This week has seen some big news in FMCG. Aussies are awaiting a huge comeback for a sweets brand and a supermarket giant takes the green bond route. Take a look back on the stories that dominated the headlines this week.
Darrell Lea returns Life Savers to Australia
The iconic lollies brand Life Savers is making a comeback in Australia as Darrell Lea begins production in Sydney. Last year, the sweets company acquired the brand from Nestlé and moved the factory from New Zealand to Ingleburn in Sydney. Life Savers marketing manager James Byrne said a relaunch is expected by September 2019.
Woolworths first supermarket to issue ‘green bonds’
Woolworths takes the sustainable route as the first supermarket to issue Certified Green Bonds. The Bonds, certified by the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), will pave way to open opportunities in helping the environment, from solar panels to creating low carbon supermarkets. Woolworths Group chief financial officer David Marr said that the retailer is working hard to minimise its long term impact on the environment.
CCA brings Amatil X to Indonesia
Coca-Cola Amatil launched Amatil X in Indonesia to push growth in the start-up sector. It partnered with Digitaraya, an accelerator program backed up by Google Developers Launchpad. CCA group managing director Alison Watkins said the soft drinks giant will harness growth to deliver technology solutions in Indonesia. The soft drinks bottler launched Amatil X in Australia and New Zealand in April 2018.
Nestlé launched new Milo drink with stevia
Milo has created a new formula Milo with 30 per cent less sugar. Nestlé released with stevia in place of cane sugar. Nestlé general manager Andrew McIver said consumers will still be able to taste Milo’s chocolate malt flavour they have known for 85 years. The new Milo 30% Less Added Sugar Nestlé contains malt barley, milk powder and cocoa. Milo was originally created during the Depression era to help eradicate hunger of starving families.
Walmart hires thousands of robots
US retailer Walmart goes high tech with 920-pound autonomous floor scrubbers at its stores. It will have robots at 1,860 stores to clean the floors and unload boxes in its stockrooms. The “smart assistants” will scan shelf inventory at 350 stores and bots will be placed at 1,700 stores to automatically scan boxes. CEO Doug McMillon said automating certain tasks frees up workers to focus on customers service. He said the robots will help the company in terms of “seeing increases in sales and reductions in turnover in what had been a very difficult job to fill.”
That’s it for now. We will have the latest news again on Monday morning!
