The health and wellness trend is having a significant impact on how European consumers shop, with the Chilled and Fresh category seeing gains right across the continent, according to a new report by ESM: European Supermarket Magazine, in association with market intelligence firm IRI. Meanwhile, the declining birth rate in many European markets is impacting negatively on the Baby category, while consumers also appear to be eager to spend less in the Personal Care and Household categories in several markets.
V360°, part of the Visualise Group, in conjunction with ECR, will hold a breakfast talk ‘Learn how Facebook is shaping the future of shopping’, on Friday 20th April at 7.30am at The Dean Hotel, Dublin 2. The theme for this talk is leveraging the power of technology and social media to meet shoppers’ evolving needs. Tickets available here.
Global food giant Nestlé wants to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, becoming the latest food company to vow to reduce plastic waste, however, charity Greenpeace said that the company has "missed the mark" when it comes to effective ways of tackling the issue. The charity said that Nestlé’s announcement didn’t include clear targets to reduce and eventually phase out single-use plastics.
Following the plastic reduction trend, UK-based food manufacturing company 2 Sisters Food Group has announced that 90% of the plastic components in its branded products and 90% of the packaging it uses will be recyclable by 2020. The group has also pledged to provide access to re-useable or recyclable cups or mugs to all of its 23,000 colleagues and that all non-recyclable cups and bottles will be phased out at its 36 sites in the UK by the end of 2018.
The European Commission announced a series of new measures to protect small European farmers and food producers from what it says are unfair trading practices by larger corporations. The measures will outlaw practices such as late payments, last-minute order cancellations and retroactive changes to contracts by the buyer. While there are already several national laws in place that have a similar aim, the Commission said it wanted to harmonise these rules across the European Union.
U.S. consumer prices fell for the first time in 10 months last March, weighed down by a decline in the cost of gasoline, but underlying inflation continued to firm amid rising prices for healthcare and rental accommodation. The drop in the headline monthly inflation reading reported by the Labor Department on Wednesday is likely temporary, with producer prices increasing solidly in March. Many economists believe the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates three more times this year.
The Retail Excellence Retail Retreat & Expo will take place on May 15th and 16th at Citywest Convention Centre. With 2,000 delegates, 150 cutting edge expo partners and 70 world class and inspirational speakers attending like CEOs and business leaders past and present from Applegreen, Leon restaurants, John Lewis, Dreams, Woodies, Harvey Norman, The Retail Doctor, Paul O'Connell, Brian Cody, David McWilliams and many more visit www.retailexcellenceretreat.com now to find out how you can exhibit or attend.
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
