UK upmarket specialist online grocer Ocado last week posted record sales figures in a sign that the online grocery sector is steadily making inroads in Britain. They saw sales rise 25 per cent above results of the year before in the four weeks to January 3 despite recessionary headwinds, including a staggering 97% rise in Christmas week sales. Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, also noted that their online grocery business had grown, delivering “very strong sales”. Ocado, which sells products... ...Read more »
As the credit crunch hits the hip pocket of Australian consumers brand loyalty is being tested.Current research suggests that consumers are already turning to private label in some categories in order to save money. Combine this with the diminishing control consumer products companies have over shelf real-estate and the importance of accurate in-store execution intensifies. In spite of the economic forecast, many companies are reportedly continuing to invest in proactive in-store promotional activity... ...Read more »
Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars is set to reduce waiting time and improve energy efficiency with the help of a new oven - the first of its kind to be released in Australia. Crust’s flagship Annandale store - one of the busiest stores in the network - is now one of the first pizza shops in Australia to own the innovative new Middleby Marshall WOW! Oven. Previously only available in the US, the oven boasts the fastest cooking time in the pizza industry and has already delivered by increasing productivity... ...Read more »
In the wake of an Australian survey by Deloitte finding Australians were yet to embrace online grocery shopping, new UK research has established that baby boomers hold the key to growth of online grocery sales. The Golden Generation report, from international food and grocery insight and information providers IGD, predicts that the value of online food and grocery shopping in the UK will nearly double in size by 2013 to be worth £6.2b (A$13.94b) (up from £3.2b in 2008). Food and grocery sales in... ...Read more »
Australians are yet to embrace the internet when it comes to shopping for food and groceries, according to a survey released today by Deloitte. The survey discovered that food and groceries were the least likely of 12 categories to be researched over the internet, with only 6% conducting research online as opposed to 94% in-store. The leader of the category, outings and entertainment, had 73% of people conducting research on-line, highlighting a major gulf between different product categories when... ...Read more »
Tech-savvy pizza lovers will soon be able to order through their television with a touch of a button, with Dominos’ Pizza partnering with Hybrid TV, the exclusive licensee for TiVo in Australia, to make it even easier for Australians to order pizza. Launching in 2009, TiVo viewers will be able to look at the Domino’s Pizza menu through their TV, place an order and have it delivered directly to their door, an experience that pushes the boundaries of traditional ordering, according... ...Read more »
The Kellogg Company is attempting to utilise consumer insights collected from virtual shopping to enhance the packaging of its breakfast cereals. Consumers are now more demanding than ever, private label is placing greater pressure on ‘national brands’ and the economic crisis is softening demand and reducing impulse purchases. As a result, virtual shopping has become an increasingly popular tool for brand marketers in the US, in particular, as the ability, and tools used, to understand... ...Read more »
PepsiCo and their UK bottler, Britvic, have announced they will use one of the hottest trends in Japan, QR (quick response) codes, to strengthen ties with their consumers. The codes will appear on around 400 million Pepsi cans and bottles in the UK. QR codes can be employed for promotional purposes, to gain more traffic to mobile-enabled websites or to give out information. The Japanese immigration service uses them as passport stamps. In the case of Pepsi, it will enable consumers to receive entertainment,... ...Read more »
PakSense, Inc., an innovator in sensory solutions for packaging, announced at the recent Produce Marketing Association’s annual Fresh Summit convention that it will release a wireless version of its award-winning temperature monitoring label in December. The PakSense Ultra Wireless Label will enable users to wirelessly download time and temperature information and analyze data before unloading a perishable product from a container. PakSense Ultra Wireless Labels are activated and applied to... ...Read more »
The CSIRO Food Futures Flagship has developed an automated instrument for accurately predicting glycemic index (GI) and resistant starch (RS) in food products. The prototype device is an in vitro (bench top) robotic machine that acts as an ‘artificial gut’ to process large numbers of food samples for a fraction of the time and cost required by the standard in vivo (human) method. The device has been validated as a rapid and reliable predictor of the GI and RS content of foods. Its principal... ...Read more »