This week saw some postive advancements in the sector, as supermarket giants responded to milk levy calls and new products landed in the market. Catch up on the top FMCG news from this week below.
Discount grocer Aldi acted immediately after the federal agriculture minister David Littleproud urged supermarkets to extend the temporary 10-cent milk levy. Aldi Australia confirmed it will be extending the collection of a 10 cents milk levy on all 2-litre and 3-litre fresh milk. Meanwhile, Woolworths told Inside FMCG that it will continue to collect and distribute its existing milk levy. Coles said it is continuing to support dairy farmers through its direct contract model.
Heinz puzzled consumers with latest branding exercise
Heinz Ketchup has capitalised on the resurgence of jigsaws as it put its own twist on a puzzle using 570 pieces all in red for Aussies to play the game at home. Shane Kent, chief marketing officer, Heinz Australia, said the company decided to create “the puzzle to end all puzzles – a ridiculously slow all-red ketchup jigsaw to help pass the time” in isolation.
CUB released first hard seltzer
Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) launched its first white spirit premix in 25 years. The new Actual Vodka Seltzer is a low calorie ready-to-drink vodka, made with 100% natural ingredients. The vegan friendly seltzer has two flavours, Pure and Lime. Pure has no sugar and has 65 calories, while lime is low in sugar and contains 69 calories. Actual senior marketing manager Marc Lord said that Aussies want “simple, no-nonsense alcoholic drinks and that’s what Actual is”.
T2 Tea built its first five-star green star design review rated store in Westfield Bondi Junction which features the brand’s first refilling station. The Bondi store is made of natural, Australian made materials and finishes, as well as recycled materials. T2 head of store design Kate Iles said that the store features green energy, with plants to improve air quality and practices environmentally friendly waste management.
Convenience sales climb 2.1 per cent to $8.8bn
The Australian convenience industry’s sales climbed by 2.1 per cent to $8.8 billion in 2019, driven by a strong performance in Food and Beverages. The AACS State of the Industry Report, showed that despite the challenges in retail trade conditions in 2019, convenience proved of value to consumers. Food sales rose nearly 6 per cent to $4.038 billion last year, while Non-Food categories fell more than 1 per cent on 2018 figures, partly due to poor growth in the Tobacco category. On average more than 70 per cent of convenience shopping baskets included a beverage, the report found. Packaged Beverages grew 4.4 per cent over the year to deliver the greatest dollar value contribution of any convenience category of $79 million.
That’s it for this week! We’ll be back on Monday morning.
