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This week in FMCG

News-This-Week-240718-BThe busy working week has seen big news in the FMCG landscape Down Under and across the world. From a global company boss stepping down, to plenty of supermarket news, it certainly has been another interesting one.

Woolworths to donate fresh food sales to Rural Aid

Supermarket giant Woolworths will donate all proceeds from its fresh produce on August 11 to the Rural Aid’s Buy a Bale program to support drought-affected farmers. Last month, the Australian grocery announced a A$1.5 million donation to Rural Aid including in-store fundraising to support this cause. Coles also announced another fundraising initiative whereby they will match customer donations for the entire month of August.

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi resigned after 24 years in service

PepsiCo boss Indra Nooyi announced her resignation as CEO after 24 years at the company. The soft drinks giant revealed that Ramon Laguarta will take the seat when Nooyi leaves the company in October 3. The Indian born CEO, who has made quite a mark in the FMCG industry worldwide, said that becoming a leader of the multinational giant was “an honour” and she was “incredibly proud” of all the company has done to advance the interests of shareholders and stakeholders. Nooyi will remain as the beverage company’s chairman until early 2019 to ensure a smooth transition. We’re sad to see her go!

Coles sales impacted due to plastic bag ban

Wesfarmers’ sales were impacted by the company’s announcement to get rid of the single-use plastic bags in Coles supermarkets. Wesfarmers CFO Anthony Gianotti told The Australian that “there was certainly an impact as consumers had to change their habits around shopping.” He also said that the phase-out of plastic bags could have been handled better and there were miscommunications along the way.

Fonterra to establish presence in India

Dairy giant Fonterra has partnered with Indian consumer company Future Consumer Ltd to manufacture consumer and food service dairy products. Fonterra’s COO Lukas Paravicini said that the joint partnership will pave way for the dairy manufacturer to establish a strong presence in India to meet growing demand. “Consumer demand for dairy in India over the next seven years is set to increase by 82 billion litres – seven times the forecasted growth for China,” Paravicini revealed.

Whole Foods launched its new 30-minute online pickup service

Amazon Prime shoppers in the US can now pick-up groceries bought online from selected Whole Foods Market stores within 30 minutes of placing their orders – and they don’t even need to get out of their vehicles! Stephenie Landry, worldwide vice president of Prime Now, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Restaurants, said that the Prime Now app offers a perfect option for customers who want to grab healthy and organic groceries at their convenience. Sounds good to us!

Yoplait acquisition got a greenlight

Food maker Goodman Fielder was given the green light to acquire assets of Yoplait yoghurt in New Zealand from dairy and drinks company, Lion. According to Commerce Commission chairman Dr Mark Berry since “Fonterra is the largest supplier of mainstream yoghurt products in New Zealand … [it] would continue to hold the largest market share when the merger proceeds.” Quite big news in the dairy sector!

Alibaba’s Hema supermarket’s new farm-to-shelf app

Alibaba’s Hema supermarkets in Shanghai have launched a new Hema mobile app that tells shoppers about an item’s farm-to-store journey including photos of the distributor’s business licenses, food-safety certificates and more. According to Alizila, there are over 1,700 items from nine categories included. Alibaba has also recently launched a robot waiter restaurant. Talk about futuristic!

That wraps up this week’s top headlines. Check back next Monday for the latest news in the FMCG sector!

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