi-fi, desks, and comfortable seating, along with a lift and a toilet.
“I felt the need that the Afro-Caribbean origin families do not have that much support from this community, and generally, and I wanted to keep some space for them to come and work here,” Rakhra explains, describing the cramped living conditions of many local families, who live in small flats.
“They have got five, six people living in those one-bedroom, two-bedroom flats. People don't have enough space to sit and study, to sit and do work. This is a space for them to come out and have a break from siblings or somebody else and do what they need to do in peace and quiet.”
Community space above the Budgens Pomeroy Street store in Peckham
Upstairs is open to all from 7am until 5pm, operating as a community workspace, and in the evening, it transforms into a well-being centre, hosting various community activities.
“Lots of young kids come to study there,” he says. “After five o'clock, we use upstairs area again for the community, for yoga, for music classes, tutorials. So, people come and use that space till nine, ten o'clock.”
Most remarkably, Rakhra offers this facility without seeking profit, despite the costs involved.
“If you're a yoga instructor, you bring in 10 of your clients, and you charge them £10 for one hour. As a business, I'm saying you keep all £100. We don't want you to share that £100 with us, because we have got almost 3000 square feet downstairs to do our business,” he says, explaining his philosophy of community support.
“The reason we are doing all of that for the local community is that my needs are financially a little less now, because my kids are educated. They are professionals, my daughter is a dentist, and my son is a pharmacist. So, we thought this will be the right time to do something for the community.”
Humble beginnings
Born and brought up in Delhi, Rakhra came to the UK in 1985, starting as a mini-cab driver before finding his feet in retail. Together with his wife, Pritpal, he opened his first store in Covent Garden on 4 August 1992, a date etched in his memory not only for business but for personal reasons too – his daughter was just seven days old!
Pritpal, born and raised in the UK, was a banker until she gave up her job after their son’s birth in 1990. The couple’s strong partnership in business has helped shape their success. “She is equal partner in the business,” Rakhra says.
Budgens Pomeroy Street store in Peckham, London
Their first store in Covent Garden was a stepping stone, and over the years, the portfolio expanded to ten stores at its peak. While some leases were not renewed, they now manage eight stores, six in London, and one each in Rickmansworth and Hemel Hempstead, employing over 60 people.
The decision to operate multiple stores was driven by Rakhra’s desire for growth and employment generation. “The best way to help the community is by promoting employment as well,” he says. His Sikh faith plays a central role in this ideology. “We believe in sharing. But if we are only sharing food, like we do from our Gurdwaras, after four hours, you're hungry again. The best thing is to provide employment, so people can buy their own food.”
Supporting local producers
A firm advocate for local businesses, Rakhra prioritises working with small, family-run suppliers. He sees this as a crucial alliance between independent retailers and local producers.
“If they go to the big supermarkets, they squeeze their margins to that limit, they can't survive,” he explains. “With us, they can supply us small quantities, and they don't need to store big, they don't need to have big storage.”
This mutually beneficial relationship is central to his business ethos: “We should tell all small retailers to support the small producers and small suppliers. I think this is a must have, because if we are looking for help, similarly, they need some help as well.”
This support for local producers is evident in his supplier selection process. “The first thing I look for is if it is a family business,” he says. “If it is a family business, a small husband and wife team, I'm 50 per cent inclined towards them anyway.”
His stores stock specialist products, ranging from juices to nuggets to chocolates, from small-scale suppliers.
Inside the Budgens Pomeroy Street store in Peckham
“The business is not as great as it used to be because of the competition from the big boys, Tesco, Sainsbury's, they are coming into the local community now, opening up small stores. They are making our life very difficult,” he admits, but remains optimistic about overcoming the challenge.
“We have to come up with different ideas,” he says. “And we have survived so far, and we will carry on fighting our grounds.”
He believes that initiatives like his could help generate customer loyalty across the sector. “If other retailers join in with the same mindset, we can create that. They should support small businesses in the local communities rather than big businesses.”
Navigating economic pressures
Financial struggles have also led to a rise in shoplifting, which blights stores across the country. “Shoplifting is a big deal right now. We are suffering in our stores with the shoplifting a lot,” he says
While some incidents may be examples of organised crime, he believes it often stems from financial hardship. “If you're in a housing estate, the social security money hasn't gone up as much as the prices have gone up. So, when you're short of cash, of course, that brings the worst out of us,” he notes. “People are feeling that.”
The economic pressure is also affecting consumer behaviour in unexpected ways. At his Organic Village Market store in Dulwich, south London, which houses a refill station, Rakhra has noticed a shift in customer priorities.
“When we started the refill station, it was doing very well. People are looking for cheaper options now. People are not really as much as bothered as they were bothered three, four years ago, about the plastic use,” he explains.
The demand for refill products has declined by 15-20 per cent, as customers prioritise value for money over environmental concerns. “Right now, people are looking for anything and everything cheaper, value for money, that's what they're looking for,” he notes.
Despite these challenges, Rakhra maintains his commitment to community service, drawing inspiration from his Sikh faith.
The Budgens Pomeroy Street store hosts various community activities
“It is in our religion, it is in our DNA, in a Sikh community that we have to help the community,” he explains. “This is what my son sees. This is what my grandson sees. My grandson is two and a half years old, and he goes to the local temple every Sunday, and he washes dishes there for one hour in the community kitchen. So, this is what we do.”
His commitment to community service extends beyond providing space. Rakhra has set himself an ambitious goal: “I will feel very happy if I can help five families to send their children to top universities, from the Budgens store in Lewisham area where the Afro Caribbean community is,” he shares.
“If I can achieve that, I will feel so much satisfied, because nobody in the history of their families has ever been to university.”
To achieve this, he and his children are helping students with university applications, personal statements, and interview skills.
“My kids have been to top universities in the country. They know the system, how it works, and they will support them with their personal statements and with their interview skills,” he explains.
Looking ahead
The immediate future for Rakhra is about resilience. “Next is just carry on doing what we are doing and just try to get through this difficult time.” He remains hopeful that an economic recovery will allow for future expansion.
“If this new government does something differently and the economy bounces back and people start feeling better, then we will look at the extension plans,” he says.
The workspace includes modern amenities such as air conditioning, free wi-fi, desks, and comfortable seating, along with a lift and a toilet
His highest achievement, he says, is not just business success, but what it has enabled him to do. “I was able to educate my two children, and they are not burden on the society now. They are self-sufficient. They can help the community. They can help society.”
For other independent retailers, his advice is simple yet profound: “Work with the community, not against the community.”
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Me and My Brand: Paul Selvey of InPost
How is your brand currently performing?
InPost continues to grow at an impressive pace, driven by increased consumer demand for convenient and sustainable delivery options. We have the largest locker network in the UK, with over 9,200 parcel lockers nationwideiii, making our services accessible to more customers in both urban and rural areas. This expansion, coupled with an improvement in logistics, has resulted in our reaching record parcel volumes in 2024. Independent retailers have also contributed, with more stores recognising the value of offering InPost as a collection point for their customers.
How is the parcel delivery market currently performing?
Consumer demand for out-of-home delivery has skyrocketed and the rise of delivery lockers is revolutionising the way we send and receive parcels. Today’s shoppers crave convenience and having a parcel nicked from your doorstep or missing a delivery is anything but. As a result, we’re seeing huge demand for InPost Lockers – one of the quickest, cheapest and most convenient forms of out-of-home (OOH) delivery – and we expect this trend to get even bigger in 2025 and beyond. There’s a massive opportunity for retailers to capitalise on this trend, drive shopper footfall and increase their income with InPost Lockers.
Do you have any new product development?
Our latest innovation is our new Collect feature, allowing e-commerce retailers to offer delivery directly to InPost Lockers at checkout. This provides shoppers with secure, 24/7 collection, reducing missed deliveries and concerns over parcel theft. With simple QR code access and tracking via the InPost app, Collect ensures convenience, affordability, and speed for both shoppers and retailers, revolutionising the way parcels are delivered in the UK.
With more retailers adding InPost at checkout, InPost landlords will benefit from even more consumers using the locker service at their store, allowing them to drive footfall and boost their sales.
How are you supporting your brand and NPD?
The locker market remains extremely strong, and we have aggressive growth plans in place to help more retailers capitalise on this demand. Ultimately, we want to have every UK consumer using InPost Lockers as part of their journey. We remain focused on building density of network and improving user experience by adding new services and features for merchants and customers. As pioneers in the industry, we are revolutionising parcel delivery by making lockers an affordable, convenient and quick way to send, receive or return a parcel, with further innovation planned for 2025.
How important are independent retailers to your brand?
Offering InPost Lockers presents a huge opportunity for retailers. Independent retailers are a cornerstone of InPost’s success. By hosting lockers, retailers can attract additional footfall, providing an opportunity to increase in-store sales. In turn, alongside the guaranteed rent we pay landlords, our lockers offer their customers a valuable service, enhancing the overall shopping experience. This mutually beneficial relationship underlines our commitment to supporting independent businesses as they adapt to changing consumer needs.
What trends are occurring in the sector?
As our appetite for online shopping continues to grow, we’re already seeing strong demand for lockers across the UK. Our latest research shows that more than half of UK consumers are now using delivery lockers for online purchases, rising to 71 per cent for Gen Zs and 68 per cent for Millennialsiv. Convenience (36 per cent), costs (19 per cent) and speed (17 per cent) emerged as the top three reasons for choosing lockersv. There is nothing more convenient than being able to pick up a parcel when you’re already out and about on a shopping trip – so it’s no big surprise this is the top reason for choosing a lockervi.
Describe your brand in three words
Seamless. Convenient. Revolutionary.
References:
i Based on a survey of over 2000 InPost users
ii Based on 2,097 InPost Locker users at Convenience Store landlord-owned locations (December 2024)
iii InPost EU - Q4 and full year 2024 operational update
iv The full Retail Economics report is available to download here.
v ibid.
vi ibid.
Gum's Future: The Wrigley way
When the trade press writes a product feature on gum, it's always mints and gum together, separate from confectionery because they don’t quite fit into confectionery. But then gum in the past has not been quite a thing on its own, either – because it's not a big enough category, or its adjacency to mints (which are also often confectionery and made into chocs and chews) and refreshment is so close that they naturally go together. That’s how it has always been, but just lately something seems to have developed – not sure exactly what – such that it seems gum is coming into its own, distinct and separate, and emerging as a category, perhaps for several reasons.
We agree that although gum is almost always sweet, but is not consumed like candy, it’s not an edible, and not therefore, confectionery, strictly speaking. Also, as I discover during the interview, to assume that gum is all about being minty is a bit of a misnomer these days, as the best-selling flavours are increasingly of the fruity kind.
Ross is Mars Wrigley through and through. He started there 10 years ago as a marketing intern (with Wrigley), then after finishing university, joined the Mars management graduate programme.
Ross RipamontiPhoto: LinkedIn
“They put me in different areas of the business, and I ended up in marketing and worked around different portfolios on the chocolate side, different brands,” says Ross. “And then, two and a half years ago, I moved into this role and became gum brand director, which has been fantastic. So it's a full loop, coming back into the gum world.”
He has an excellent overview of how the gum category is evolving, and from my own narrower perspective I suggest that gum is now a Big Thing – especially since it recovered from the dip in sales occasioned by the COVID lockdown sequence – with strides made in sales and penetration.
“I certainly think so," agrees Ross. “Historically, gum and mints have often been bunched together from a consumer perspective, because mints predominantly serve or cater towards one specific consumption moment. Gum and mints are in quite a functional relationship. The category heartland for gum has also been in freshening. Most of the gum portfolio historically has been mint, and so I think that's why they've been put together.”
But now it is changing, at least a bit?
“I think what's really interesting, certainly over the last probably 10 years, is we've seen that people are chewing gum for a lot more and wider reasons now than just freshening,” Ross explains.
“Only 20 per cent of chewing occasions are freshening, and 80 per cent are for other reasons. For example, I chew gum because it's fun. I chew gum because I just want that hit of flavour without having to eat anything. I chew gum because I want a mental reset, you know, working and studying, and it helps me get into the zone. So, I think that's what we're really excited about, certainly from Mars Wrigley point of view: how do we communicate more of those benefits and portray gum in a wider way that caters to more consumption moments?”
This neatly brings us to Wrigley’s strategy to get the part of the nation chewing that currently isn’t, and the way to do that is to highlight what gum can do for you – the mental and wellness functions – that chewing a flavourful and mindful piece of gum can do for you to improve your day. It's meditation, concentration, because it helps you work. It's refreshment, fresh breath, so self-image and self-presentation. Also, you're not consuming calories while you're chewing gum, either, or if you are, it's just a tiny amount of sugar, so it's not nutrition, but it sort-of is. Not a slimming aid, exactly, but it feeds into that: if you’re chewing gum, you’re not eating a pie or a donut.
Get chewing
It’s possible there's a great deal of merchandising hinterland that you can advance into with gum that you simply can't with ordinary confectionery or regular mints.
"100 per cent,” says Ross, “and this month we launched a new marketing platform called Chew Good. And that's exactly the area we're moving more and more into and communicating those broader reasons for chewing.
Wrigley believes that's really the key way of growing penetration: talking about those wider benefits of chewing, beyond freshening. “Because fundamentally, our category penetration is around 30 per cent in the UK, but we know from research that 15 per cent of people in the UK simply will not chew gum. For whatever reason, however much marketing is directed at them, they say they won't chew gum.”
He says that leaves 55 per cent of people in the UK who don't chew gum, but who would be open to chewing gum if they had the right reasons to. “And that's what I'm really excited about: how do we tap into that market by fundamentally giving people more reasons to chew?”
Just as a little aside into history that will bring us back up to date with the “new chew” ambitions of Wrigley, it must be said that gum from the earliest days around the turn of the twentieth century, or well over a hundred years ago – was always quintessentially modern. Liberating, youthful, unbuttoned and informal, sociable, street-life – all these words sum up the atmosphere that gum carries with it, opposed to the corseted, formal, strict world of the nineteenth century. Chewing gum meant chat, it meant teenage attitude and gangs, it meant sport (replacing the plugs of tobacco chewed by old-time baseball players – the Chicago Cubs’ stadium is not called Wrigley Field for nothing).
William Wrigley JnrPhoto: Mars
William Wrigley Jnr, when he began hawking his new spearmint-flavoured gum around as a thing in itself in the early 1900s (rather than as a free gift when you bought his soap powder), presented it exactly as Ross is now suggesting. In fact, Wrigley started out with claims that gum could enhance physical and mental health.
“Gum, Wrigley argued, could soothe not only nervous stomachs but stressed-out minds, making the product more patent medicine than candy," says a fascinating article at JSTOR Daily. “Despite popular perceptions that chewing gum was rude, Wrigley prevailed, convincing Americans that they were stressed and sick and providing them with a stick of respite.”
Of course, nobody today is making literal medical claims for gum, but there is undeniably and element of thoughtfulness, for taking time for oneself, for relaxing with friends and taking off pressure, that accompanies the action of popping a piece of gum and enjoying the explosion of flavour and all its associations.
“Interesting, that 15 per cent will not do it," I say. "Is that the grannies and retired sergeant majors who think it's impolite or something – an old-fashioned prejudice about ‘the youth of today’”?
“Exactly," says Ross. “There's a variety of reasons, but fundamentally people have their own reasons, right?”
But that 55 per cent of current non-chewers represents a fabulous area of possible incremental gain for the category.
“I think the gum category is very exciting because despite the fact it's been around for a long time, it's still actually an immature category. There are few categories like gum that have such high potential for growth through drawing new customers in. You referenced confectionery, so let's take chocolate. Chocolate has 99 per cent penetration, so the only way you're going to grow chocolate is people paying more, buying more often or buying greater quantities of chocolate.”
A fair point, I say, finger in the air.
“With chocolate it's not going to be new people coming into the category, whereas gum is about getting new people in. And that's exciting, and from a footfall point of view, there's been stability and growth since COVID. People are on the move again, and obviously, they're working from home more as well. So that is an opportunity around gum bottles and the take-home formats – it's a massive, massive trend there, and related to how people consume gum differently.
And then, there is also the whole idea around people looking for products that can help them with their holistic well-being, Ross adds.
“You know, everyone has a well-being strategy, and it looks very different according to the person. If you ask one person, it’s about exercise, another person might be just the way they eat and their diet. And I think gum can really play into that and the sort of the mental reset benefit of chewing gum. There’s a big trend, as well, around products that can help people in their work and study space, or experience moments during the day where they need that mental reset, a sort of reinvigoration.”
So convenience!
In terms of sales, Gum is great news for convenience and always has been. It offers choice, visibility and instant appeal. It's surely a toss-up whether there's anything more impulsive than gum as a product in the channel, and therefore as an important product for the channel.
“The first thing I'll say is, from all the research that we've done, we see that gum is the most impulsive product in store, versus any other product,” says Ross. “I think water is the second most impulsive, but gum is the most. 88 per cent of chewing gum is bought on impulse. So, it is the most unplanned, unsubstitutable product you could possibly have in-store, and that is what makes it very exciting from an impulse point of view, because it's highly incremental and highly expandable. The more people buy, the more they're going to consume.”
Ross affirms that the c-channel is vital for the Wrigley brand, and has been for a century – and he refers to a recent report that the channel is going to outgrow the rest of the market, disproportionately in terms of growth over the next five years, making it an even more attractive distribution point for the company
"It is massively important for us,” he affirms, “and we're excited to work with retailers who provide the right products and the right visibility through merchandising, and the insights we have there and disrupting those shoppers in store.
I conjure an ideal customer: the impulse shopper, in convenience, preferably older, but most likely younger – because in order to expand penetration in that younger cohort, Wrigley is concentrating more on fruit flavours than previously on minty flavours for refreshment, because youth prefers it – and catch them young, as they say!
"When we look at the penetration we see across all demographics or age groups, we see a good amount of penetration. There's no one area, one age, where nobody chews gum,” Ross explains.
“However, younger shoppers are a massive focus for us, because younger shoppers actually chew more. Teenagers chew three times more than your average other shopper. And it's critical that we introduce people into this category at an earlier age, because then they will become lifetime chewers. Fruit flavours are growing the fastest, double the rate of the category [at 8.9 per cent value], so that's been a key focus: how can we introduce more exciting flavours to cater to that growth?
Fruit flavours do indeed seem to be everywhere. In vape, for example, it seems everything is fruit. Perhaps that refers back to the personal and identity concept of well-being that gum-chewing can communicate inwardly – and outwardly, too.
Breaking it down
No more the Juicy Fruit of old, the Spearmint of cherished memory, at least on these shores,
“In the UK, we have three brands now," Ross explains. “We have Extra – it's called Orbit in certain markets outside of the UK. In the UK, Extra is our biggest brand, about 85 per cent of our revenue.
“Our second biggest brand in the UK is Airwaves. Airwaves, obviously, has that very unique mental kick, all about intense invigoration.
“And then the third brand is Hubba Bubba, I love Hubba Bubba. As you said, you know, coming into this role and mentioning Hubba Bubba to people, you always get that kind of reaction around, "Oh yeah, I used to chew that when I was younger, all those kinds of nostalgia. And as you said, it’s about blowing bubbles, and that's often how people first discover the category, through bubble gum, because it's all about fun – bubbles and flavour.
As marketers say, after distribution comes segmentation; so likewise, brands are followed by formats.
"We have three pack formats, singles, bottle and multi-pack, and all those are catering to slightly different usage occasions,” and this is vital to note for merchandising and maximising sales.
“Singles are more about on-the-go consumption," says Ross. “When you're out and about the bottle is used for a variety of reasons. Often people put it in the car cup-holder.
“And then the multipack is more like, buy it, keep it at home. And then when you're going out you can take it.
"Those are our three pack formats, and then within that we've got a very wide array of flavours, because choice is extremely important to the gum shopper.”
With at least four major angles from which to promote gum in the wellness category, does Ross think the gum industry is soft-pedalling that so far? Could it do more on that to grow share by taking it from other categories, or is gum simply growing incrementally in any case?
“We see that from a consumer usage occasion perspective that there's some unique ways people buy and consume gum that are hard to are hard to satisfy with other products,” he says.
“There will be moments where people will go into a store and instead of grabbing a bar of something, they might say, ‘Hey, you know what? I just want a little bit of flavour. I want a little bit of kick. And I want something sweet in my mouth. I'm going to take some fruit gum.’ There will be those instances. Broadly speaking, because of how impulsive and how incremental gum is, and how unique it is, a lot if not most growth will be completely incremental to any retailer.”
Given that, what would Ross’s advice be in terms of merchandising for the average retailer who perhaps doesn't have a huge store. What would be the ideal setup that Wrigley would recommend to c-store retailers to get the best gum sales?
“I would start with, what range do you have?” he muses. “What's the range of brands? Do you have the right breadth of brands? Do you have the right breadth of pack formats, because those all those cater for different needs? What's the breadth of flavours you have? Again, fruit gum: are you stocking enough fruit gum? Because some retailers might be too overstocked in terms of mint flavours, but in fact you want to have a nice variety of mints and fruits where you're catering to different shoppers.
“And then in terms of merchandising, I'd look at things like your fixture. What does your fixture look like? Are you maximizing the space that you have in store? Within the convenience channel, there are very many different sizes, layouts, types of stores, but we're passionate about working with retailers and shop owners to discover how we can tailor our equipment in a way that is you perfectly designed for your store.
“The latest technology we have can make the displays fit whatever space that you have. If you've got a tiny space, we'll give you a unit that will fit perfectly into there. We can be as big or as small as the retailer wants. And then what's crucial to remember is that gum is an impulsive product. How do you disrupt in-store? If people are going into a store and they're not planning to buy gum, you need to disrupt them. That means point-of-sale material is critically important, and that's something we can help with as well.
“Obviously, we produce a lot of POS, and we're really keen to work with retailers to make sure they have the right materials to disrupt the shopper, through signage. And then lastly, NPD. Are you maximizing the NPD that that's coming into market?”
That cues up perfectly the latest Wrigley exclusive just available now, and exclusive to the c-channel: two new Extra Refreshers price marked packs (PMPs), in Tropical and Bubblemint flavour, in 30-piece bottles and soft chew format.
The new PMPs support retailers by enabling them to maximise the Extra Refreshers sales in the channel – 90 per cent of shoppers haven’t tried Refreshers and yet 70 per cent of all Refreshers fruit volume is incremental to the category – as Ross pointed out.
“The benefits of PMPs are well known – they offer a quick price comparison and can capture the impulse shopper’s attention to drive retailers’ incremental sales,” says Ross, delivering on this by providing trending flavours that communicate value to the shopper.
“This is a hugely exciting time for the category and the Extra Refreshers brand. This year, we are putting a multimillion media investment behind our fruit gum range, including Extra Refreshers PMPs, to bring the product benefits to life and support sales within the convenience channel.”
The Extra Refreshers PMP bottles are in wholesalers with an RRP of £2.50, so go get ’em now!
Me and My Brand: Vince Lawson of Biotiful Gut Health
We believe natural Gut Health is the catalyst for good health and want to make this accessible for all. Kefir is one of the most natural ways to improve Gut Health and our Kefir is made using the highest quality ingredients, our unique blend of live cultures and no artificial additives.
How is your brand currently performing?
Biotiful is performing really strongly! We’re growing at +41per cent1, making us the fastest growing yogurt brand in the UK. We’re the #1 brand in Kefir overall, have #1 best-selling products in both Kefir Drinks and Kefir Spoonable – and are now the ninth largest Yogurt brand in the UK. Watch out #8, we’re coming for you!
How is the Kefir market currently performing?
Gut Health has truly entered the mainstream: 84 per cent of consumers are now actively managing – or recognising the need to manage – their Gut Health 2.
Consumers are increasingly recognising Kefir as the most natural Gut Health solution (46 per cent of consumers). As a result, the Kefir market is up +33 per cent in value YOY, and is the fastest growing category in dairy in both value and volume3.
It’s incredible to think that before Biotiful, the Kefir category didn’t exist in the UK – and now it’s worth over £100m.
Do you have any new product development?
We continue to lead innovation in natural Gut Health and Kefir, which has been a major driver of our growth over the last year with a number of world first innovations. For example, our two new Kefir Overnight Oats products – the first time that anyone has combined the Gut Health benefits of Kefir and the trending breakfast dish with fibre-rich oats and fruit.
We’ve also launched our new High-Protein Kefir Drinks range, with 20g natural protein per serving, recognising that there is a huge consumer demand for natural protein without additives, plus the added benefits of Gut Health.
And if that wasn’t enough, we’re also taking Gut Health out of the chiller and into the ambient aisle with the launch of our versatile Gut Health Meal Boosters – combining our unique blend of live cultures with fibre-rich oats that can be added to any meal.
How are you supporting your brand and NPD?
2024 saw the launch of our biggest national campaigns to date, including TV and outdoor advertising. We have also worked extensively with influencers and ambassadors – taking them on their own Gut Health journeys to demonstrate the positive impact regular Kefir consumption can have on their lives.
We’re also delighted to be working with the elite performance nutritionists at many of the UK’s leading sporting teams as they recognise the importance of good Gut Health in improving athletic performance. We’re now the Official Gut Health partner of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, Gloucester Rugby, British Judo and British Taekwondo.
Industry recognition is also important to us, so we’re particularly pleased to see the brand receiving two Great Taste Awards, a Quality Food Award and eight Grocer New Product Awards in 2024 – showing that consumers can improve their Gut Health without compromising on quality or taste.
How important are independent retailers to your brand?
There are 40,000 Convenience stores covering the whole breadth of the UK – this is a key route to market for the Biotiful brand. Consumers are demanding natural Gut Health solutions so it’s great to see Independent Retail getting on board with that as a trend.
At a recent FED roundtable, convenience stores told us that their shoppers want healthier options for on-the-go. As a result, we’ve put together a Brand Ambassador programme within Independent Retail – working with specific convenience stores to put Gut Health at the forefront for their shoppers. This has already had a positive impact on sales – and we will look to continuing this into 2025.
What trends are occurring in the sector?
One key trend is the area of in-store merchandising. In recent years we’ve seen all the grocery retailers establishing specific Gut Health bays in store to make it easier for their shoppers to find Gut Health solutions – with some retailers creating specific Kefir bays.
Now this trend has started within convenience retail as well – with more and more Independent retailers establishing Gut Health areas within their dairy fixtures, making it easier for shoppers in this sector to find what they are looking for.
Describe your brand in three words …
Natural. Delicious. Authentic.
1 Circana, 29.9.24(latest 12 weeks)
2 MAC research 2024, Onepoll 2024
3 Circana, 29.9.24(latest 12 weeks)
Me and My Brand: Bal Tung of Nido
How is your brand currently performing?
Nido continues to go from strength to strength, with the full year projection for 2024 for the total range being worth over £36m RSV. Over half of Nido sales comes from the wholesale and convenience channel, showing just how important independent retailers are to Nido.
How is the World Food market currently performing?
The World Foods category is worth £670m, growing at +14 per cent CAGR2, Nido plays within Oriental, Afro-Caribbean and Asian which are all growing segments, as non-EU net migration continues to grow. Within the World Foods category, positive macro indicators suggest this growth trend will continue with net migration at 685k over the last year3, this is a great time to grow your World Foods offering within your stores!
How are you supporting your brand and NPD?
We support Nido with recipes and inspiration throughout the year. The key campaign which is live NOW is “Light up your sales with Nido”. Nido is relevant throughout the year but during Diwali, Nido is traditionally used in recipes and for celebration. Diwali is celebrated by 1.5 million people in the UK every year4 so retailers being aware of the uplift to sales that stocking Nido during this period will provide, is key. We also run a “taste of home” campaign to remind shoppers of exactly that – that the Nido consumers loved in their childhood is available at their local shop!
How important are independent retailers to your brand?
Extremely important. The role these guys play in their communities and beyond makes these retailers our brand ambassadors in a way, so we need to ensure we support them directly. Local communities trust the products they buy from their shelves. Being an ex-retailer myself, I always try and ensure the decisions I make have the independent retailers in mind.
What trends are occurring in the sector?
The world foods category is split between shoppers who are looking to find a taste of home, and shoppers who are looking to explore different cuisines. Winning in this sector means providing relevant solutions for both of these groups, for which luckily Nido is your answer! Nido is a brand that shoppers recognise from home, and therefore stocking Nido will be an instant basket driver for shoppers. For explorational shoppers, we have social media content highlighting delicious recipes with Nido at the heart of them. Nido really is the answer to world foods!
Describe your brand in three words …
Taste of Home
1 Seed Qualitative Research 2019
2 IRI Total Stores 52 weeks to April 2024
3 Net migration to the UK– The Migration Observatory (ox.ac.uk)
4 Census 2021
