Levercliff - Certified B Corp™️

Levercliff - Certified B Corp™️ have been working with Wasabi Sushi & Bento since the early days of their journey into retail and with the recent addition of Morrisons and Co-op to their portfolio of retail customers, we're delighted to see Wasabi go from strength to strength. To see more, head to https://lnkd.in/gWyKPykz

What does the future of convenience look like? And how will it impact your brand? What are you looking for when you visit your local convenience store? Is it alcohol, cigarettes, food? Data shows us that 35.3% of convenience store sales in 2023 were made up by alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes and vaping products. But how will this change as the new UK Government plans to focus more on preventative healthcare measures and as consumers move towards a healthier lifestyle (over a third of adults are cutting their alcohol intake)? Levercliff Insights Analyst Charlotte Parry got a little intelligence from a recent customer trade briefing about the Convenience Shopper of the Future, and here’s how they are expected to change: ❗ Gen X will become more health conscious as they reach retirement ages. ❗ Millennials will be financially stretched, juggling responsibilities for both their children and their ageing parents, whilst paying off debt and mortgages. ❗ Key younger demographics, which are crucial to the convenience channel, have grown up with a different economic outlook and in a sober-curious generation. Whilst these changes pose as threats to convenience stores that rely on sales of unhealthy products, they also present opportunities to those forward-thinking producers who can offer products that cater to the need of the future shopper in the convenience channel. What will be the key challenge for those producers? Reaching those financially stretched millennials by overcoming the perception that healthy food comes with a high price tag. How do you think the convenience channel in the UK will change over the next few years? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

The Levercliff - Certified B Corp™️ team had a great time last night at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards, celebrating the best in Scottish produce.    Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, in particular #TheCooShed for winning Dairy Product of the Year – a category we were delighted to sponsor! Aquascot Scottish Enterprise Finsbury Food Group Dunbia Group

📊 Poll Results Are In! 📊 Last week's poll sparked mixed conclusions on the disparity between GB-wide promotional activity for Mainstream Beer and the lower levels seen in Scotland. It’s clear that market pressures in Scotland are heavily influenced by policies like Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) and recent duty tax increases. These factors, combined with the tight profit margins of the highly commercialised Mainstream Beer category, create a challenging environment for producers. As the MUP increased by 30% early this week, it will be interesting to see how this further impacts consumer behaviour and the competitive landscape over the next year. Will we see a greater shift in consumer choice, or will brands find new ways to maintain loyalty? We're looking forward to seeing how this will play out in the data in a year’s time and what strategies will emerge to navigate these pressures!  #Beer #Data #MUP #FoodandDrink 

Next week is the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards and Levercliff - Certified B Corp™️ is proud to sponsor the Dairy Product of the Year category. There’s stiff competition for 3 businesses with a variety of products fighting it out… Equi's Ice Cream – In 1915, Pietro Equi left Coreglia Antelminelli in Tuscany to seek his fortune and got as far as Hamilton, where he started a cafe in 1922. Over 100 years later, Equi’s continue to produce top quality ice cream. 2 products from their range are up for the award, Chocolate Hazelnut & Raspberry and Strawberry Cheesecake. Rowan Glen Limited - a yogurt producer located on the edge of the Galloway Forest in South-West Scotland. Their site in Dumfries & Galloway has been producing yogurt for over 30 years, making it one of the longest established yogurt manufacturing sites in Scotland. Their Greek Style Yogurt On A Layer Of Honey is up for the award. #TheCooShed - set in the rural Ayrshire countryside on South Corton Farm, the Coo Shed has proven to be a very popular destination for many. Their fresh farm milk from their grass-fed herd of Corton Coos is available every day from the fabulous and very popular vending machine, and it’s this Fresh Whole Milk that’s up for the big award. Congratulations to all finalists and good luck on the night!

The Power of Promotions Recent Nielsen data to the middle of July suggests Mainstream Beer achieved 38.4% of total value sales within promotional periods over the previous 52 weeks at GB level, but this figure in Scotland was significantly lower - 16.6%. For further context, World Lagers and Craft Beer saw significantly higher promotional shares in Scotland, 33.2% and 30.8% respectively. Our Category Executive Llŷr Mabon Griffiths thinks the low level of promotion on Mainstream Beer in Scotland could be due to a combination of the Scottish Government’s MUP legislation (currently at 50p and set to increase to 65p in September) and GB-wide ABV taxation increases last year, leaving little room for Mainstream Beer to promote given its affordable price positioning and lower operating margins for producers. We would love to hear your thoughts on this! #Beer #Legislation #Promotions #FoodandDrink #Scotland 

What can consumers do differently to reduce pumpkin waste?  As Halloween is fast approaching, our Insights Analyst Tyler Green thought it was worth highlighting a problem created by one of the UK’s favourite seasonal holidays… pumpkin waste. In the UK approximately 18,000 tons of pumpkins go to waste each year*, with food waste and the release of methane gas being the main problems. A massive 60% of consumers tend to discard their pumpkins after scraping and carving them out as Jack O’Lanterns, but what can we do differently? Use the seeds to create a nice healthy snack or salad topper: https://lnkd.in/eEtEMbW9 Create a warming creamy pumpkin soup – great for the autumn colder months: https://lnkd.in/emhPXhbw Or even go the American route and create a pumpkin pie for dessert! https://lnkd.in/gnfF5mR What’s Tyler's solution?  “How about the packaged spice specialists coming up with a Halloween special recipe encouraging consumers to cook with pumpkin?" How about it Colman's Unilever Schwartz McCormick & Company? *https://lnkd.in/emqFxNez

Promotions Promotions Promotions! Nielsen states promotional participation is at a 3 year high, with 25% of total grocery spend going through on promotion, with brands averaging 37%, up from 32% last year and Own Label 17% vs 15% last year! Promotions play a pivotal role in brand growth within the FMCG sector, but our Category Manager Denise Collier says finding the right balance remains a subject of ongoing debate. Retailers have been leveraging loyalty card promotions as a way to stem retailer switching, yet from a category view point, shoppers continue to switch between brands to get the best deal & make their money go further. This is supported by our Levercliff - Certified B Corp™️ Tracker, which highlights that 40% of shoppers are looking for more special offers to manage their budget (https://bit.ly/3MHD46t). This suggests that a strong promotional strategy is a winning strategy in the current climate. While conducting recent promotional analysis, unsurprisingly the bigger the price cut, the better the uplift in Unit Rate Of Sale. From a commercial point of view, however, implementing a series of back-to-back deep cut promotions is not always viable and risks devaluing the brand in the long term. Therefore, when devising a promotional strategy, it's important to consider the following elements: 1. What is the desired outcome? Is it driving trial? Rewarding existing shoppers? Driving repeat rate? Increasing purchasing volume? e.g. driving NPD trial vs driving AWP would warrant different promotional mechanics. 2. What period of season demand is your category in? Timing is key for knowing when is best to focus on a price save vs a multibuy volume deal. High demand benefits more from multibuy, whereas save promotions are better during low demand periods to encourage trade in. 3. Can you afford to promote more than one SKU at a time? Promoting more than one SKU creates more impact at fixture making it more visible and offering the opportunity for shoppers to trade up whether this be on a save mechanic or a multibuy. So, before diving into a promotional plan, make time to consider the right approach for long-term growth & brand success.

With only 110 Days to Christmas… our Category Manager Kathryn Parry has been busy thinking about the festive season… “We may have just said goodbye to the summer holidays, but with the kids now back to school, and the retailers beginning to tempt us with their festive offerings.. we can’t help but get in the Christmas spirit!” The Grocer reports suppliers are gearing up to this year’s festivities with a focus on affordable indulgence, gifting and sharing. Tesco was one of the first to unveil their Christmas delights. Their Abominable Snowman White Chocolate Character is sure to be the perfect gift for little ones this Christmas. In Party Food, we also love the sound of their chorizo mac and cheese bites. We will of course have to pick up a pack and taste test alongside other finger food on offer. We hear Waitrose & Partners’s crispy bacon carbonara cups are tasty too! Speaking of Waitrose & Partners, have you browsed their Christmas Food to Order catalogue yet? They are planning to take us to Italy this Christmas, with their tiple of choice Limoncello. The zesty liqueur crosses categories into both bakery and deli. How delicious! Back to party food.. we can’t wait to try Iceland Foods’s Mini Fish, Chip & Ketch-up Sarnies. The playful British classic has been developed with innovation and affordability in mind. These will be prefect when the traditional taste of Christmas gets too much. And finally, we are waiting (rather impatiently) for Marks and Spencer to share their Christmas secrets! The big question we have is whether Colin be pulling on his Christmas jumper for another year? We do hope so!

Mae'r haul allan heddiw yng Ngogledd Cymru! The sun is out today in North Wales! Bwyd a Diod Cymru | Food and Drink Wales Sustainability Cluster have had a fantastic morning at Aber Falls Distillery, discussing all things sustainability with locally based food and drink producers and support organisations. Thank you to everyone who joined us for breakfast!    It’s been a great opportunity to engage with producers and highlight the great breadth of sustainability expertise that exists in North Wales, and how we work together as a Cluster to accelerate producers' sustainability journeys.  Our next regionally based breakfast meeting will be in South East Wales at Lisvane & Llanishen Visitor Centre. Follow the link to reserve your space: https://lnkd.in/epqWirjn