Podcasts about grocery guru

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Welcome to The Approach, the podcast that helps you to prioritize your health! In this episode we will be helping you to navigate the aisles of your local supermarket with ease. We'll be discussing the essential items that should be on every grocery list, from pantry staples to fresh produce and everything in between. Join Adam as we explore the world of grocery shopping and learn how to make the most of your trips to the store.Tune in for valuable insights, expert advice, and a whole lot of fun.

Online food delivery, and online grocery delivery, in particular, enjoyed a COVID-fuelled boom over the past couple of years. What started as a mere tool of convenience quickly became one of the most essential services on the planet. On this episode of WERKiT, we talk to Luca about his journey and how he ended up at one of the world's most prominent delivery tech companies. We'll hear about his experiences working in this challenging industry, how he's adapted in his career, and his thoughts on the changes COVID has brought to the ways we shop. ---------------------------------- Disclaimer: The material and information contained in this episode and on any affiliated social media accounts and websites is for general information purposes only. You should not rely upon the material or information in the episode as a basis for making any business, legal or any other decisions. The content in this episode, on the WERKiT podcast, and on any affiliated social media and websites are the opinions of the Guest(s) and Podcasters alone. The Guest(s) and Podcasters do not represent their employers, or any other such affiliated entities including but not limited to schools, universities, governments, or companies.

Have Morrisons and Asda Taken Their Eye Off the Ball? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-eighth episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss the latest Kantar market share showing 12 weeks to 20th July 2021. Asda and Morrisons losing share, Tesco gaining, and Aldi & Lidl showing flat growth. You Can Read the Full Kantar Market Share Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to your weekly episode with The Grocery Guru. This is episode 38 and we are here with that guru, Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning. Darren A. Smith: Now, Andrew. I know that the market shares have just been published and you've got a unique take on what you think is happening. Andrew Grant: I'm not sure about a unique take, but yeah, we always wait for Kantar data that comes out 20th-ish of every month, because I think it's the most comprehensive view of what's happening in the market. I think we've covered it maybe two or three times since the pandemic started. And yeah, there's some subtleties in the figures for me. I mean, overall, total multiples are still up 11% on two years ago. So as we said, a few episodes ago, with the pandemic technically ending, people are going to go back out to pubs and restaurants. They're not going to do as much home shopping and therefore, the multiples are probably in a fairly rough ride during the summer. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's a rough ride, maybe a few little bumps. I mean, they're down 4.6% on the year. Tesco down 3.7, Sainsbury's down three, so that's probably not too bad. So probably expecting worse. Darren A. Smith: Let me just put that back in people's heads. So year on two years ago for the last, what, 12 weeks to 23rd of July, the multiples are up 11%. That's right, isn't it? Andrew Grant: On two years ago. Darren A. Smith: On two years ago. So up 11%, but on a year ago they're down 5%, give or take. Andrew Grant: And obviously a year ago was the peak of the pandemic. So yeah, if you take a two year view, the grocers have been really successful at riding this pandemic. But within the numbers, a few interesting things. Co-op and Iceland are the worst performers, not surprisingly, a Co-op is on every street corner. They don't have many big superstores, so they were the big winners of the pandemic when people just literally didn't want to shop at a big store where there were those other people who could potentially pass on the virus, they popped to the local Co-op. And to a lesser extent, I guess, Iceland being sort of city center or town center location. So I can understand why Co-op figures don't look brilliant, although they're us still up in double digit from two years ago. Darren A. Smith: So they're up 12% on two years but they're down 15% year on year? Andrew Grant: Yeah. But what's for me is I think a little bit of the slightest star of some blue water between Tesco and Sainsbury's and Asda and Morrisons is starting to appear. So Aldi and Lidl have come back, they're flat on last year. So probably something in there about they don't have home shopping, and home shopping is down. I forget the numbers. You may have them more to have. Oh yeah. So online groceries dropped by 2.6%. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: So I think Aldi and Lidl have picked that up. So Aldi and Lidl are flat. Tesco seems to be doing really well. Tesco's put on 4.4 points of market share is almost unheard of in the last 10 years, but Asda are losing market share as are Morrisons and twice the decline of Tesco and Sainsbury's on a year. Darren A. Smith: So we've got Tesco hitting the high of 27% market share. Andrew Grant: Yep. Darren A. Smith: They're doing well. And you think they're stealing that predominantly from Asda and Morrisons? Andrew Grant: No, no, actually. I think it's a bit more complex than that. I think Tesco in particular, and we've said it before, have found a way to neutralize Aldi and Lidl. Darren A. Smith: Okay, right. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Their price match campaign, their club card promotions I think are fantastic, and fantastic value. I think Tesco and to a similar extent, Sainsbury's have found a way to stop the bleed of shoppers to Aldi and Lidl. I don't think Asda and to some extent Morrisons have. So I think the Aldi and Lidl bounce back is partly to the fact that less people are doing home shopping, but that home shopping could be stealing from Asda and Morrisons rather than Tesco and Sainsbury's. Darren A. Smith: It could be, and as you said, so online people are doing less online. They're going back to bricks and mortar shopping. Andrew Grant: Yep. Darren A. Smith: I read something in here that said, let's have a look. Andrew Grant: Still 13% of the market, though. Darren A. Smith: Yes, it is. It is. It's still huge. Yeah. Andrew Grant: I think it hit 18, didn't it, at the peak of the pandemic. And I think one of the grocers reported 20 odd percent online sales, but 13 is still double what it was two years ago. Darren A. Smith: It's very true. Very true. Andrew Grant: So pretty serious. And you know, yeah, just to bring the online thing into focus, Ocardo's growth, on two years ago, up 50%, I mean, absolutely flying. So as long as they can stop their robots fighting with each other, they're probably doing pretty well. Darren A. Smith: You're referring to the fire between the robots at say, depot recently, aren't you? Andrew Grant: I just thought it so funny that six robots decided to gang up on each other and have a big fist fight in the middle of the warehouse. Darren A. Smith: Robo wars. Ocardo robo wars. Maybe they want to start that. Maybe it'll catch on. Andrew Grant: I used to like [inaudible 00:06:05], yeah. It was good. So yeah. So I think it's quite an interesting time to look at what's happening in the market because obviously, pandemic technically over, obviously this week, there's all these problems of shop workers and depo workers and drivers being pinged. I think that's a short term blip, but going into the autumn, yeah, I think there's some interesting stuff going on here because I think Tesco and Sainsbury's are very well set. Asda and Morrison's, Asda's recently being taken over. That always causes problems. So is their eye off the ball and is that going to cause longer term problems? And obviously Morrisons right in the middle of a bidding battle. That's guaranteed to take your eye off the ball. So I think Asda and Morrisons are the ones to watch through the autumn in terms of will they struggle. Aldi and Lidl I think will continue to do well. And Ocardo's steam rolling. Steam rolling on. So interesting to watch Asda and Morrisons over the next six months, I think. Darren A. Smith: Okay, all right. Assume it here. What other nuggets have you got from the Kantar data? Andrew Grant: I think that was it. The only other one we haven't mentioned is Waitrose. Yeah. Waitrose picking up again. I think their customers, it might be a complete generalization, but I think generally their customer's slightly older profile, probably more wary of shopping during the pandemic. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: So I think Waitrose probably hit harder, but still, their two year growth is the same as the others, but their one year growth is better. So, maybe Waitrose are starting to become a bit of a star. And I did read, was it last week? Yeah, John Lewis and Waitrose are going start building their own flats and houses and you'll have built in Waitrose food cabinets and all this sort of stuff. Darren A. Smith: And also there was the departure, I think it was six months ago now, of the commercial director at Waitrose, Rupert Thomas, who I think is chief commercial officer at Fortnum & Mason, I think. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: [inaudible 00:08:37] moved there, so maybe that's bringing some changes as well. The only other thing I picked up that I thought was useful was Morrisons still doing very well with counters. Obviously most retailers are cutting back on counters and Morrison's must be picking that up to some extent. Andrew Grant: Yeah. It is their USP and always has been, hasn't it? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, an interesting month to review that Kantar data. We'll see what August brings. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Okay. All right, Andrew, we'll talk to you next week. Thanks very much. Andrew Grant: Take care. Darren A. Smith: Bye-bye. Take a look at the Kantar Market Share video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Russian Supermarket Discounters Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-ninth episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss the Russian Supermarket Discounters Opening Stores in the UK. How it will affect the UK's supermarkets. Particularly Aldi and Lidl. Plus, supermarkets like the 'X5 Retail Group' and their innovative approach and different model. You Can Read the Full Russian Supermarket Discounters Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to Grocery Guru. This is episode 39 and we are here with that grocery guru. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning Darren. Yes, very good. Thank you. Darren A. Smith: So, this week we're going to talk about the introduction into the UK of the Russian supermarket discounters, and I've got some information here, but I probably haven't got the experience you've got. What's your recollection of Russian supermarket discounters coming to Britain? Andrew Grant: Well, they haven't. So this is... Yeah, this is really interesting actually. They're called Mere and they want to open 30 stores in the next year, sorry 300 stores in the UK in the next year. The first one is opening towards the end of this month. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Now, I do remember when discounters came before, and you probably do, Europe Tesco. What's your recollection of that? Andrew Grant: Yeah, well this is the interesting thing, because I can remember being at Tesco, the first Aldi opened, and we'd already seen, I'd already seen Aldis in Germany and I still got this vivid recollection of going into an Aldi in Germany and in the chiller cabinet, the deli cabinet, there was a rusty knife hanging from a string and people were cutting their own lengths of salami. I'd never seen anything so unhygienic in my life. And so, the minute we found out that the first Aldi was opening, we thought, there's no way British shoppers are going to be picking knives up out of cabinets and cutting their own lengths of salami and sausage. They won't shop in those sorts of conditions. And then of course, well everybody knows the history, Aldi and Lidl landed, just touched something within the British psyche for a quality bargain, and I think quality is the important thing, a quality bargain and together they've now got a share bigger than Asda and Sainsbury's. Darren A. Smith: And I've got something similar on my recollection as a very junior buyer in, I think, it was the early 90s was, there was a guy called Tom Viner, who I think was probably CEO at the time. His initials were RTV, which I never quite understood, and then I realized his first name was Rudolph, but no one was allowed to call him Rudolph because they started doing red nose jokes. Anyway, so Tom was at a conference at the front and he was saying, he read out this clip from newspaper. It said the discounters are coming. And his point was, we all went, "Yeah, that's bad, Tom." He went, "No, this was written in 1902." He was trying to say to us that it comes every few years, it's cyclical that the discounters come and not to worry, but actually I think he was wrong because to your point, they've got a hell of a market share. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But I think my take is that this is actually really good news for the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's, because it's going to give Aldi and Lidl one major pain in the whatsit to have to sort out. So this Mere group, they're planning to undercut Lidl and Aldi by 20% to 30%. I mean that is cheap, that is cheap as chips. But when you look at the pictures of the stores and anybody that's interested should have a look, there's an article of the Leipzig store that Mere recently opened. I mean, their model is quite interesting. All the stores are leased. On the cheapest possible buildings that they can find as long as it's near a main road. But the most interesting thing about the model is, suppliers own the stock until it's sold to a customer. So suppliers deliver direct to store, the stock remains theirs until it goes through the till. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: So basically the suppliers are responsible for total inventory. Darren A. Smith: Oh, I didn't know that. That is a very different model. We don't have that in the UK with any of our supermarkets, do we? Andrew Grant: Not that I know of, no. I mean, obviously I suppose you could argue that the retailers are quite good at extending their credit terms and not paying suppliers for 35, 42 days. So, technically the stock is still the suppliers, but no, this goes one whole step forward. And most of the food is... Well, it's all delivered on pallets and it's sold off pallets still in the shrink wrap. To save on refrigeration costs, there's only one refrigerator, and it's a room so that you go into a very cold room to pick up your yogurt and your milk and whatever. Again, I've seen that operating in Europe and in Russia, and I'm not sure. I think it will give Aldi a little something to think about, because anything that cheap is going to corner a part of the market. And you only have to go around the UK post pandemic [inaudible 00:05:22] whatever the government's leveling up agenda is, if anybody actually understands what that means, there's some serious areas of [inaudible 00:05:32] around the country. And I think if this Mere group targets those towns, the really marginalized coastal towns and some of the old industrial towns in the north and the Midlands and maybe the southwest and Wales, they will get a market. But it will be solely, I think solely at the expense of Aldi and Lidl. I can't see shoppers migrating from a Tesco and a Sainsbury's to that sort of super basic environment. Darren A. Smith: Okay. That's interesting. Let me just share, for anyone who hasn't got an understanding of the Russian market, just for a moment. So I've got here that the Russian market is made up of predominately eight supermarkets. Now the biggest one is the X5 Retail Group that has 12.8%, so let's call it 13%, and then Magnit, the next one, 8.8%, then DKRB with 6.6. So we've got about eight players with X5 being the biggest. Now X5, I hadn't realized this, the size of X5, they have a revenue of 28 billion. So, we're talking about a very big player here with an operating income of 1.5 billion and nearly 350,000 employees. Andrew Grant: Yeah, but I think this Mere group is interesting, because obviously they're Siberian, which is Russia in the refrigerator. It's not like it's Moscow or St. Petersburg. Yeah. This is a Siberian retailer. And we should probably steer away from any cultural humor, but when you look at that corporate website, I mean it is very Compare the Meerkat. It's been translated from the Russian and it doesn't quite translate to perfect English. I had a bit of a giggle, but I probably shouldn't be allowed to say that. But look, they clearly operate on zero cost. I mean, each of the stores is only going to have eight members of staff. Three filling the store, three filling the store and four on checkouts. Completely stripped down. But they're operating all across Eastern Europe and they're now in Germany and they obviously see the UK as opportunity. I think the first store is Preston. That's right. Darren A. Smith: And do you think that this is the start of other supermarket brands coming over?Trying their hand in the UK market? Andrew Grant: We'll wait and see. I do think back to, as we said right at the start of this, Aldi coming in. Everybody fobbed them off. "Oh, it's not going to work. Hard discount isn't right for the UK." And we now eat our words odd 15, 20 years later. So never say never. If they're determined enough, and the model is sufficiently different. It's not like they use in a standard retail model and just hacking prices because anybody can do that and become massively unprofitable in the process. But if they've got a model where they're effectively holding no stock and there's no customer service. They make a point, almost Ryanair-ish, there is no customer service number, desk, or email. You want to complain, tough. Darren A. Smith: Let me just share a little bit more about these X5 guys, because they're the ones, I think, we really need to be worried about. And I'll tell you why. So I'm looking here and they have now launched pay with a glance bio-metrics at the checkout. Andrew Grant: What? Darren A. Smith: Just unbelievable. And what comes across from X5 is they are hugely innovative. 15,000 stores, okay? A lot of stores, of course. They seem to turn around their business in 2015 and became the market leader and are on a trajectory to absolutely dominate like Tesco. So that's really, really good. And then we talked about the subleasing here. These guys are doing it, I think it's what happened in 2015 that really turned these guys around, but the bit that really impressed me is they held a Russian version of Dragons' Den and they invited a lot of small businesses to come along, 800 startups, and they've started working with a whole bunch on new innovations that no one's ever seen before. So it's a little bit like Tesco's Red Door, yet I think these guys are ahead. They actually started it three years ago. [crosstalk 00:10:24] as a very respected, innovative business. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But having worked, or visited Russia a few times over the last 10 years, it still... Well, I don't know. It looked, well when I visited it, it was at least 20 years behind the UK. So, it's still almost virgin territory for retail. So, anybody that's a good player, such as obviously X5 are, I think they will make hay for quite a long time. It's a very different game trying to get into a market like the UK if you're operating on the same principle model as effectively the world best in class leaders. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Yeah, I get it. And what you said is they're bringing in a different model, which might take its market share and it might take it from Aldi and Lidl. So if we roll forward five years, do you think Aldi and Lidl, what? They've lost a couple of points between them to Russian supermarkets like Mere? Andrew Grant: No. I think, yeah, they'll probably have 150 stores, 200 stores, but they'll just steal it away from corner shops, market stalls, freezer shops. There's still lots of those, our version of hard discounters. I think they'll probably steal them from them because the business model gives them an advantage over those more traditionally run hard discount stores. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So some of those freezer centers that we've seen, like Iceland have a big freezer center, I've forgotten the format, and Farm Foods, they might be stealing from those? Andrew Grant: Yeah. There's Farm Foods. There's a whole raft of small, semi-independent, quasi-hard discounters. And then you've got market stores, and you've got the vans that drive around offering cheap meat and vegetables and frozen stuff. I can see them stealing that, whether it's enough for them to show on Kantar as a serious player, I'll put my money on the line and say no. But I don't think they'll have more than 1% share. I think they'll have less than 1% share in five years' time. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Fair enough. Okay. So, we're talking about Russian supermarkets. We've got the big one, X5, followed by Magnit, then DKRB, they're entering the UK market. Our grocery guru thinks they'll have less than 1%, we'll wait and see. Andrew, what's our- Andrew Grant: In five years, yeah. Darren A. Smith: In five years. What's our takeaway before we leave you? Andrew Grant: Well, as I said, whilst I've just made the prediction of this Mere group having less than 1% share in five years' time, it is worth keeping an eye on them, I think. Have a look at their website. If you're anywhere near Preston in the next few weeks, I think it'd be fun to pop in and see what it's like, because if I'm wrong, then you will need to take notice of them. Darren A. Smith: All right. Andrew, we'll let you get back to your Friday. Thank you very much and we'll see you next week. Andrew Grant: Cheers. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Bye. Take a look at the Russian Supermarket Discounters video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Football Bonus, HFSS, Morrisons & A Tough Autumn Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the Football Bonus episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss England being in the Euro 2020 final which gives a football bonus & stress on the supply chain, driver shortage, labour shortages for frowers, rapid groceries – Wheezy, HFSS, Morrison’s bids and a tough Autumn Ahead for the grocers and their suppliers. England football team being in the final have meant a football bonus and driver shortages You Can Read the Full Football Bonus Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to the Grocery Guru. This is episode 36, and we are here with that guru, Andrew Grant. How you doing? Andrew Grant: Morning Darren. Yes. Pretty good. Thank you. Darren A. Smith: Lots going on at the moment. I know we’ve got a few things we want to share with our audience, but we can’t not mention the football. Andrew Grant: What’s that? Sorry, Das, I missed it. Darren A. Smith: It’s a sort of football-like brown thing we might win. Andrew Grant: Oh, yes. There’s a small match on Sunday evening, I believe. Darren A. Smith: There very much is. And I know you’re a big football fan. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, it’s one of those weekends, obviously putting aside the sort of, the passion for the national team, but as an [inaudible 00:00:48], we all remember these weekends. They don’t come around very often, but a Royal wedding, a Brit winning Wimbledon, England football team getting through to the semifinals and now the finals; it’s not in your budget. You weren’t expecting it. You’ve spent this whole week ordering in gazillions of whatever it might be; crates of beer, burger buns, barbecue briquettes, whatever. And it’s all froth on the top of your budget, I mean, happy days. Darren A. Smith: It’s like getting a football bonus, isn’t it? You didn’t know it was coming and there it is. Lovely. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And then obviously the trick is by this time next year, make sure you’ve moved categories because you’re going to have the mother of all spikes to try and overcome. Darren A. Smith: Can’t you still just blame COVID? Can this not go on for years? Andrew Grant: Yeah, but it doesn’t get taken out of your budget, unfortunately. I’m not sure finance directors know that there’s things such as football and COVID, it’s just next year’s budget is. Darren A. Smith: So we’ve got lots of people planning for this bonus weekend. It gives them extra on top of their budget. Fabulous. All right. That makes sense. And what about taking that forward? What does that look like? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s an interesting time, isn’t it? Because we spoke, I think a few episodes ago, about the challenges the grocers are going to have this year. Obviously they got a massive pandemic boost when everybody… when all the other shops were shut. And they’re now obviously in the… they’re now lapping that fantastic performance. And I saw some stuff from NielsenIQ this week, which said that actually sales in supermarkets fell 2.4% in the four weeks to the 19th of June, which actually probably isn’t bad. If you think, they got something like 10% bonus, only to be 2.4% now a year later, is pretty good. Darren A. Smith: Well, that’s much better than I would have thought. The average was 10% up in sales, so now we’re saying only 8% up, minus two. Okay. [inaudible 00:03:10]. Andrew Grant: We had Sainsbury’s quarterly update performance. They increased their profit expectations, I think; doing pretty well, growing market share. And interestingly, the takeout I took from it, was their online business, their online grocery business, as opposed to Argos, is now steadying out. The growth rate is steadying out, but at 20% of their overall business. Darren A. Smith: Oh, one in five. Okay. Andrew Grant: So if you remember a year ago, we said it had doubled to 20%. So it doubled in a year, sort of five years worth of growth in a year, but it now looks as if the new normal is sort of one in five customers shopping online. Darren A. Smith: Right. Okay. Okay. All right. Interesting. All right. And when we look forward to the Ultimate’s coming up, what’s your predictions for what the UK grocery world’s going to look like? Andrew Grant: Well, I think, as I say, if you’re a bar and grocery, enjoy this weekend, because there’s a whole storm of stuff coming down the pipeline at the grocery sector, yet alone business. We saw this week, Haribo can’t deliver those nice little sweets because they’ve got no drivers. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So I think, the HGV situation is quite serious. I read a whole load of stuff about farmers in East Anglia having to plow in their summer crops because there’s nobody to pick the lettuces or pick the asparagus or leaks or whatever it might be. So there’s some real… and back [inaudible 00:04:55], again, desperately trying to hire workers for their convenience factories. So some real challenges around labor and supply. Darren A. Smith: So we’ve got driving shortages, labor shortages. Okay. Yep. Sorry, go on. Andrew Grant: Lots of food inflation, lots of commodity food-input price inflation, which I know the retailers are desperately trying to bat-off at the moment. And as I said, still those challenging like-for-likes from last year. And then put on top of that, bid-frenzy fever [inaudible 00:05:36] bid-frenzy fever, with… It looks like a bidding war for Morrisons, but will that spill over into a bid for Sainsbury’s? Because when you look at it, going back to what we originally said, the grocery market has done really well through the pandemic. It’s come through the other side, almost unscathed, as the rest of the economy opens up, and yet the share prices, and I know this, are where they were 25 years ago. So not surprised these clever Americans are looking at UK grocers and going, “Hey guys, we’ll have some of this.” Darren A. Smith: Yeah. And also not forgetting during COVID whilst the supermarkets did well with increases of sales around the 10% mark, they also spent a fortune on COVID costs. I think about four episodes ago, we said Sainsbury’s COVID cost was 468 million. Andrew Grant: And obviously that’s… it’s going to be nothing like that this year, so that’s straight back onto the bottom line. I mean, okay, they had a huge rates’ relief, which they paid back, which would have dented their profits, but with every like-for-like downside, there is an upside, and they won’t have all of those COVID costs this year. Darren A. Smith: True. And then I’m just thinking of two other things that are coming down the line. We’ve got people like Weezy, the London-based delivery shopping window of 10 minutes? Those guys are coming in, we talked about those a couple of episodes ago. I think Justin King was one of their investors. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. So super fast home delivery. Rapid grocer, I think it’s becoming known as. I think we said at the time, Darren, it’s a bubble. Darren A. Smith: It feels like a .com. It really does, because the 10-minute window, “Yeah, great, I got it the first time, that was exciting,” but do I really want it all the time? I don’t think so. But what do we know? We’re not just thinking- Andrew Grant: Well, if it gets to 10:30 on Sunday night and it’s penalties and you’ve run out of beer, I can see the benefit of a 10-minute delivery window. Darren A. Smith: I certainly can. In fact, I might want to in five minutes, but I hear what you’re saying. And then the other thing that’s coming down the line possibly April next year, we’ve talked about HFSS, which is the biggest change, you said to me, in enforced diets since the Second World War? Did I get that wrong? Andrew Grant: Yep. Yeah, effectively. HFSS, high fat, sugar and salt foods, the government has… Depends on your point of view, but the government has waged war on advertising these products in schools, et cetera. It’s now going a whole step further as far as the grocers are concerned, in that they will not be able to volume-promote or display these products. And for me, because this legislation is due in April next year, I do need to check when April is… Sorry, not when April is, when Easter is next year, but as the proposed legislation stands, you could see headlines like, “Boris kills the Easter bunny,” which with no Easter egg displays allowed, which would be mind blowing. Darren A. Smith: So the two principles are, you can’t volume price promote anymore and you cannot secondary site. Is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Broadly. So no bog-offs, no two-for’s, three-for’s, just straight price promotion and no secondary siting. No foyer displays, till displays, et cetera. And you think, Easter is the one that really springs to my mind because think of the pallet displays of Easter eggs that the grocers put out there. Darren A. Smith: Well, I’m thinking, I’m sure we walked into ASDA last year at Easter, and there were two, three pallets of these Easter eggs, from the 10 pound ones to the pound ones. You couldn’t move past the lobby for them. Sorry, come April next year, it won’t be possible. Andrew Grant: Well, it all depends, the legislation is still to go through parliament. I’m sure the big retailers and the big three confectionary giants will lobby hard against it. And can you see a government not letting us have our Easter eggs? I don’t know, we’ll see. Darren A. Smith: We’ll see. All right. Andrew, final takeaway? Before we let you get on with your house buying, which I think you’re doing at the moment. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, the final takeaway is get that Domino’s order in early this weekend because I think they’ll struggle for half time. Darren A. Smith: Oh, and your prediction for score Sunday? What do you think? Andrew Grant: Oh my God. Darren A. Smith: I put you on the spot, haven’t I? Andrew Grant: I think it’s penalties and England. Darren A. Smith: Okay. You said the P word. Andrew Grant: I think it’s a very tense nil/nil, and then nine penalties and we just scrape it. Darren A. Smith: All right. Andrew Grant: And what about you? What about you? Darren A. Smith: You said the word. Well, I’m going to go and be a real patriot. I’m going to go one/nil. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: I’ll go further than that. I think it’s Raheem in minute 43 just before halftime. Andrew Grant: So Sir Raheem on Monday morning. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: I’ll go with that. Darren A. Smith: All right. You have a good weekend. Thank you, Andrew. Andrew Grant: Chow. Bye. Darren A. Smith: Bye-bye. Take a look at the Football Bonus video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Become a Supermarket Supplier with S.E.L.L.I.N.G Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-fifth episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss how to become a supplier to a UK/European Supermarket using their acronym of S.E.L.L.I.N.G. that helps you to get ‘a foot in the door’. Use S.E.L.L.I.N.G. to help you become a supermarket supplier You Can View the Full S.E.L.L.I.N.G Transcript Below Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 35 of the Grocery Guru. We are here with that guru. Andrew Grant, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning Das, yes, very good, thank you. Darren A. Smith: All right. Good, good. You’re off to buy a house soon. So we’re going to make it snappy and grab a bit of your time. Andrew Grant: Yeah, maybe we should do negotiate. I think whether it’s all about selling, maybe you should do negotiation based on what I’m up to today. Darren A. Smith: All right. You and I were together yesterday at the Algerian trade conference. How was that? Andrew Grant: Well, virtually. I don’t think we were actually in Algeria. I didn’t notice, but yeah. Darren A. Smith: We were. We were. And what came out of that was there was an audience of about 200. There was the minister of trade on the top table. You and I were virtually there as well, offering advice on suppliers who want to become suppliers to UK and European supermarkets. And you and I found a whole bunch coming out of that from the questions they asked. So I’m going to drill into your head and see if we can bring some of that back for viewers today. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Well, what struck me was just how desperately keen overseas buyers are to get into Brexit Britain. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: They really see us as a land of new opportunity and yeah, they’re desperate to do trade with the UK. Darren A. Smith: So thinking about your years in supermarkets, what made you want to select this supplier as a supplier and not this one? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Now that’s a good question. Because I still remember. Particularly when I did produce and a lot of those Algerian suppliers were produce suppliers. I’d get faxes every week with, “Oh, we can supply your melons for X.” And it was always half what I was currently paying, but I never did business with them. Because you’ve got to be able to trust the supplier. And you’ve got to know that they do the basics in terms of technical and logistics. So can they get the stuff to you? And is it not going to be full of harmful chemicals and stuff when it gets out? Are the two most important things. But what always struck me and I know I’ve used the analogy before is very often new suppliers, particularly those from abroad would just not do their homework. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: And I would sit there thinking I was almost like a travel agent. “How may I help you today? Yes. Let me guide you through the process of S.E.L.L.I.N.G to me and let me write the tickets out for you and the itinerary. And here’s your seat number. And would you like a drink before your meal?” Honestly, it was… Some of the basics they didn’t do was scary. Darren A. Smith: It was. And when we work with current clients and some are suppliers… Who want to become suppliers to supermarkets. One of the things we’re trying to share with them is they’ve got to do their homework. And that’s blindingly obvious, yet we are still surprised by how many that don’t. How many that don’t know how many depots Tesco have or Sainsbury’s have and how the supply chain works. Andrew Grant: Well. That’s… I think it’s common courtesy, especially in this day of the internet, to know how many stores a supermarket group has, what fascias they operate on, what their advertising timeline is. That is really basic stuff. If you or I have gone for an interview, you actually bother to find out who your prospective employer is, what they make, how they operate. And it just stick in me because effectively a new supplier is going for an interview when they’re meeting a buyer. Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: So I think that’s common courtesy. And if they don’t even know how many stores a retail has, they should be shown the door instantly. But then another level down, one of the common things I find particularly in chilled food, is they don’t understand just how sophisticated and just in time the chilled supply chain is in the UK. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: They’re staggered when you say you’ll get day one for day one orders. “What do you mean day one for day one?” “Well, you get an order at 8:00 AM and you’ll have to be in [RDTC 00:04:21] by 4:00 PM that afternoon. Oh, and by the way, they’ve got 28 of them.” Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: And you can see their heads just exploding. Darren A. Smith: And the other point I heard came out of the conference yesterday, you made a very good point around adding value or a USP. Would you just share more with these guys around what you were talking about at the Algerian- Andrew Grant: Yes. That’s probably the third level for me. So level one, common courtesy know how many… Yeah, know who you’re S.E.L.L.I.N.G to. Level two, get the technicalities right. So can you deliver, do you know what safety standards and hygiene standards they insist on? Do you know what the logistics operation is? But then it is about how can you add value to their business? And that’s the sophisticated way of selling that we train, it’s needs based selling. So who are their shoppers? What do their shoppers want? What are the needs that they’re trying to deliver for their shoppers? So on a really basic level, are they going to need to go up market, are they going to need to go down market? Are they value driven? How important are promotions? But on a much more sophisticated level that we spend a lot of time with UK suppliers on, it is what is the biggest strategic challenge facing an Asda at the moment or a Tesco at the moment? How do they stop the erosion of their shoppers to the likes of Aldi and Lidl? That’s probably the biggest strategic challenge for the big four is how do we range, price and promote to stop the inexorable bleed to Aldi and Lidl. Darren A. Smith: You just reminded me of a wonderful story. I think his name was Ronnie [Owlback 00:06:08] , but I’ll have to check that, the founder of Goo. And he said that he created some packaging or his design team created some packaging, he put it on a shelf in Waitrose, it was just a piece of packaging. There’s nothing in it but you wouldn’t know. And he checked from up to the aisle to see how many people picked it up to see whether he might be able to sell it. And every time he put it there, it got picked up within 10 seconds. When he put it back, it obviously went to the customer, it’s fake pizza packaging. Put it back in, someone else picked it up. And he thought, “Actually, I’ve got a good business there.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:06:40] yeah. In terms of standout and impact. Yeah. So it was at different levels with different suppliers, but as far as the very busy people, they’ve got their own businesses to run, but it does often surprise me. But they don’t treat it like it’s a personal job interview. Anybody that goes for a job interview, that’s a big thing in your life or your career. You spend a lot of time prepping and covering the questions you may get asked, the challenges that may get thrown at you. And yet, you and I have both been staggered over the years at the lack of prep and almost the ignorance that is sometimes shown. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, it is shown. Just finishing up, we’ve come up with this mnemonic S.E.L.L.L.I.N.G with seven parts, just going to start two seconds on that. And then we’ll let you go and negotiate with the state agents. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Well, it’s a seven-step pneumonic, is it? Is that what you call it? Darren A. Smith: Mnemonic, yeah. Andrew Grant: Pneumonic. I call it an acronym. But anyway, acronyms, you, mnemonics, me. Yeah. It’s a seven step and I’m sure you’ll put a link on the end of this webinar. But the seven things you need to do to prepare to effectively sell. I won’t go through each of them, we’ve covered the most important ones, which is shopping knowledge, educate yourself about the customer. What insights have you got that will differentiate you from the rest of the pack? Legislation, do you know how [G Scott 00:08:25] can protect you? And if you do get into a contractual discussion with a retailer, you need to know what supply agreement is written. Supplier agreement and ensure it is drafted correctly. So a nice, simple mnemonic as you call it. But actually if you are planning a meeting with a retailer in the next week or so, that’d be a really good starting point. Darren A. Smith: All right, Andrew, thank you very much for your guruness. Best of luck buying a house. I will talk to you next week. Andrew Grant: Okay. Take care. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Bye. Take a look at the S.E.L.L.I.N.G video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

New UK HFSS Laws on High in Fat, Salt or Sugar Foods Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-fourth episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss HFSS New Laws: High in Fat, Salt, or Sugar Foods. These are products that will be stopped from being sited on secondary spaces in-store, and cannot be volume promoted. The HFSS New Laws will affect all stores over 2,000 feet and including symbol stores, like Spar. There will be HFSS New Laws commencing in April 2022 for HFSS foods You Can View the Full HFSS New Laws Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to episode 34 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with that guru, who is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Yes, very good. Are you well? Darren A. Smith: I’m very well. It’s Friday. What’s in our postbag? What’s on your mind? What’s the world talking about today, in the world of grocery? Andrew Grant: Yeah. It’s, I think, yesterday, all you could hear about, other than England playing Germany next week, was HFSS. It doesn’t exactly slip off the tongue. It’s nothing to do with a train line about to go past your house, but I think it’s a pretty big deal, actually. Darren A. Smith: All right. So, HFSS. Let’s treat me like an idiot. No comments invited. HFSS, what does that mean? Andrew Grant: Okay. I won’t get you to guess. High fat, salt, and sugar foods. For people in the industry, the impulse category, basically. Some pretty serious legislation coming down the tracks, and actually, potentially will be enforced on the 1st of April 2022, which by my reckoning is 279 days away. Darren A. Smith: It is, [inaudible 00:01:23]. Andrew Grant: If the legislation goes through as I’ve read it, seismic changes to all those foods that will be classed as high fat, sugar, and salt. We’re talking fizzy drinks, we’re talking soft drinks, cakes, biscuits, choco

The Bid For Morrison’s Supermarket Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-third episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss the bid from United States private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, of which Terry Leahy is a Board Member, to buy Morrison’s Supermarkets. But will Amazon now make a bid too? Join Darren and Andrew as they discuss the bid for Morrison’s supermarket You Can View the Full Bid For Morrison’s Supermarket Transcript Below Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 33 of the Grocery Guru. And we are here today with that guru, Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Yeah, morning Darren. Yes, very good. Thank you very much. Darren A. Smith: Now, we’ve both had the lurgy, but that’s not why we’re on video, to tell everyone we’ve had the lurgy. Andrew Grant: No, I think you’re right. As I think you put it, we’ve done so little social interaction in the last 15 months. At the minute, you actually come near anybody else, you catch something. Darren A. Smith: Does seem that way, does seem that way. But more interestingly, for our viewers out there, what’s in our postbox, mail bag, on your lips, on your mind today? Andrew Grant: Well, there’s only one big news in the world of grocery today, I’m sure nobody’s missed it. But it’s the possible bid for Morrisons. Interestingly, we’re doing this a couple of days late. It’s Monday morning. The news broke Friday, that… What are they called? Clayton Dubilier & Rice? American venture capital group. Best known for floating B&M, Home Bargains. Darren A. Smith: Oh! I didn’t know that. Okay. Andrew Grant: And have got ex Tesco CEO Terry Leahy on their board. So, they’ve got a bit of knowledge and a bit of experience. But yeah, that news broke Friday evening. And this morning, Morrisons’ shares have gone up over 30%. Darren A. Smith: So, the news is that this venture capitalist, what do they want to do? I know you know this. Andrew Grant: Well, interestingly the supermarkets are incredibly good value. We’ve talked so many times in these sessions of how well we did over the pandemic, et cetera. But that hasn’t been reflected in their share prices. Darren A. Smith: No. Andrew Grant: And there was an article I read yesterday, to say that Morrisons’ share price prior to today, was the same as it was 20 years ago. Darren A. Smith: Wow! Okay. Andrew Grant: So, all that effort, hard work by 115,000 people wh

Preliminary GSCOP Survey Results & Sainsbury’s Range Reset Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-second episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss the preliminary results of the latest GSCOP supplier survey, whilst the announcement of the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s concern about Sainsbury’s range reset and how they are dealing with their suppliers. Preliminary GSCOP survey results You Can View the Full Preliminary GSCOP Survey Results Transcript Below Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to episode 32 of The Grocery Guru. We are here with that guru. That is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Yes, very well. Enjoying this lovely, lovely weather we’re having. Darren A. Smith: We are having lovely weather. So now lovely weather, moving on to regulatory stuff. There’s a lot going on in the media right now, The Grocer and others, and I think you’re going to tell us more about it. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, we’re always trying to keep up with what’s happening out there in grocery world. And this week, it is quite interesting, you feel sorry for the politicians sometimes, or maybe you shouldn’t, but they go from hero to zero in a flick of a finger. I think with this government it’s been the other way around; they go from zero being blamed for the whole pandemic, even though I don’t think it was quite their fault, to now suddenly being heroes because of the success of the vaccine rollout. And the flip of that is the grocers, as we’ve been reporting for the last 30-odd episodes, I mean they really pulled out every stop during the pandemic; they kept the nation fed, they’ve kept us safe, they’ve spent gazillions on repurposing their stores, et cetera. And what happens the minute we’re now seeing light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic, Morrison shareholders veto David Potts’s bonus, I’m sure a very well-earned bonus. So yesterday 70% of the shareholders vetoed his bonus for all the hard work that they praised him for during the pandemic and then the Grocery Code Adjudicator, Mark Davis, the new kid on the block- Darren A. Smith: Mark White? Andrew Grant: Sorry, Mark White, sorry. Yes. Mark White. Where did Mark Davis come from? Mark White. Yeah, he published his Annual Supplier Survey, praising Sainsbury’s for topping Aldi to the top of the tree. So ever since the survey has been done, Aldi had been top of the tree. Sainsbury’s number one this year; 97% compliance, accor

Supermarket Cost Price Increase Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirty-first episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss increasing costs for suppliers. From diesel to cargo costs, to minimum wage labour. Whilst the supermarkets slug it out in a potential price war. And, all of this whilst everyone in the supply chain tries to recover Covid costs. Whilst covid costs are still here, suppliers are increasing their costs You Can View the Full Supermarket Cost Price Increase Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello and welcome to Episode 31 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with that guru, Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. Yes. Very good. Thank you very much. Darren A. Smith: Good. Good. All right. Short week, this week. We’re Friday. What’s been happening in the world of grocery this week? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Something that I picked up on through the various news feeds we get access to, the nasty word inflation. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. All right. Andrew Grant: And a bit of a perfect storm brewing, I think, for grocery suppliers in that just about everything seems to be going up in price or is in severe shortage. Darren A. Smith: Okay. If I take you back to the ’80s, there were price increase negotiations every year and they always went up about 3%,4%, 5%. The supplier asked for 11, we got it down. Okay. Now, what’s happening is we got inflation coming again, but it’s not the typical round that used to happen, is it? Andrew Grant: No. It’s going to be really awkward, I think, for the poor old suppliers out there. Remember, everybody’s trying to recover from this pandemic. Not only if you look at global food commodity prices, whether it’s wheat or soya bean or whatever, they’re in orbit. Well, actually, what worries me is, it’s all those ancillary costs that buyers are really, really good at swiping away are going up like nobody’s business. The price of a shipping container from China, $1,700 to $8,000. Darren A. Smith: Wow! Andrew Grant: That’s a six fold increase. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. 100% increase. Wow. Andrew Grant: All of us have probably had to fill our car up for the first time in a year. That’s gone up from what, about $1.08 for diesel to $1.28 plus? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. I think there was a point where Morrisons got it below a pound. But yeah, it’s up now. I think I saw it yesterday, $1.38. Yeah, diesel’s up. Andrew Grant:

The Rise of Rapid Groceries Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirtieth episode of the Grocery Guru. They discuss Rapid Groceries – The Rise of 10-minute Window Deliveries by 8 Start-Ups. Plus, the moves by Tesco and Sainsbury’s with ‘Whoosh’ and ‘Chop-Chop’, to compete. The rise of 10-minute window deliveries You Can Read the Rapid Groceries Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to Episode 30 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with our guru, which is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Happy, happy new week. Darren A. Smith: Yes. A new week twice. We’ve just had a bank holiday. Andrew, what’s in the press at the moment around the world of grocery? Andrew Grant: Well, let me throw some words at you, Darren. See if they spark anything. Gorillas, fancy, wheezy, deja, zap. Darren A. Smith: Is that them calling? Andrew Grant: Jiffy. It was them calling, yeah. Zap, jiffy, deja, wheezy, gorillas, get here. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So what’s in my mind is animals with asthma. Andrew Grant: Oh, okay. Aren’t they all plays on fast, nippy, quick? I think that’s what they’re supposed to conjure up. But yeah, the world of rapid groceries. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. So we talked about this a few episodes ago, around there was one that Justin King had put some money into. Am I right? Andrew Grant: Snappy. Darren A. Smith: Snappy, right? Remember. Yeah, cool. Andrew Grant: I know a couple of weeks ago you were gently chiding me about getting a prediction wrong about Jack’s stores and Tesco Metros. Darren A. Smith: I certainly was. Andrew Grant: But I’m quite pleased that I picked up this trend, I don’t know how many episodes ago, and all of a sudden it’s like double feature in the Sunday Times. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, you picked up on snappy and Justin King made an investment, I think of a hundred thousand pounds, and we talked about short windows, weren’t we? Narrow windows. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But the crazy thing is 19 billion of venture startup money has gone into these businesses in the last five years. Darren A. Smith: Wow.

Tesco Metro’s Demise and Fewer Formats for Tesco Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-ninth episode about the demise of Tesco Metro, what is happening to the Tesco Jack’s format, and maybe the start of Tesco managing fewer formats. Darren and Andrew discuss Tesco Jack’s format and the demise of Tesco Metro You Can Read the Demise of Tesco Metro Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to episode 29 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. You well? Darren A. Smith: Yes, I’m very good. I’m very good. We’ll ignore all the technical issues we’ve just had, because no one cares, but we’ve just had a few. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Well, I picked up the news. We often try and bring the most topical items in the grocery world. So yeah, I picked up this week, didn’t get a lot of press, but the demise of the Tesco Metro. It will be no more. Darren A. Smith: Oh really? Okay. Tell us more. Andrew Grant: Yeah, so I’ve got to do some very quick math here. 147 Tesco Metros, all being rebranded either as Tesco Express or as Tesco Superstores, which I find interesting. I can understand 89 of them becoming Expresses. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. I can. Andrew Grant: 58 Superstores, god, there must be some big monsters out there forgotten about. Darren A. Smith: That seems odd, so just remind us what is a Tesco Metro? Andrew Grant: Well, originally it was a reason to take… So if you think back to what Tesco’s original heyday of operation check-out and Green Shield Stamps, all their stores were in bustling town centers. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Very true. Andrew Grant: So, you and I are probably old enough to go back that far, but your quintessential high street with your Woolies, your Marks & Spencer, your Boots, and your Tesco. [crosstalk 00:01:46] So Tesco ended up in the 80s as it was starting to build their out of town estate, which was the making of them, left with all of these city and town center stores on a high street, and they thought, “What the hell do we do with them?” And they came up with a Metro format. But essentially all they did was took an existing small supermarket and stuck a camp sandwich cabinet and some soft drinks chillers at the front, and still to this day most metros have far more range probably than the shoppers need. And it was interesting in the press release, Tesco said that 70% of the shopping missions in Metros are for top-up shops. Darren A. Smith: Oh okay. All right. So we’ve got a good understanding of Tesco Metro. All right. So these guys are saying, they’re going to take 80… How many was it? 89? Andrew Grant: 89 into Tesco Express format, and I’m 58 into the Superstore format. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So does this mean that Tesco Metro format will be gone completely? Andrew Grant: It’s like the proverbial parrot. It is no more. It is dead. Darren A. Smith: All right. Okay. Okay. So do you think this is about head office trying to manage fewer formats, or the other format’s more popular? What’s your take on this? Andrew Grant: No, I think, again, it shows the power of shopper insight and club card. They know precisely what every single one of their shoppers is buying in every single store, every single minute of the day, and it’s fine tuning a very, very well honed engine. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. So I get that. I get the insight into shoppers, but why remove Metro? What does it add, or what does it add by removing it? Andrew Grant: Well, no, I think you said it as you said that first, what does it add? Express is a phenomenally successful C-store concept, the out of town extras again phenomenally successful. Why do you want a Metro stuck in the middle, which is neither one thing or the other. It’s not a full on c-store, and it’s definitely not a full range, weekly supermarket shop store. And of course we know, many town centers out there and it’s sad. The ones I visited, really sad what this pandemic has done to the traditional town center, and interestingly, maybe a slighter side of BBC news last night, worth watching actually. The regeneration of town centers. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Nottingham. Darren A. Smith: No. Andrew Grant: The Broadmarsh Centre in Nottingham is perfect example of 70s planning terrorism. I mean, it is just horrific. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Well, we’ll let the link at the bottom of the video to the regeneration. I’ve just written it down, BBC. Andrew Grant: What they’re looking at is basically taking out this 70s concrete covered shopping center and restoring the original medieval winding streets. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. Okay. So a lot more like a Cheltenham or Gloucester town center. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And they then contrasted that with Maidenhead down in the affluent south, about to get the east west rail link. So, Maidenhead, and part of the tech corridor of Slough to Redding, and they’ve done exactly the same thing. They’re taking a 70s covered shopping center, ripped the roof off, and moved it to, I think 30% shops, 30% residential, 30% leisure. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Okay. Andrew Grant: And literally breathing life back into the town centers. So, interesting that Tesco haven’t said they’re offloading any of this estate. Maybe they’ll wait a couple of years until property values, or until commercial property values rise again, and they’ll have another think about it. Darren A. Smith: And just coming back to your other points, so the other format they’re going to move some of them into are superstore. So some of them aren’t small. These are big stores that they’re moving or changing. Andrew Grant: Yeah. I guess it depends on the location. I can’t think of any specifically, but there will be some that are by the town car park, or by the town multi-story. So in theory, you could take your car in there, do a full trolley shop, and it’s still practicable, but equally there’s ones I can think of where they’re landlocked in these dying little town centers. And yeah, you can imagine why Tesco would have taken a good close look at them. Darren A. Smith: That makes sense. All right. So let’s throw it into the mix Jack’s. I know you did for The Grocer probably 18 months ago, a review of Jack’s out in Chatteris . So how does that feature in this thought? Andrew Grant: Well, I was afraid you were going to bring that up. I think it’s the only time I’ve made a false prediction. So please don’t add the link to The Grocer article to this. [crosstalk 00:07:10] Yeah. I remember on a particularly cold wet unpleasant East Anglia day being sent out to Chatteris, which is literally in the middle of deep, deep Finland, and yeah. Doing a review of the new Jack’s format, which Dave Lewis, Tesco CEO at the time, was very, very excited about. And it was their answer to Aldi and Lidl. Darren A. Smith: Oh, we see. So there are what, 10, 12 Jack’s out there? Andrew Grant: Yeah. 12 of them, yeah, basically they are a British Aldi. Almost carbon copy of an Aldi with the special buys down the middle, very, very simply merchandised, and fitted out. And some very limited, but pretty high quality range. And I’m sure you’ll remember at the time, me making this grand prediction that wouldn’t it make perfect sense to transport the Jack’s brand into all of these oversized Tesco Metros, where they’re not quite sure whether they’re a c-store or a supermarket, but hey, for my grand strategies. Darren A. Smith: I think I do remember now, if that’s the only prediction you’ve got wrong, we’ll ask you for the lottery numbers in a minute. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: So, excuse me, we’ve got these 12 Jack’s out there. How are they performing? What do you think they’ll do with those in the future? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s interesting. If you Google Jack’s there’s nothing. There’s the corporate website, but it doesn’t look particularly loved. Everything says copyright 2018. So it looks like it’s not had a lot of updating and love. I would imagine that Tesco’s, we know, have been phenomenally successful in their main [inaudible 00:09:16] Aldi. The Aldi price match [inaudible 00:09:20] changing products, stop the flow of customers to Aldi. It’s been massively successful. And they probably think we actually don’t need something that will go head to head with an Aldi, but could actually end up damaging Tesco. Darren A. Smith: [inaudible 00:09:41] So what’s your prediction for Jack’s for the future? Andrew Grant: Oh, thank you for that. I think it will go the way of Tesco Metro very quietly. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. I would have thought so, because it doesn’t seem to be adding anything from what we can see. It was a good trial, worth testing, didn’t work, and making the other formats work more successfully would be my guess. Andrew Grant: Yeah. I think they found the answer to how to neutralize Aldi. We talked about it three episodes ago, the latest [inaudible 00:10:11] data. I was [inaudible 00:10:13] the Aldi was one of the slowest growing of the grocers. Half the growth rate of Tesco. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So Tesco have found that sweet spot to neutralize the threat of the discounters. So yeah. Why do you need a Jack’s? Darren A. Smith: Very true. Very true. Okay. All right, Andrew, before we go and thank you for your guru-ness, what’s the takeaway you want to give our viewers? Andrew Grant: What’s the takeaway? Yeah, just again, it just shows how fast grocery moves. Jack’s less than three years old. We’re questioning that. The changes on the high street just phenomenal, but as ever Tesco very, very quick to move ahead of the pack. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. I did hear that Tesco used the phrase, “Ready, fire, aim.” A lot. And it seems to be working for them. Andrew Grant: [inaudible 00:11:12]. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: All right, Andrew, thank you for your guru-ness and we’ll see you next week. Andrew Grant: Bye-bye. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Take a look at the Demise of Tesco Metro video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Morrison’s Q1 Trading Statement and Their Wholesale Performance Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-eighth episode about Morrisons Q1 trading statement for 2021 (14 weeks to 9 May 2021) – ‘On track for strong future profit growth and low debt’. Their partnership with Amazon, predicting the new working patterns, and strong wholesale performance. Join Darren and Andrew as they discuss Morrisons Q1 Trading Statement You Can Read the Full Morrisons Q1 Trading Statement Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to the Grocery Guru. This is episode 28 and we are here with your grocery guru, Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Yes, very well. Thank you. Darren A. Smith: Good. You’re sporting a hoodie today. Andrew Grant: Yeah, it’s still early in the morning. Darren A. Smith: Fair enough. All right, let’s talk about Morrison’s quarterly statement. I think is what’s in our postbag today. Andrew Grant: Well, that was the news that sort of sparked some thoughts, I guess. Morrison’s 12 week trading statement came out, I think Tuesday. Always really, really useful because, we’ve talked about the annual results of all of the big four. The only problem with those are they’re up to a year out of date, whereas this is only 12 weeks out of date. So it’s a real snapshot of what’s happening out there. I think I’ve said it before, I’m really glad I am not facing some of the conundrums these supermarkets are facing, because what struck out to me, it’s a good performance, they’re now lapping the start of the pandemic. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: So they’re lapping all that bulk buying of toilet rolls and water and all the panic buying. They’re like for like. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Their like for like’s down to 1.6%. Down from a peak of 11.1. But the good news for them is on a two year basis, their like for likes are up 8.7. Now a lot of that’s driven by their wholesale business, which is growing like Topsy. But what stood out for me, is they put a couple of graphs into the trading statement. Their fuel volumes are back to pre-pandemic levels. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: Their three pound meal deal, their food to go offering, is ahead of pre-pandemic levels. We read all this stuff about, the new normal is working from home, town centers are going to be dead, but on the face of it, these figures… And just anecdotally, when you go on the roads at the moment, the rush hour is back. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: The M-25 is gridlock at 4:30 every day. So, is everybody back at work or the flip? And you probably noticed it, Pret a Manger opening sandwich shops in Tesco supermarkets, because their high street business has been destroyed. Who was right? Darren A. Smith: It’s a real tough one. There might be a third scenario in this, which is we all go back to work type thing to normal for a couple of months because we’re desperate to get to see people, engage, and go back to where we work to feel like normal people. Then we decided actually that thing, that home wasn’t so bad and we do this for a bit until we figure out, we need to balance that maybe is somewhere here in the middle. Andrew Grant: Or you become a twat. Darren A. Smith: Go on, tell us what the twat is. Andrew Grant: It’s nothing personal, Darren. It is a proper scientific term. It is not a swear word. A twat is somebody who works in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: I think this is what the new normal will be. They say there’s a million, again, another piece of news this week, they surveyed the UK’s 50 largest employers. Over a million workers will be allowed to work in a hybrid home or office scenario. I think some of the banks have already said it, some of the big investment houses in London. When you look at what’s happening with home purchases, Devon and Cornwall, the cop was just manic, manic, house buying. I think you’re going to see the rise of the twat, the person that works in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but then enjoys a much more relaxed, country style way of life Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Darren A. Smith: It’s the long weekend, and maybe the biggest positive to come out of the awful COVID pandemic, is that we were playing with flexible working before. Maybe now we’re actually going to do it properly. There’s the talk of the four-day week, of course. Maybe this is the bit that’s in the middle that really works, where someone works mostly in the office and then they have the long weekend at home. Andrew Grant: Well, I think it breaks the big taboo. I’m sure you would have known it, but whether it was at Salisbury’s or Tesco, if you said to your boss, “I’m just going store visiting”, everybody knew you were skiving off the afternoon. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: You had that awkward thing the next morning when they said, “Oh, which stores did you visit”? “Oh, yeah. That one in New Olden”. “We haven’t got a store in New Olden, Andrew”. “Oh, right. It was somewhere else then”. Darren A. Smith: Maybe that’s what COVID has brought, the positive is that we’ve found this way of working, which is beyond the jolly, which it used to be. I’ll have a jolly day off from a Friday. To actually, people are realizing, when I’m at home and I’ve got Teams, I’m doing that, I’m working hard, I’m working hard at the office, and the balance is struck. Andrew Grant: Certainly, anecdotally, among friends and colleagues, they don’t want to work from home 24/7. They just get too fed up of their other half, all the distractions. But equally, they do not want the hassle of having to get a train into London every day and have that stress and congestion. For them, hybrid is perfect. Everybody I speak to, “Yeah. I’ll quite happily go in the office two or three days a week, because it gets me out of the house. I get to meet my colleagues and a bit of, you know, social interaction. It’s also good for business. But do you know what? I do value being able to spend more quality time at home where actually I feel I’m more productive when I’m working”. Darren A. Smith: Yes. I’m just going to drop in here a help for anyone who’s viewing. We’ve just written an article called, Turn Off Your Email Notifications, Watch out for the Badges. I’m just going to intrigue people with that and we’ll drop the link at the bottom of the video. The other part is, try not to build your calendar like Titres, where you drop down those things and all of a sudden you’ve got 12 hours absolutely stacked back to back and you think, “Oh, that’s a hell of a day”. Try not to do that. But again, we’ll drop some links on the video to help them. Andrew Grant: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Darren A. Smith: All right. Andrew Grant: Yeah. As ever, interesting times and some real big calls some of these retailers got to make. Although, when I say big calls, they’ll make the calls, but it’s the supply base that’ll have to either jump to attention instantly, if suddenly food to go takes off again, or they’ll be left on the sidelines if they decide now food to go isn’t the future. I think for the suppliers, they need to be absolutely eagle-eyed and watch every single second of all these various stats and trends we’ve been talking about, because I couldn’t call it. I don’t think it’s 50, 50 as to whether hybrid working will be here to stay or in three years time we go pandemic? What pandemic? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. It could be. It’s a tough one to call, you’re right. The obvious answer is they need to be flexible, which they’re watching this thinking, “Of course we need to be flexible. We need to have a business plan for either. Of course we do”. We appreciate that it takes a huge amount of effort to create something that you might never use. Andrew Grant: Yeah, absolutely. Darren A. Smith: Called out another two highlights before we finish and let you go. Online sales also continue their strong run with year on year growth of 113%, partly driven by it’s partnership with Amazon. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. That is something that is clearly here to stay. People have switched into the convenience of having their bulk groceries home delivered. I think I said in an earlier one of these, it is quite staggering that the supermarkets managed to train the UK population to do their own picking and sorting effectively in a warehouse. Darren A. Smith: We’re actually very good pickers. Very good pickers. Andrew Grant: If you’d have pitched that as a business plan today, we’d like our customers to go and pick and sort their own products and move them from shelf to trolley, trolley to belts, belts to trolley, trolley to car. They’d say that you wouldn’t get investment for that. Darren A. Smith: Very true. Very true. One last bit re primarily starting to supply an extra 230 McConnell stores, 25 McConnell stores converted to Morrison Daily, taking a total of 56. We’ve got 56 months Morrison Daily’s out there now. Andrew Grant: Probably, to most people, Morrison’s wholesale business has been really an unsung hero. They’ve built a sizeable wholesale business there. Not quite what the plans for it would be. Would they at some point, float it off? Don’t know, but they’ve managed to keep a focus on running a pretty good set of supermarkets, but also build this pretty sizeable now wholesale business. Which obviously helps their volumes and helps them in their negotiations with the biggest suppliers because, they don’t have the buying power of a Tesco or Salisbury’s or an Asa, but actually with the wholesale division, gives them a lot of extra oomph when it comes to the negotiations. Darren A. Smith: Certainly does, but it doesn’t touch on their manufacturing division. In the bits that I read. Andrew Grant: No it doesn’t, but I guess that’s another unique part of the Morrison set up. I can’t remember whether the vertical integration is in vogue or isn’t in vogue, it seems to switch in and out, but they’ve got a pretty successful vertically integrated model as the textbooks would say. Darren A. Smith: Andrew, great insights. What’s the one takeaway you want to leave our viewers with? Andrew Grant: Oh, the one takeaway? Three pound meal deal sounds good. Darren A. Smith: I like your work. Okay. Andrew, thank you very much. We’ll see you next week. Andrew Grant: Bye-bye. Darren A. Smith: Bye. Take a look at the Morrisons Q1 Trading Statement video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Nett Revenue Management and How it Relates to Supermarkets Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-seventh episode which is about What is Nett Revenue Management? And how it relates to supermarkets. Plus, where did NRM come from, and how can it be used. They also share their NRM Pyramid model. Our Net Revenue Management Training Course covers a model and process for effective day to day NRM. You Can Read the Full What is Nett Revenue Management Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 27 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Morning Darren. Are you well? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m very well. There’s a lot going on in the world, but let’s focus on grocery. And let’s focus on a trending topic, NRM. Andrew Grant: Oh, got me there. Is that a rapper? An ’80s rapper? Darren A. Smith: What, like Run-DMC? Andrew Grant: Well no, I was thinking more, as we’re talking grocery, maybe a confectionary wrapper. Darren A. Smith: Oh, I see. I was thinking you mean [inaudible 00:00:35]. So NRM. Not really managing? No, what’s it stand for? Andrew Grant: Could be. Could be. I think it’s net revenue management. I’m taking a wild guess there. Darren A. Smith: It is. So we’re going to talk about what is nett revenue management now. Net, N-E-T or N-E-T-T? Andrew Grant: Oh. Oh that’s a very [inaudible 00:00:56]. I don’t think it matters, does it? Darren A. Smith: I don’t know [crosstalk 00:00:58]. Andrew Grant: I’d go with N-E-T-T, because that’s a bit more accountancy and finance-y. Darren A. Smith: It is supposed to be the right way is N-E-T-T, but I’m sure no one really cares. The Google searches have been going up and up over the last three years, because we can track what people are searching for, what volume. So it’s going up and up and up. It’s getting more and more popular. Net revenue management, or NRM, or optimizing revenue, what the hell is it? Andrew Grant: Well, I think it is actually very topical. And if you are watching the Google stats it’s probably not surprising it’s starting to peak again, because I think it’s going to become incredibly important the next six months. Do you know the background? Where it came from? Darren A. Smith: I know it’s about the

Discussing Sainsbury’s Preliminary Results with Covid Costs of £485m Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-sixth episode of the Grocery Guru Discussing Sainsbury’s Preliminary Results with Covid Costs of £485m, digital sales doubling, and 1,900 innovative products to be launched. Sainsbury’s preliminary results with covid costs You Can Read the Full Issa Brothers Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 26 of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning. Very good thank you Darren. Darren A. Smith: Cool, and I think we’re continuing our series of looking at results. So we’ve looked at Morrisons previously, we’ve looked at Tesco. It’s now our friends at Holborn. Andrew Grant: Yeah, you were going to say Stamford Street and show your age, weren’t you? Darren A. Smith: I was. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, we’re getting towards the end of results season. I suppose, you know, those Sainsbury’s results, you’ve read them. Darren A. Smith: I have. Andrew Grant: More of the same really that we saw with Tesco and Morrisons. Everybody, all the supermarkets, all the food grocers, doing incredibly well out of COVID, but at a cost. Darren A. Smith: That’s true. So we’re looking at the preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 6th of March ’21. What was the biggest highlight for you, the COVID cost? Andrew Grant: No, I think you’re going to touch on that in a second, but for me, it’s online. We’ve talked about it in several of these episodes, but their online sales have doubled from 8% of their business to 17% of the business. Most importantly, they’re now saying that they’re profitable online sales. So what the pandemic seems to have done is got all of them over that base cost line of running trucks and having to pick stuff in stores. You’ve got a lot of fixed costs there. They didn’t have the volume before to make it profitable. All of a sudden it’s kicked their online, or their home delivery operations, into profit, which is good news for, I guess, the shareholders going forward. Darren A. Smith: That makes sense. So we’re saying now that one in five customers are ordering online. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: They’ve managed to make it profitable, so they’ve got over their hump, whatever that was 10%, 15%. Okay, all right. The one I do want to raise is the COVID costs,

Issa Brothers Buy Leon & Cafe Nero to Grab the Electric Car Market For EG Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-fifth episode of the Grocery Guru discussing the Issa Brothers buying Leon and Cafe Nero to grab the electric car market. The electric car market is being grabbed by the Issa Brothers You Can Read the Full Issa Brothers Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Well, hello and welcome to episode 25 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning Darren. Very good. I’m very good, thank you very much. Darren A. Smith: We’ve hit a milestone. We’re at 25 episodes of sharing your guru-ness, if that’s a word? Andrew Grant: Wow. Wow. Darren A. Smith: All right. So what’s on your mind this week? Andrew Grant: Well, I guess the retail news that stood out to me alongside the European failed Super League was the Issa brothers buying Leon, the semi-fast food chain and seem to be closing in Caffe Nero. Darren A. Smith: Right. Oh, okay. Andrew Grant: And this idea of creating, if you like, super petrol forecourts. Posh petrol forecourts. Because I don’t know what your experience of filling up at one of these forecourts is? There’s either a very nice Tesco Express or Sainsbury’s Local, but there’s often a pretty grubby Gregg’s or Subway or some unknown chain. And it’s all a little bit ugh. Darren A. Smith: Tell us, the brothers, what did they recently buy? Andrew Grant: Well, they built up Euro Garages from nothing, into, I think, it’s certainly Europe’s largest chain of forecourts, top of my head, 1,500 forecourts. Darren A. Smith: Right. Okay. Big. Andrew Grant: And they develop them as these mini shopping hubs. But I think now, they bought Aster. They can obviously use Asda’s free holder stake. Because most of Asda’s estate is freehold. So they can sale and lease back. Classic private equity stuff. Sale and lease back Asda’s estate to them. Give them a whole load of money to spend on buying. A hundred million for Leon. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Okay. Andrew Grant: And then put these fancy forecourts together. But I don’t know about you, but you pull up to a petrol station and there’s a forecourt shop there. A nice one. Don’t you feel guilty about browsing down the shelves while there’s 1,700 people waiting to fill up and you’re blocking the pump? Darren

Tesco Romping Ahead of Aldi in Kantar’s Market Share Results 12 Week March 21 Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-fourth episode of the Grocery Guru discussing how Tesco is romping ahead of Aldi in Kantar’s market share results. Tesco are ahead of Aldi in Kantar’s market share You Can Read the Full Tesco and Aldi Market Share Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to this week’s weekly grocery guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. Yes, very good. Darren A. Smith: Good, good. Well, episode 24, Andrew. And I hope we’re not running out of things to say to our viewers. I sense we’re not. What’s in our postbag this week? Andrew Grant: Well, not necessarily postbag but news of a sort, I suppose. But maybe it’s lockdown and I should get out more, but the world is turned on its head, as we all know. But I never thought I would see the day again when Tesco would grow its market share and Aldi would lose market share. Darren A. Smith: Well, that sounds strange. Yeah, go on. Tell me more. Andrew Grant: Yeah, because I mean, the history of the last, what? 10 years has been Aldi just going like that and Tesco slowly losing share every single month. And latest Kantar data has just come out. It’s very exciting for people like you and me, but I’m not sure a lot of people stay up late at night to wait for it. But it’s staggering. We talked last week or the week before I think, about this lockdown effect and how the malts have been the big winners. Darren A. Smith: Yes we did. Andrew Grant: But obviously, but would you really want to be a buyer this year facing last year’s peaks? Darren A. Smith: Oh, I mean, it will be terrible for every buyer out there, every supplier, year on year, will just be… Hard. Yeah. Andrew Grant: No. Yes and no. Not so bad if you’re a Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s. Pretty bad if you’re an Aldi or a Lidl. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: What Kantar have very helpfully done is done a two year change figure, two year growth figure. So, they’ve done a year on year figure for March and a two year figure for March, so yo

A Partnership between Tesco and BMW The Every Little Helps Car Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-third episode of the Grocery Guru discussing the partnership between Tesco and BMW to launch the Every Little Helps car. The BMW Series 1 ELH. Tesco has partnered with BMW for the launch of their Every Little Helps car You Can Read the Full Tesco and BMW Partnership Episode Transcript Below: Darren A Smith : Welcome to the weekly episode, that is the Grocery Guru. This is the episode number 23. And we’re here with Andrew, our Grocery Guru. Andrew how are you? Andrew Grant : Morning Darren, you well?. Happy Easter. Andrew Grant : Thank you, you too. Yes, we’ve got four days off soon. Now the news, been a bit slower of late. What have we got in our postbag for this week? Andrew Grant : A couple of things. I mean, there’s talk of an Asda price war, that they’re trying to match Aldi a little bit. How many times have you heard of a grocery price war that wasn’t really a price war. So maybe we just jump over that until more develops. The other interesting thing I saw though, and I’m amazed it’s not got more publicity actually, but a tie up between BMW and Tesco. Darren A Smith : BMW cars, and Tesco? Okay. [crosstalk 00:00:52] Andrew Grant : Yeah, they’re going to collaborate on the world’s most recycled, recyclable green car. Darren A Smith : Wow. [crosstalk 00:01:01]. I mean Tesco is big, but BMW is huge. That’s quite a coup for them to land that. Andrew Grant : Well, it’s going to be the BMW ELH – the every little helps. Darren A Smith : [laughing] Brilliant. Andrew Grant : Think about it. They’re going to build it from all Tesco’s packaging waste. So you think of how many tin cans Tesco get threw and remember a tin can isn’t tin it’s steel. Darren A Smith : Yes quite so. Andrew Grant : How many, how many plastic bottles? So it’s going to be built from all recycled packaging, which is obviously good for the planet, but even more interesting, it’s going to run off bio ethanol produced from Tesco’s food waste. So you’ll, you’ll sort of pop up to the supermarket quite how they’ll do the practicalities I don’t know but presume you pop up to the petrol filling station, it will be a bio ethanol pump and you fill it up with bio ethanol. So you’ve got a pretty much hundred percent recycled car running off totally clean fuel. I thought it was brilliant. Darren A Smith : This is a bit like the McDonald’s restaurant vans that run off biodiesel. So it must be something similar. So it is very possible to make this happen. Wow. Okay. Okay

Hagglebots and Fishing Grenades Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-first episode of Grocery Guru discussing supermarkets using Hagglebots and Fishing Grenades Hagglebots and fishing grenades You Can Read the Full Hagglebots and Fishing Grenades Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. You’re here with us on episode 21 with the Grocery Guru. Andrew, our grocery guru, how are you? Andrew Grant: Very well, Darren, yeah. You? You good? Darren A. Smith: Yes, very good. Andrew, this week we are talking about hagglebot, something you know something about, I think. Andrew Grant: Wasn’t that Robbie Coltrane in the Harry Potter films? Big guy that lived outside the school, isn’t he? Darren A. Smith: I think that was Hagrid. Andrew Grant: Oh, Hagridbot. Sorry, I misheard you. So not a Hagridbot, a hagglebot. Darren A. Smith: We’re talking about hagglebot. So I’ve got this piece that I’ve done some research on with hagglebot, and what I’d like to do is get your take as the grocery guru on what’s happening in the world of supermarkets, haggling, negotiating. So I’m going to read some of this out, but before I do, what’s your understanding of hagglebot? Andrew Grant: Well, I suppose it’s this new AI, artificial intelligence, way of negotiating. So obviously I think come out of the States. I think maybe we might use it where they automate the negotiation process. I mean in my world, it goes back to one of the scariest things I ever saw was an e-auction that we did years back. An e-auction for tinned tuna, I think it was. And Jesus, it was brutal negotiation I have ever seen when you let basically computers set the prices and suppliers don’t know who they’re bidding against. Absolutely brutal. And if I’d have been … if I’d have been the suppliers, I’d have been in tears at the end. Darren A. Smith: It’s like a blind auction, isn’t it? Andrew Grant: Yeah, literally. You place your bid, a huge amount of business, and no supplier can afford to lose it, and yet you’re bidding blind against a competitor that suddenly says no, you need to come down 50 more dollars a ton. So I guess you could call that … I mean that was serious hagglebotting, to use your phrase. Darren A. Smith: Well, it seems to be coming up more and more. Let me share this with you. There is the Olympics for hagglebots, they’re on their 11th year, and it’s artificial intelligence pitched against artificial intelligence and/or pitched against humans. And tends to be universities. The winners tend to be Turkey or Japan with the best hagglebots. We’re 11 years in but the first haggle bot was developed in the 1980s and was called Negoisst. Never heard of that. But here’s a statement I’d like to share with you and see what you think, “Humans have the upper hand understanding emotion and subject matter expertise, but can falter when there are many issues.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. I mean if you think about it, when you bid on eBay for something, that’s a sort of electronic negotiation, isn’t it? You place your bid and then you get told, “Oh, you’re being outbid.” And that works in a very black and white linear way, but it must come down to our world of food. There’s a specification for product, there’s delivery times, there’s payment terms, there’s so many, as we call them, [inaudible 00:03:32]. Could you program a computer to get all those nuances? And at the end of the day, it is looking somebody in the eye and doing a deal with them. So I can see electronic negotiation, haggling, whatever you want to call it, working when it’s very simple transactions and you’ve got thousands of suppliers. I can see it being beneficial to an organization to use almost like tick box buying. And in the last week, there’s been a few news items where a particularly large online player has been sending out tick box requests for terms of doing business. In my day, it used to be called something like a grenade fishing. Darren A. Smith: Grenade fishing. Andrew Grant: You throw an email out there with a whole load of outrageous requests, let it explode amongst the supply base, and you guarantee 50% of the fish will land up on the shore. Darren A. Smith: Wow. And I guess the online retailer, we’re talking about Amazon had done some of this. They’ve been in the press with this stuff, haven’t they? Andrew Grant: Yeah, there’s been some press about them. Darren A. Smith: All right, well let me ask you this. Walmart, you’ve mentioned, I think. They have an AI system of negotiating called Pactum, Sounds like something else, negotiating contracts and prices. But let me try this one on you. If everything is known, so this is from the AI chatbot Olympics guys, the founder, negotiations should never have to happen at all. You need zero rounds and the deal is struck immediately if everything is known. What do you think about that? Andrew Grant: I think they need to get out more. Come on, the world’s not like that. I mean think back to what we used to do, even if you knew absolutely everything, you’d still ask for that extra few P, wouldn’t you? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, you’re would. I think these guys are wrong. Andrew Grant: Yeah, well that’s the bit that says … I mean we’ve always said negotiation, and we do an exercise, don’t we, at [inaudible 00:05:51]? Negotiation workshops, the first exercise we do. And we prove that if you put six sets of two people doing exactly the same negotiation with exactly the same brief and knowledge, you get six different results, because it’s generally the person that’s the most aggressive, the most pushy, the most- Darren A. Smith: Ambitious. Andrew Grant: Ambitious, yeah. The most ambitious gets the better deal. So yeah, computers can do so much, but the minute you stick human beings in the mix, emotions get involved. Some human beings are more naturally aggressive than others. Some are more passive. Some people are just having a good day or a bad day, and it’ll change a negotiation. Darren A. Smith: Absolutely. Well, here’s another bit. They’re saying that within three minutes of a deal, the bots, by looking at our facial recognition, the pitch of our tone, how much it changes, can predict the outcome. Andrew Grant: I can imagine that. I mean anybody that’s a card player, the best card players are those that can read their opponent’s mannerism, what have you. We’ve never got into that. I’ve never got into that side of negotiation, the way people look and behave, but you do tend to pick up, don’t you, whether somebody is comfortable? I remember we always talk about never look comfortable in a negotiation. If you’re sitting back in your chair with your arms folded and your feet up with a great big Montecristo cigar, you’re possibly making too much money, as opposed to sitting forward, looking a little bit on edge, and using the language of, “You’ll have the coat off my back, Darren, next.” We all do that gamesmanship. Darren A. Smith: Well between this, I think that makes us very good trainers. I’m very interested in the behavioral side of it rather than the techniques. So I’m interested in that body language that says what are you really saying to me? And those little words that we use, which are, “About 21%,” which really means it’s not 21%, it’s much, much more or much, much less. All right, Andrew. So what does this mean for supermarkets, grocery? Is the account manager dead? We don’t need them anymore. They’re obsolete. Andrew Grant: I don’t think so. I think we have talked in previous ones of this about how the account manager’s job is going to morph into more of a shopper insight manager and that having the skills of understanding their shoppers almost as well as they do is massively important for account managers going forward. Yeah, more negotiation will go online. Relatively undifferentiated products, so bags of sugar, bags of flour, where there isn’t a massive specification, pretty easy to buy that on a e or haggle platform. But once it gets complicated and the business gets big, you’re going to need the human … Darren A. Smith: Andrew, I think we’ve just- Andrew Grant: [crosstalk 00:09:13]. Darren A. Smith: Oh, sorry. The broadband’s just catching up. Slight glitch, but I think I got the gist of what you were saying. Horses for courses [crosstalk 00:09:20]. Andrew Grant: Yeah, there does seem to be a bit of a delay. I hope the recording’s better. Darren A. Smith: All right. I think we were talking about horses for courses there in terms of negotiation. If you’ve got a very standard, basic product, then it’s likely more e-auction. Something a bit more complex is going to be more negotiating with a human. And then we’ve got shopper insight, which is going to be the real battle ground for the future. All right, Andrew, I think we’ve lost your broadband, so we’re going to bring that to a close and we’ll talk to you next week. Take care. Take a look at the Hagglebots and Fishing Grenades video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Retailer Results Season – Will they be Requiring Monies? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-second episode of Grocery Guru discussing Retailer Results Season and many of the retailers who are coming to their year-end and negotiations will be tough. Retailer Results Season – Will they be requiring Monies? You Can Read the Full Retailer Results Season Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to the weekly episode. We’re on number 22, and we’re with the Grocery Guru, that is Andrew Grant. Andrew, hello. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Very good, Darren. Are you well? Darren A. Smith: Yes, I’m well, I’m well. This week I think has been a slow news week. So Andrew, what have you got in our post bag for us? Andrew Grant: Yeah, it has. I didn’t pick up anything really of much note this week, which is a dangerous thing to say, because it probably means I’ve missed something really important. But no, as you know, we get, what? 12, 15 queries a week, either email or whatever, from clients. And yeah, there’s been a bit of a theme over the last couple of weeks. Obviously, it’s result season, or year-end season, so just about all the supermarkets’ year ends are either between the 1st of Jan and the 1st of April basically. Darren A. Smith: Right. Okay. So we’re in results season. So you’re an experienced person, you’ve been through this for quite a number of years. I’m an account manager, let’s say, what can I expect in results season? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s one of the things I’ve been getting the most queries about. Is that obviously, most buyers are working at home, a lot of consolidation of buying teams, so fewer buyers Because I always remember when I used to do it, the pressure to get annual terms agreed with all your suppliers. You inevitably start with the very big ones. But there’s then this desperate rush to get the smaller suppliers’ terms agreed before the start of your new financial year. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, true. Okay. So if I’m a buyer and I’m in results season, January, February, March, I’m trying to get terms agreed with all my suppliers. How many suppliers might I have? Andrew Grant: It depends on the size of the category, but 30 to a 100. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So, there’s a lot I’ve got to get done. And these are quite technical, these are legal things [crosstalk 00:02:07] Andrew Grant: No, it’s a negotiation. And obviously each year I want a better over rider or I want higher gate fees for those gate fees that you’re allowed to do. So you have to have a to and fro conversation with every single supplier, assuming that every single supplier doesn’t say yes instantly. But the problem that now happens with GSCOP, and this has been where I’ve been getting the calls, is that the biggest single protection a supplier has under GSCOP is that the named retailers cannot do anything that is retrospective. It’s an absolute no-no. Darren A. Smith: All right. So let me just understand that. So I’m an account manager, you’re saying that they can’t ask me for stuff retrospectively. They can’t ask me for, now is the 1st of March or whatever it is, I want stuff for February? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, the difficulties buyers are getting themselves into is that they haven’t agreed terms with their suppliers on time. And they’re saying things like, look, we haven’t agreed terms, we’ll roll over this year’s terms, which is allowed, but as soon as we do agree terms, the new terms get backdated to the start of my financial year. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. And so I understand that, are we talking about this is a Tesco or an Asda thing, is this just their policy or is it something more? Andrew Grant: Well, obviously only 13 named retailers are covered by GSCOP. Clearly I’m not going to name who … Our suppliers wouldn’t want us to be divulging which particular retailers it is. And it’s not any one particular retailer actually. So I don’t think it is … It’s not a systemic problem that one retailer is deliberately delaying its terms of negotiations. I genuinely get the impression, it’s very busy buyers with lots of suppliers to talk to, and they’re running out of time. And so they’re then obviously under pressure from their boss and the finance teams to put in place the terms for the new financial year. And some of them are making the mistake of saying, well, we’ll backdate the terms to the start of the year, which is an absolute breach of GSCOP. Darren A. Smith: Okay. And that’s where I was going with my question. This isn’t a company policy thing by any of the one or all named retailers, we’re talking about a piece of law? Andrew Grant: Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely. No. It’s an absolute stand up piece of law that they cannot break. And some very interesting discussions. And the reason that account managers have been talking to us is they want to know, how do I use this? And our advice always is, is there any point making a formal complaint and taking one of these retailers through the legal process? Because you as the supplier don’t get much back as a result. However, most buyers will be horrified that they’ve potentially broken the law. And then obviously you’re in a negotiation around terms. So, of course the supplier can agree that we’ll backdate terms. But if I was a supplier, I’d want something back in return fairly meaty. Darren A. Smith: Of course. And if one of these 13 named retailers does break GSCOP, and they get found out, what’s the ultimate penalty of this? Andrew Grant: The ultimate penalty is 1% fine of their UK turnover. But what you have to remember is the code’s been going since, it’s been law since 2010, it’s had an adjudicator since 2015, and not a single retailer has been fined yet. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Okay. Okay. And we’ve got a new groceries code adjudicator just come in, Mark White. Okay. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: And he’s done a Q&A on our website. All right, cool. Let’s come back to you and the results season, January, February, March, and retailers trying to get money in. You’re saying they can’t do it retrospectively. I’m an account manager, what else should I be looking out for and being concerned about? Andrew Grant: No, good point. Because the other thing that is cropping up, as these terms, documents are flying backwards and forwards, the other two biggest watch words in GSCOP, the difference between request and require. So in very broad terms, there’s very little that retailers can require of a supplier, but they can request almost anything. Darren A. Smith: Right, okay, got you. Andrew Grant: When these potentially retrospective terms documents are flying to and fro, I’m looking at the small print, and it’s amazing where it says things like, on agreement of these terms, the supplier agrees to pay for X, Y, and Zed. That’s a requirement to me. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Okay. So we’re getting into some of the gray of the law as to whether that really means require or request. What I’m hearing is three Rs. We’ve got the retrospective one, which you’ve explained to us. Then we’ve got the request and we’ve got the require. So if nothing else, an account manager ought to have their radar up for these three Rs. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And as some of our clients quite rightly have been doing, get on the phone to us or get on the email to us, so that we can give them a bit of guidance. Because to me, as I said, it’s not a question of phoning Mark White up and making a formal complaint. I think that could backfire on you. Andrew Grant: And we know from all the surveys, that over half the suppliers in the UK are frightened of making a formal complaint in case there’s retribution. I get that. But as I said, I would be using it as part of that to and fro negotiation. Negotiation’s all about relative power bases, all about tradables. If you can put your buyer on the back foot because they’ve made probably an inadvertent mistake, they’ll be horrified when you call that out. And they’ll be much more then open to some form of trading negotiation. Darren A. Smith: And that’s sometimes all you really want is just to get the buyer to the table to negotiate. And often it can be hard even just to get that to happen. Andrew Grant: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Darren A. Smith: All right. So I’m going to ask you to do two things for us to help the people listening. The first is, would you talk about the written supplier agreement for us please. Because I know that’s important. Andrew Grant: Okay. Well, we haven’t got long and it’s not necessarily something you can cover comprehensively. But yeah, the written supply agreement is the heart of any protection you have under GSCOP. And this is why these terms documents become important because it’s not specified exactly what a written supply agreement looks like. It’s not a piece of paper with a great big this is your written supply agreement on it. It is potentially your terms document for next year. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Cool. Sorry. Go on. Andrew Grant: So, the latest piece of paper, the latest terms document, the latest JBP you have could constitute your written supply agreement. And so, every account manager must go through that, as you’ve just said, with this GSCOP radar pinging in the head for any one of the three Rs. Darren A. Smith: And I understand that from the research only one in two suppliers has it, is my research up to date or has it changed? Andrew Grant: Oh no, it’s more than that. I do actually forget the number. It’s quite a high proportion. I do remember, I think Aldi and Lidl have the highest proportion of their suppliers with a written supply agreement. It’s in the 80%s. I think as you get down the bottom of the list, some of the newer retailers added to GSCOP, I still think they’re over 50, but don’t hold me to that. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. So we’ve still got a chunk of suppliers who potentially don’t have a written supplier agreement. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: All right. And the last bit, because I know we’ve only got 60 seconds left, is could you do a pitch for Business Safe, our new GSCOP and competition law product, for me. Andrew Grant: You’ll have to just repeat that bit Darren, we seem to have lost you for a second. Darren A. Smith: Could you do a pitch to our viewers for our new product, Business Safe, which is about GSCOP and competition law, where we keep them up to date. Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, yes, no. So, we do have that new business tool we’ve been working on. Where, I guess, it’s a bit like a doctor’s surgery, isn’t it, or these new internet doctors where if you want to have a consultation with a doctor and not wait in the NHS queue, you get on the app and you can get a qualified doctor to talk to you pretty instantly. Well, we’ve got that when it comes to GSCOP and competition law. Sign up with us and you get pretty immediate access to advice on the very things we’ve just been talking about. Darren A. Smith: Perfect. Andrew, thank you again for your guru-ness. Andrew Grant: No problem. Darren A. Smith: We’ll speak next week. Andrew Grant: Take care. Darren A. Smith: Bye-bye. Take a look at the Retailer Results Season video on our YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog.

Morrisons’ Preliminary Results Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twentieth episode of Grocery Guru discussing Morrison’s supermarkets’ preliminary results for the 52 weeks to 31st January 2021. Morrisons are the first supermarket to release preliminary results following Covid-19. Click the image for the full report. You Can Read the Full Morrisons’ Preliminary Results Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 20 of our weekly chat with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Very good, thank you. Darren A. Smith: Good, good. Okay, so in this week’s 10-minute chat with the Grocery Guru, we’re going to talk about Morrisons’ preliminary results, because they’re the first after COVID, is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah, the first major retailer to put out full-blown annual results post COVID, January 31st. Obviously, you’ve got Tesco and Sainsbury’s following in the next few weeks. Darren A. Smith: Right, okay. The general people, good, bad? What did you think of the results? Andrew Grant: It’s fascinating actually because the headlines I think in the press yesterday were the share price dropped significantly because I think the city suddenly realized the sheer cost of this pandemic to the supermarkets. On the face of it, they’ve done really well, and the chief exec was praising how well the business had done, and they have done a phenomenal job if you think about it, all the supermarkets feeding the country with a little issue of Brexit in the middle. Andrew Grant: Yeah, they’re like-for-like sales, the standard industry measure of sales performance up 8.6%. That would be … supermarkets would’ve given their right and left arms for that two years ago. Darren A. Smith: In comparison, 8.6, but 2019 on the previous year was down .8%, so it’s really a 9. 10. stretch. You’re right, would’ve given their arms or legs. Andrew Grant: But then, their profit’s down 50.7%. Was it 290 million spent on COVID costs, restructuring, PPE, additional staff, additional vans and online delivery, and then 230 million of business rates that they handed back to the government, so they carried on paying? What’s that, 520 million they could’ve made if it hadn’t been for COVID. They made 400 million last year, and it’s cost them 500 million. It’s cost them a years of profits to survive COVID. Darren A. Smith: That’s a good takeaway, isn’t it? A year’s profits to survive COVID, because all of us look at industries like hospitality, and think they’re wiped out, they’re struggling, it’s going to be hard to come back. The supermarkets are doing really, really well, but they’re not. Andrew Grant: Think about it, it’s this spike effect, isn’t it? The supermarkets have had this big, 10% spike, plus a massive spike in costs, and they’re driving, at the moment, headlong into that. I think I’d rather be a pub chain, where all of a sudden when I open up in May, I’ll be 300% up on the year. The figures will look fantastic. Darren A. Smith: That’s very true. I guess, maybe don’t look as hard and as fast as people like you and I and account managers out there, but if they are, you’re right, they’re going to be up hugely. I noticed other things like 300 McColl’s stores to be converted to Morrisons Daily over the next three years. A new contract with McColl’s signed to extend the partnership to 2027, so there’s some good news in there. Andrew Grant: Yeah, becoming big in convenience, absolutely. One thing that got me, and whether I’ve done these … because, I’m not a city analyst, I wish I was, but net profitability, the argument’s always gone that the supermarkets in the UK are incredibly efficient, because basically their net profitability’s 2% on average. Andrew Grant: 2p in the pound is all they make from all the work they do, and Tesco always lauded, back in the day, that they got over 5 pence in the pound profit, and Dave Lewis left on a massive high last year getting it back to 4.2, I think. Darren A. Smith: 4.2? Okay. Andrew Grant: Morrisons last year was bang on the average, 1.98% margin, net margin. What do you think it was last year when you do the sums? Darren A. Smith: Don’t know. Go on, tell me. Andrew Grant: Just over a half, .5p in the pound profit for everything they did. That is a lot of hard work, effort, and energy for half a p in the pound. Darren A. Smith: That is not a lot, is it? It sort of reminds me of Thomas Cook, you look at big companies like that who have billions, but actually, do they make money? Andrew Grant: Yeah, so it is quite interesting. We spoke last week about Amazon Fresh opening, and how if they want to expand quickly, do they just take out … overall the disused Topshop’s and Dorothy Perkins littering the high streets, or do they buy a ready-made retailer? Andrew Grant: Morrisons operating profit, 254 million. I don’t know what multiples supermarkets sell on, but say Amazon had to pay 10 times that, two and a half billion, they’re working a couple of trillions, so it is small change for Amazon to say, “Let’s buy Morrisons.” Darren A. Smith: That’s very true, and then they could dominate the market very, very quickly, and take a 10% share overnight. Very true. Andrew Grant: The fact that Morrisons share price dived so dramatically yesterday would say that Amazon isn’t on the city radar, otherwise, it would’ve gone up. Darren A. Smith: Very true. Andrew Grant: I think the takeout of all of that for Morrisons, and for the other, because obviously as I said, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and the others will be published in the next four weeks, I’m sure it will be a similar story. They are driving headlong into some pretty horrific comparables. They won’t get the same sales growth this year, because people will go back to restaurants and pubs, so a huge chunk of their food, and particularly the drink business will go back to normal, so big like-for-like declines there, but this continuing cost base, because they’re still going to have to … online deliveries have changed forever, so the extra cost of vans and people driving them and picking is still going to be there … Darren A. Smith: It comes back to a point a moment ago about hospitality, there’s an argument that because we’ve all been locked down for nearly a year, maybe we’ll go out more. What was once a week treat, a pub might be twice a week. Andrew Grant: Yeah, and will all 60 million of us end up in Benidorm, because we’re desperate to get a foreign holiday? Maybe the country will be empty in August. Darren A. Smith: It could be. Bird’s Eye used to say, “It’s about the share of stomach.” Are we going to have two pub meals a week, and therefore we’re not buying as many groceries, so what will they be like when per cent growth is going to go down even further? Andrew Grant: Yeah, so some big sales challenges, but then the costs, how do they get those cost under control? They’ve still got to pay the van drivers, they’ve still got to pay the in-store pickers, there’s still going to be distancing restrictions, they’re still going to have to keep investing in all the plexiglass, and the masks, and hand sanitisers, you would imagine, so where do they control their costs against falling sales to deliver any sort of profit? Andrew Grant: Only two ways, you cut your costs dramatically, and all of them have just announced in the last few weeks head office and store management restructurings, and then obviously, Sainsbury’s in the last couple of weeks, “We’re going to price match Aldi,” and a very nicely worded letter to suppliers saying, “Please, help us on our journey to deliver better value for our shoppers,” which in your language and my language is give us some cost reductions. Darren A. Smith: Also, the other part is Morrisons, very admirably, are the first to a minimum of £10 to all their staff? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: That’s got to come from somewhere as well, which is all very admirable, but this is on top of costs that are ramping out of control. Andrew Grant: Yeah, you can imagine that the suppliers, many of them have been reeling over the last year. Some categories have done very, very well, as we know the comfort food area has done very, very well, but obviously, they’ll have increased costs, and then I think we’re going to get the supermarkets coming with requests. Darren A. Smith: We won’t touch on this. I’m just going to bring out one other thing, so we’re talking about the news released preliminary results for the 52 weeks ending 31st January 2021 for Morrisons, and one of the things I noticed, Andrew, was online sales tripled during the year, with capacity up fivefold? Not a surprise, but quite stark to read that. Morrisons on Amazon is available in 50 towns and cities, and already accounts for more than 10% of sales in the majority of stores. Andrew Grant: I saw that that is quite interesting. Darren A. Smith: It is, they’re getting closer and closer, aren’t they? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: A piece about carbon neutral with the British farming supply chain, and then one other bit I noticed was they’ve extended a 10% discount for all NHS staff for the whole of 2021. Again, another cost, very admirable. Andrew Grant: As I was told yesterday, I haven’t seen it, but they’re doing £10 afternoon Mother’s Day teas. One of these meal deals where I think for 10 quid you get some nice little triangular sandwiches, some cakes, some clotted cream, all put together for 10 quid to take round to your mom’s, or to leave on mom’s doorstep probably, can’t remember quite what the rules are anymore, for Mother’s Day. Darren A. Smith: Okay, we’ll see as it’s two days to Mother’s Day, I better go and try and book one. Andrew Grant: Yeah, go and get yourself a Morrisons Mother’s Day cream tea, leave it on your mom’s step. Ring the bell, and step back two meters. Darren A. Smith: All right. Andrew, before we go, what’s the one takeaway you want us, the people that are listening, watching, to take from this? Andrew Grant: I think it’s going to be … every year is a tough year, last year’s been tough. In terms of the supermarket trade, it’s going to be as tough as it ever was, for different reasons. Darren A. Smith: Very true. All right, Andrew, Grocery Guru, thank you very much. We’ll talk with you again next week. Andrew Grant: Okay, take care. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Bye-bye. Andrew Grant: Bye … For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Amazon Fresh Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the nineteenth episode of Grocery Guru. Today, the topic of discussion is the new Amazon Fresh store in Ealing, London and its innovative new checkout less and frictionless operation. Innovation or gimmick? Amazon Fresh has opened its first checkout less ‘walk out’ store in the UK. We discuss the implications for the UK grocery industry. You Can Read the Full Amazon Fresh Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 19 with the Grocery Guru, that is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. Yeah. Very good thank you. Very good indeed. Darren A. Smith: Hey, hey. Good, good. Our topic this week, I believe is something to do with our friends at Amazon. Is that correct? Andrew Grant: Well, I think yeah, we try and make these things as topical as possible, and I don’t think many people could have missed the fact that Amazon Fresh opened their first… Well, their first physical store, actually a physical food store in the U.K. yesterday, in Ealing. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Right, okay. Andrew Grant: On top of that, it happens to be one of these checkout less… Where you don’t even have to scan the products, there’s so much Artificial Intelligence technology in the store watching you, that it knows exactly what you pick up and charges you post your visit, which is quite clever. Darren A. Smith: It is. And I’ve got this article. This is the BBC’s article, which you sent me yesterday across to discuss. And I can see some new terms coming out like, “Till-less. Checkout less.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: They’re terms that are coming. That’s what Amazon’s driving here. And as you say, it’s opened in Ealing. And you walk in, they scan you as you walk in, you grab your products and just walk out? Andrew Grant: Well, no. Interestingly, it’s effectively a members-only club, because you’ve got to have Prime membership in order to be able to register before you go in. And I can imagine there’ll be quite a few people wanted to grab a sandwich or grab a can of something and the barriers won’t let them in because they’re not a Prime member. Darren A. Smith: Never thought of that. Andrew Grant: Which yeah, would be quite interesting. So yeah, effectively, it’s a members-only. A bit like a Costco, but on a smaller scale. Darren A. Smith: All right. So we’ve got Amazon Fresh with their first store in the U.K. It’s in Ealing. Till-less. I’m just picking up some things here. It says, “Its first, just-walk-out shop outside the U.S.” There’s also some terms like, “Frictionless,” that Amazon Fresh is putting out there. “Frictionless shopping.” Never thought of that. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Do you know what? Is that the big thing? I mean, I think yesterday will go down as a seismic change in U.K. retail, and I think I know that sounds very grand, but not because of a checkout less store. A lot of people will think it’s very trendy, very hip and very easy. There will be some people who… And the press was full of it yesterday. Big Brother’s arrived. Infringement on our civil liberties, being filmed picking stuff. And I don’t think many people will worry about that. Andrew Grant: But hey, checkout less store, what’s it going to save you? At busy times in a Tesco Express or a Sainsbury’s Local, you may be two minutes waiting, to wait for the self-scanner. So I don’t think that is going to be the game-changer, the fact it’s checkout less. The game-changer is how many of these things suddenly appear on our high streets and how fast will Amazon roll this out? Darren A. Smith: And that’s the worry, isn’t it? Because they’ve barely made a dent in the U.K. grocery market, but they’ve got the cash, they’ve got the position, they’ve got the status, the experience, the speed to go, “Boom,” and grab our high street. Andrew Grant: Well, look at what they did to bookshops. I mean, they started with books. They’ve killed the high street bookstore, effectively. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Absolutely. What are they worth? A trillion or something? Two options, actually, quite interestingly, because the word on the street is, “Why doesn’t Jeff Bezos just go and buy Morrisons?” I mean, they’ve had a distribution tie-up with Morrisons for two years now. They’ve been selling Morrisons products online for two years. Why wouldn’t you just get your wallet out and buy Morrisons, and suddenly you’d get, what is it, 80% share of the U.K. market, like that? At Hilton- Darren A. Smith: Sorry, go on. Sorry. Andrew Grant: No. Honestly, think about it. If they want small convenience stores on the high street, how many are empty high street fashion stores and other stores are there at the moment where landlords would be desperate for a new blue-chip tenant? Darren A. Smith: That’s very true. You were telling me that… What used to be at this Ealing store before it was the Amazon? Andrew Grant: A Monsoon Accessorize. Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: So a fashion accessory store. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: I mean, it’s a small store. It’s two and a half thousand square feet. So it’s small, probably smaller than an average Tesco Express, but just think how many Next’s, Topshop’s, Topman’s, Dorothy Perkins, Monsoon Accessorize. I mean, I’ve lost track of how many businesses have gone out of business. Darren A. Smith: Have you? It’s a shame. Andrew Grant: So they could pick up leases and be in 20 shops in London within three months, five in Manchester. They could build scale very quickly that way. Darren A. Smith: Well, they could- Andrew Grant: But I think they have to because the interesting thing for me is not the checkout less. It’s a gimmick. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Yeah. And I can understand that. Yeah. Andrew Grant: It’s the reports say… And I must get down there. Lots of brand new Amazon Fresh own-brand food products, so own-brand ready meals, and own-brand sandwiches and snacks. Now, I don’t know if you shop Amazon, but certainly, in clothing, they’ve had their own-brand going for about a year. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: And their Amazon Basics on things like batteries, and printer ink and what have you, I mean, the quality is superb for the price. Darren A. Smith: Oh, good. Andrew Grant: Amazon Basics batteries are just phenomenal. So if they can put that much effort into the food offer, then that suddenly then becomes, I think, a little bit scary for the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, anybody with a big convenience operation. Darren A. Smith: Well, it does. And do you think the U.K. is of interest by Amazon more than other countries? I mean, why here? Why not anywhere else? Is it because we are World-class grocers? Or… Andrew Grant: No. We’re a very, very sophisticated and compact market. Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: So unlike the States, which is effectively 50 different markets, one in every state, we’re a pretty homogenous economy. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: And 60 million people, still the fourth richest economy in the world. Why wouldn’t you come here? The only thing against it is obviously, we do have absolute world-class retailers who won’t go down without a fight. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. And that’s what I was thinking. The bit that’s particularly interesting to me about this report, is the shopper bit. So imagine I’m picking up a ready meal, something I used to buy as a buyer, but now, as a consumer, I pick one up. I do that sleeve thing, when you look inside it, put it back and pick the next thing up. Darren A. Smith: All a Clubcard and the like can do, is tell me what I’ve bought, or tell the suppliers and so on what they’ve bought. But now, with these scanners and these cameras, hold on, are they checking out that I’ve picked that, tried that, squeezed the apple, felt the pineapple? Are they now doing these things, as well? Andrew Grant: Well, they can. And if you think, the big suppliers like Unilever, and Coke or what have you, have for years put little cameras on certain parts of the fixture to watch people’s eye lines and… For category management, work out how shoppers shop the fixture. Now, Amazon Fresh can do that 24/7 with every customer. That gives them a lot of data. Darren A. Smith: It does. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: And it’s also, those cameras that you mentioned before with eye line. I remember there being hundreds of thousands of pounds of a project. And you get this much data and you go and do something. Now you’ve got it streaming all the time and updating. Wow. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: That’s where the real win is, for me. Andrew Grant: Well, I think it gets even scarier than that, actually. There’s always the quip that with Clubcard because Tesco knows what you eat, know where you live, know how old you are, they actually know, better than your doctor, how healthy you are. Amazon. Do you know what Amazon’s next big move is? They’re already doing it in the States. Darren A. Smith: No. Andrew Grant: One hour prescription deliveries. Darren A. Smith: Oh, wow. Andrew Grant: So you give Amazon your prescription details and they will get your pills to you within the hour. Now, all of a sudden, yeah? Amazon are the doctor. They know your health history, your age, where you live, what you eat, what you choose to buy and not use to buy. I mean, is there anything left that they actually don’t know about you? Darren A. Smith: Well, and how long is it before they say, “Mr Smith, we see you’ve been having this diet for three months. We’re just going to put forward some Vitamin B tablets because we think you need them”? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Or, “We’re going to send you some insulin because we reckon you’ve got type two,” or something. Yeah. Or, “We’d rather you not be a shopper of ours because you’re eating too healthy, you’re eating unhealthy and it’s not profitable.” I mean, scary stuff. Darren A. Smith: Just for our last few minutes, let’s really just pick up on a couple of other things they said in here. Amazon with the Morrisons and the boost high up. Okay. You talked about Morrisons for a couple of years. You’ve got Boots, they’re selling their products, as well. Amazon are saying, “Hand the product over and we’ll do the rest, or you just walk out.” “Technology,” is another term that’s coming in. Yeah. And the threat to the big established grocers. Okay. That picks up on most of what the BBC have reported in their article. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. Andrew, what’s our takeaway to leave the guys with before next week? Also, our take-away on this week? Andrew Grant: The takeout is, take out without going to a till, I think’s a bit of a gimmick. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Shoppers won’t choose to shop because you don’t spend a minute at the checkout. The bigger one is, I think yesterday, the 4th of March, will go down as the point at which Amazon Fresh became a serious grocery player. So if you want to bet £10 of your own money, in two years time, Amazon Fresh will have 10% of the U.K. grocery market, is my bet. Be bigger than Morrisons, be knocking on Sainsbury’s/Asda’s door. Darren A. Smith: I see. Well, and that’s why we talk to the Grocery Guru. Andrew, we’re going to check back in with you in two years, but until then we’ll talk about Amazon, maybe next week, the week after, and we’ll come back to this story. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: Thanks very much. Take care. Andrew Grant: See you next week. Darren A. Smith: Bye for now. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Discussing the New Normal and Impending Supermarket War Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighteenth episode of Grocery Guru. Today, the discussion focusses on the new normal and preparing for a fierce supermarket war. Forecasting budgets will be very hard, and the only certainty is uncertainty. Supermarkets have benefited greatly during the pandemic. Will the future mean a vicious supermarket war as they fight to maintain their extraordinary growth in the new normal? You Can Read the Full Supermarket War Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 18 of Grocery Guru. And we’re here with that guru, Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Morning, Darren. You well? Darren A. Smith: I’m good, I’m good. I saw Boris’ announcement like most of the UK on Monday night. And the new normal… I’m confused. Andrew, what’s going on? What’s going to happen? Andrew Grant: Well, if I knew that I don’t think I’d be here. I’d be putting some bets on the stock market. Yeah, it’s all a bit weird, isn’t it? It’s like being handcuffed and you see the key at the other end of the room. It’s like one of those Jeopardy movies. Darren A. Smith: Very nice. Very good. Andrew Grant: Or the Escape Room, or whatever it’s called, where you can see how to get out, but you’re not allowed out. It’s a little bit weird. Darren A. Smith: I hear lots of contradictions around. This guy says this and this other person says that. And it’s like… Andrew Grant: Yeah, when you look at the game we’re in, it is a bit strange. On the one hand, you’ve got the head of Network Rail saying, “We’re going to put 10% fewer trains on, because we’re expecting 80% of normal capacity.” Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: Then you’ve got the head of Goldman Sachs saying, “Nah, everybody’s going straight back to work the minute we can.” Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: So, that’s a bit contradictory. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: And then you’ve got another thing saying footfall in shops will go up 50% post lockdown. Darren A. Smith: Plus 50%? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: And everybody talking about this massive spending spree. £250 billion pent up savings. So, it sounds like people are just going to go mental, which I imagine they will. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Because we’ve got the four-step plan coming over the next few months. Everyone knows that. So, we’re going to talk about that. So, when’s this £250 billion going to start being spent? Are we thinking during March or they’re going to wait for a few steps? Andrew Grant: Well, I forget the exact dates. When non-essential retail opens. So, when all the clothing shops and the department stores and what have you open up, that’ll be a big trend in spending. But obviously, the big one will be when pubs and restaurants will start serving again in… Is that May I think? Darren A. Smith: 17th of May I think. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: That’s five days after my 50th birthday, so you won’t be able to pick me up. Andrew Grant: Okay, okay. There’s the push for a card I could see. No, but what I found fascinating, coming back to our game and supermarkets and what have you, is they have been one of the clear winners of this pandemic because they’re about the only place you can go. Andrew Grant: And I was looking at the Kantar data for January, which is obviously a slow month in normal retail land, but the grocers were up 12% year on year. Now there’s bugger all inflation so that 12% is all growth. And of course, you imagine most of it’s come from pubs, restaurants, and hotels. Andrew Grant: So, in 12 weeks, that’s worth about a £3.6 billion bonus to the supermarkets, which is £16 billion a year. Round, round numbers. Now obviously, if that all suddenly goes back to what we call out of home, then they’ll be in zero growth territory after a year where they’ve spent a fortune on being COVID prepared and dealing with the massive growth of online deliveries. Andrew Grant: I wonder what they budgeted for this year, because not only could they potentially lose that 12% growth, it could be a big-time the other way if people just decide, “Right, we’re eating out all the time, because we’ve got a whole year of not doing it.” Darren A. Smith: Well, that’s very true. So, if you’re a buyer looking next year back at this year, you’re going to be down year on year. You budgeted probably up. You’re going to come out to the suppliers with your begging bowl. It could be tough. Andrew Grant: Well, yeah, you’re exactly where I am, Darren because I think exactly that. Because in a normal year, you’ve got… What? 160 categories in a supermarket. Yeah, some of them are going to be affected, because there was a royal wedding last year, or it was the World Cup last year. And you always budget for that like for like dip the next year. But the problem they’ve got this year is they’ve got the world’s biggest like for like spike as a result of COVID, which potentially won’t be there this year. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. That’s right. Andrew Grant: And you never budget for reduced costs, do you? Because think of all the transit vans they’ve bought to do home deliveries. So, you’ve got costs going like that. You’ve got your potential like for like sales going like that. Who’s going to make up that gap? I can bet you 10 pounds of your own money who they’ll go to. Darren A. Smith: And this is going to create a very fierce competitive supermarket world next year while they all try and fight to get back to where they were. Andrew Grant: Well, I think it will. I think it will. It’s almost like an artificial gap because the last year of supermarkets was a bonus if you can put it that way. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: But effectively a non-repeatable bonus, but business bake in what they take. So, yeah, I imagine it’ll be a massive scrap to retain as much of that as possible, because if people are determined they’re going to go and spend the money in the pubs and the restaurants, and what have you, then they’re determined to do it. You’re better off stealing your business from your nearest competitors to shore up the sales line. It’s going to be really interesting. Darren A. Smith: And the bluntest tool to do that is always price. Andrew Grant: Say that again? Sorry. Oh, well, yes. Darren A. Smith: And the bluntest tool to do that is always price. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Now we’ve also got in the midst of this, Asda just announced a bunch of potential job losses, haven’t they? Andrew Grant: I think that’s just all part of the mix. 3000 losses, but maybe job transformations into more forward-facing roles. So, yeah, a big restructure, because online is growing so fast. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: So, just following the trend that most of the others have jumped on in the last year. Darren A. Smith: Let me just add into this. I’ve got a report here. It’s come across the MBM desk from Dojo, one of those payment guys where you tap your card on the thing that the barman hands you. Andrew Grant: Oh, yeah? Darren A. Smith: These guys are new on the market. What was that? Andrew Grant: I said, “All right.” I was showing a bit of interest. Darren A. Smith: And what these guys have said is they’ve looked at the 500 companies across 36 markets and they’ve looked at something called purchase intent. Now the bits that are sticking out here for me are home furnishing is up 458%. Okay. Andrew Grant: Yeah, everybody’s bought a bed or a sofa in lockdown. Darren A. Smith: That makes absolute sense. Andrew Grant: There’s no point in getting up in the morning. Darren A. Smith: The second one is mail-order catalogues. Studio cards, I guess. Yeah, okay. All right, yeah, I get that. The one that I don’t get is the fifth one is silver, but I think this is looking at company performance as opposed to absolute purchasing. The 18th one is copper. Andrew Grant: Right. That’s strange. Darren A. Smith: It’s very odd. But here’s one of the biggies, what we’re going to see is a huge hike in camper vans. Andrew Grant: Well, yeah, staycation has been… Supposedly Cornwall and Devon are sold out for July and August. Yeah, a bit like last year. One thing that you could not buy, canoes and kayaks and paddleboards for love nor money. Darren A. Smith: Well, that actually that ties into sporting equipment was up I think 110%, which makes absolute sense. Andrew Grant: And then the biggest queues our summer in our village was outside the bicycle shop. People and the deliveries of new bikes every week was staggering. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, that makes sense. We see them here. But coming right back to our industry and the number one here… UK public purchase intent rank by percentage change. We’ve got here supermarkets obviously up 6%. Now that’s 6% on £205 billion industry. That’s a big old oil tank moving around plus 6%, which is perfect for us. Andrew Grant: Well, Kantar would say it’s 12% on £234 billion. So, the numbers… And that’s ONS, which you trust. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. And then they’ve split down the categories. The one that fascinated me was snack food was down, but then I guess we’re having more prepared, organized meals with the family. Andrew Grant: And less food on the go and lunches at your desk, which is where a lot of snacks are sold. Darren A. Smith: That’s it. Of course, of course. Yes. I didn’t think of that. And the other one I wanted to pull out was soft drink plus 3%. Just at home, I guess. Andrew Grant: Yeah, yeah. Darren A. Smith: Okay, okay. Property was up. And then these guys were trying to look forward to 2021 and there was a lot of contradictions in this report. A bit like what we were saying. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Are people all going to go back to the office? Are they going to stay at home? I guess my answer would be thinking about it from a behavioural point of view. People want flexibility. They’ve never enjoyed the flexibility of working as they’ve had before, so maybe half of them, and I mean half in terms of their mind, wants to go back to work and see their colleagues, but half wants to be at home. So, maybe we’re looking at more of the four-day working week or three days in the office, two days at home. Andrew Grant: I think what’s inevitable is that built up spending, because for all the gloom and doom, and there has been a lot of gloom and doom, for quite a lot of people who managed to stay in employment and work from home, they’ve saved a fortune. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: I think of my sister who used to have to drive 90 minutes each way to work. She is saving literally hundreds and hundreds of pounds a month on car lease fees, because the mileage is so low and on petrol. And if you’ve got two people in the household working and spending that sort of money on rail season tickets, parking at the station, car leasing fees, petrol, you could have households with 300, 400, 500 pounds a month burning a hole in their pocket. And I think that’s going to be released. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: I saw a great cartoon in… I think it was on Tuesday after Boris’ speech. It was one of these… It was a picture of a street scene with people all passed out in the street and fighting. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I saw that. Andrew Grant: And it just said 21st of June just after lunch. Darren A. Smith: I saw that. It’s really good. Very good. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: All right, just on time. Our three takeaways… Let me throw one in the mix. Next year could be a hell of a fistfight between the supermarkets on price as they look at budgets year on year. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: That my first takeaway. What’s your second? Andrew Grant: Yeah, it’s going to be more of the same. It’s going to be… Yeah. Think of categories that have benefited from the new normal and think of categories that have suffered. So, sandwiches, and lunchtime, and snacks. Will they really rebound? And what category decisions are retailers making now that is going to influence that? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. And I think my third one, my take away would be budgeting forecasting. Worse than it’s ever been. It’s going to be almost impossible to get it right. So, managing the expectations around that is absolutely critical, because you’re not going to get it right. Andrew Grant: And I guess from that, from uncertainty, flexibility, but the supermarkets have shown just how flexible they are when they’re faced with a pandemic. I’m sure coming out of it, there’ll be pretty flexible. So, yeah, all you can be certain of is uncertainty I think somebody once said. Darren A. Smith: Sure. A wiser man than you and I. Andrew, thank you. We will see you next week. Very soon. Andrew Grant: Take care. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Andrew Grant: Bye, bye. Darren A. Smith: Bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Micro Fulfilment Centres Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the seventeenth episode of Grocery Guru discussing micro fulfilment centres and the 15-minute ordering window. A new breed of start-ups competing with Amazon to take your order and deliver within 15-minutes. Are micro fulfilment centres a passing trend, or the future of grocery? You Can Read the Full Micro Fulfilment Centres Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello, and welcome to week 17 of The Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: I’m very good. I’m glad to say spring is in the air by the looks of your shirt, Darren. Darren A. Smith: We had a chat a few minutes ago and he mentioned Laura Ashley and a few other demeaning things. I just passed it by. This week Andrew, I understand deliveries that get in your goat. And we’re going to talk about deliveries. Andrew Grant: Yeah. It’s just something that struck me and I’m slightly worried whether it makes me come across as a dinosaur. Which is the very last thing. But, you know when we talked a lot about data and insight and following the shopper over the last, what, 16 episodes? And I saw something at the weekend, which I just thought, do shoppers really want this? And obviously, as you always know, when you do any form of market research is you got to be very careful at leading the witnesses. Darren A. Smith: Very true, very true. Andrew Grant: You take a classroom of seven-year-olds, and you say to them, “Would you like jelly and ice cream for your lunch every day?” What answer are you going to get? Darren A. Smith: Well, actually that reminds me, Henry Ford was famous for a quote. He wasn’t talking about cost and the grids, I’m sure they didn’t have them back then. But he basically said, “If we’d asked them what they would have wanted, they would’ve said faster horses.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. Okay. Okay, well, it’s sort of linked to that. What it is, it was in the Sunday Times. And it was talking about a couple of startups in London with some pretty serious private equity money behind them and very bright young people running it with McKinsey backgrounds and what have you. Offering, get this, 10-minute grocery deliveries in the city of London. Darren A. Smith: Ten minutes? Andrew Grant: Yeah, 10 minutes. I don’t know if you’ve heard Getir and Weezy. Darren A. Smith: So Get Here as in get here. Those two words? Andrew Grant: Well its G-E-T-I-R Getir- Darren A. Smith: Oh, I see. Andrew Grant: And Weezy. Darren A. Smith: And how do you spell- Andrew Grant: W, double E, Z-Y. So if you’re lucky enough to live in Fulham, Clapham, those sorts of postcodes, you can get groceries delivered in 10 to 15 minutes. I’m not sure if anybody is that desperate for anything, although, think about it. I suppose you get home, you’ve run out of toilet paper, you’ve run out of coffee, you run out of beer. Are you that desperate for something in 10 minutes that you’re willing to pay between 1.99 and 2.99 delivery charge for, and also potentially obviously pay significantly more than supermarket prices. I’m not sure. It reminds me, if you think back to 24-hour shopping, it was heralded as the ultimate convenience. You know, people can go and wander around in their slippers at three in the morning and shop and it lasted for what 18 months? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. It wasn’t long. And I’m all for a push towards convenience and Amazon’s really helped us with that. I’m not sure about getting down to a 15-minute slot. I’m sure some people will want it. I guess it depends on how much it’s going to cost. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And the thing is you know, these startups, will they have the economies of scale? So the very first of these, we talked about the urban fulfilment centres the Tesco are converting some of their stores to, that’s mass scale picking. These guys are, one of them is actually renting railway arches under Clapham station to be micro fulfilment centres. Darren A. Smith: Micro fulfilment centres. I don’t think I’ve ever heard that term before. Andrew Grant: Nope. So micro fulfilment and you know, the equivalent, it’s working big scale with the UberEats and the Deliveroos and the Just Eats are opening these dark restaurants where, you know, all the food you take away is not made in a takeaway restaurant it’s made in a purpose-built dark restaurant, a dark catering facility. It’s sort of the equivalent thing that, you know, these startups don’t have shops. They have these micro fulfilment centres, but the costs versus the volumes, I struggle to see how it can work. But if you’ve got people with McKinsey backgrounds and gazillions of private equity money flowing in there, they can’t be stupid. Darren A. Smith: Well, they can’t. But I mean, can they compete? They’re going to see the likes of Amazon with their windows, which are so tight now. Andrew Grant: Well, maybe Amazon’s of the past. I mean, good gracious. Amazon will take a whole day to get to you. It’s outrageous. Darren A. Smith: I remember when I was a kid, I ordered clamps for my bike and it took 30 business days. Andrew Grant: Yeah. I mean, I’ve got a bit of a dispute guy on Amazon, I ordered a cordless drill and it didn’t turn up for three days and I am incensed. But you’re absolutely right. 15 years ago, 28 days, you would wait until you thought, oh, the parcel hasn’t arrived yet, shall I write a letter and find out where it’s gone? So yeah, these tech companies are victims of their own shopper offering. You know- Darren A. Smith: How do you think the supermarket’s going to react? So they’re going to think these guys are micro. We’ll wait till they get bigger before we get too worried. Are they going to look at them and begin to offer different types of delivery slots in the country? Andrew Grant: Well no, it’s very interesting. Because obviously the big guys, the big sheds have benefited from people in lockdown, moving to more weekly delivered. We’ve talked about it a lot. The people who have struggled, they’re actually the convenience stores. And in particular, Co-Op is embracing this micro fulfilment. So, Milton Keynes, you place an order with co-op and it turns up in a little wheeled buggy. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: They’ve got these laser-guided wheel buggies, that the local kids just love to use for football practice. So Co-Op is embracing it. You can order via Co-Op via I think Deliveroo. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Yep. Andrew Grant: But again, it’s just one of these things that, can you make the economics work and will it last, I think it’s like 24-hour trading or get this, have you still got your 3D glasses for watching sky sports? Darren A. Smith: No, no, it’s there, but it’s pretty big glasses. Andrew Grant: Yeah, but how do these things quietly disappear? 3D television was a massive thing until, you know, and I’m sure in consumer groups, people were asked, would you like the idea of 3D television where things jump out the screen from you. But then people discovered they look like complete idiots wearing these horrific glasses to watch telly in their own lounge. And it’s amazing how they just quietly disappear, you know, there’s not a big announcement, we’re stopping 3D TV, we’re stopping 24-hour opening. They just quietly disappear. And I think this micro fulfilment and 10-minute orders, I think it will quietly disappear, but I’ll be proved wrong. Darren A. Smith: I think there’ll be a certain, of course, there’ll be a certain amount of the population that wants it. I think that will be very small. One can imagine people wanting to bring in booze for a party maybe, but why would you want a 10-minute slot? We’ve got friends come around, I can order. I guess it also depends on what the lead time is. Now, if I’ve got 10 minutes here on a Thursday, do I need to order on a Wednesday the day before, can I order four hours ahead? How far is it? Andrew Grant: It’s now quarter past four on a Thursday. I will expect the delivery will be with me at 4:30. I will go on the app. Now the delivery will be with me in 15 minutes. Darren A. Smith: Oh, I see. I really misunderstood that, I thought you said the windows had come down to 15 minutes. Andrew Grant: No, that is why, as I said, I can’t quite get my head around it. Weezy says your delivery could even be delivered by a guy or a girl on roller skates. Darren A. Smith: Oh, I see. So we’re talking groceries at the pizza time. Get your pizza and 20 minutes. Probably can get all your groceries in 20 minutes. Andrew Grant: That’s exactly. So sorry you missed this. And maybe that’s a very telling point. So if you like left field for you, because I can’t get my head around wanting anything in 15 minutes and be willing to pay for it. Darren A. Smith: I think the only reason I do it would be to test it. Can I get it here in 15 minutes and 39 seconds? Yeah, okay. All right, so the term coming out of here is micro fulfilment centres. I’ve never heard of that, but we’ve got two startup companies we need to be aware of. One is Weezy and One is Get here, Getir. Andrew Grant: Getir. G-E-T-I-R. Getir. Darren A. Smith: Okay, we’ve got that. We’ve spoken that it might be a passing fad, we’ll see. Okay. And we talked about dark restaurants as well, delivering, catering services. Okay, all right. Andrew Grant: You know, you would think, Tesco pretty much at the forefront of everything all the time. They haven’t gone into this. So we will wait and see. I’ll be very interesting to be proved wrong. And given where I live in the middle of nowhere, it’d be interesting to see somebody get to me in 15 minutes, but who knows? Maybe that’s the sound of the drone outside now. Darren A. Smith: Brilliant Andrew, thank you for bringing that to us. I never knew any of that. And particularly getting down to 15 minutes. I’m glad I actually understood. It’s all good now. 15 minutes time. Wow. Andrew Grant: Google Weezy.co.uk or Getir, have a quick look at their websites now. Darren A. Smith: Brilliant. All right. Andrew, thank you, until next week. Andrew Grant: No problem. Take care. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Bye. Andrew Grant: Bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Using Shopper Language Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the sixteenth episode of Grocery Guru: The Importance of Using Shopper Language in your category. Not using industry terms or category terms because they are creating the buffer for what should be created. By eradicating industry terminology you will discover opportunities to communicate better with your shopper and then sell more. Industry and category terms can promote confusion. Speaking to the shopper in their own language will reap dividends. You Can Read the Full Using Shopper Language Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to Episode 16 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Good morning. Yeah. Very nippy I think is the best thing to say this morning. Darren A. Smith: It’s supposed to get to minus 10, but let’s move on from how cold it is. Last week, we said to our viewers that this week we would talk about terminology. Now, I’m going to lead the charge on this one, because something that we’re doing wrong as an industry, or as category managers, or as suppliers, or as supermarkets, is when we use terminology that the shopper doesn’t understand. Darren A. Smith: And I’m going to give you an example. My dad used to run, he was a project manager in a Sainsbury’s store back in the 70s. And they used to have those three-legged tables and he used to have the best top fruit display in the area. “But Dad, what’s top fruit?” So Andrew, what’s top fruit? Andrew Grant: Do you know, is top fruit, apples, oranges, and bananas? Darren A. Smith: Well, it’s apples and pears, but I didn’t know. I had to ask that. So there were the signs that say top fruit and I’m thinking, “Well, no one understands what top fruit is.” When I asked that, he didn’t know. So eventually, some years ago, I asked some guru in produce. And he said, “Well it’s top fruit because it grows at the top of the tree.” Andrew Grant: Okay. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: These can’t be terms we can use in our industry if the shopper doesn’t understand them. Andrew Grant: Well, I guess also, going back to your dad in the 70s, there’s a lot of stuff. Obviously, supermarkets kicked off in the 70s in terms of the superstore format. And there’s probably terminology that was invented back then, maybe meant something to customers back then. But because most people are used to sticking their dinner in a microwave and heating it up for two minutes, it’s been lost. I mean, the one that gets me, condiments. Does the average millennial know what a condiment is? Would they expect to wear it rather than eating it? Darren A. Smith: That’s condiments. So, our challenge to our viewers is, the more we can use language that the shopper understands, the easier the category is to shop. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: And the flip side of that coin, the more we use examples that the shopper doesn’t understand, the less easy it is for them to shop, the more they’ll go somewhere else. So I wanted to give you another short story. Darren A. Smith: I was buying frozen fish for a supermarket, many years ago. And in the conversation I used to have on the phone with my account manager, we called two products, the most popular selling battered frozen fish, 076 and 077, which was their scheme number because we could differentiate it away from 079 and 080. That’s crazy. Andrew Grant: Well, I guess internally it’s not an issue. There’s a whole industry lexicon of three-letter acronyms, isn’t there? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Or four letter acronyms. There’s your GSC, your PORS, your LFLS. Those never, if you like, leak out to the shopper. So I guess that’s okay. It’s the stuff that gets in the shopper’s face that they just don’t get. I mean, to flip the condiments one on its head, one of the more modern categories in world foods. Now, world foods. Okay. Pretty broad category. But why does just about every supermarket spit out pasta? Because I think pasta’s a world food, isn’t it? They have a world food section, they have a pasta section. Darren A. Smith: The bit that bothers me is when we try to be the buffer. So the 076, 077 was us using it. And when I think back, we were using that term because we couldn’t differentiate it. But if we couldn’t and we bought the damn thing, how the hell could the shopper at the merchant or at the fixture differentiate? And when I think now, I look back at those four products on the fixture, there wasn’t a difference. No, actually, one had the skin on and one didn’t, but we didn’t tell them that. Crazy. Crazy. Andrew Grant: Yeah, yeah. No, I guess, going back to what we spoke about last week, it’s that shopper decision hierarchy. How do you please most of the people most of the time in terms of what they’re looking for? So, you’re right. To some people, skin on skinless, it wouldn’t matter if it’s covered in breadcrumbs anyway. Is that one of the important things they’re looking for when they’re shopping? So yeah, maybe it’s that the breadcrumbs are gluten-free, something like that is more important to certain people than others. Darren A. Smith: And that would have been much better. We were not tough enough on understanding our category, understanding the decisions and rooting out some big sellers because there was no differentiation. Now, here’s the other one that really just batty. Darren A. Smith: We work with a supplier, we shall remain nameless for a moment, some years ago. And they had cooked ham and it was about this big. It’s important that it’s about this big. And it was four by four. So we said to them, “Why did you call it four by four?” “Well, it’s four by four inches because that fits in a slice of bread.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: But on the fixture, four by four was never mentioned, but this was the biggest selling product. And they called it four by four to differentiate it from the other sea of pink cooked meats on the fixture. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Crazy. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that’s where obviously, the marketers need to think of the right way to sell that product. And they haven’t thought about consumer usage or the consumer benefits for it. Andrew Grant: I guess sometimes that can go wrong. What gets me is when the marketers actually… What’s the right word? Hoodwink the shopper with some of the phraseology. So they call it pizza Donna Letta. And then it says, made in Grimsby. Fresh Italian-style pizza made in Grimsby. Andrew Grant: The one that always gets me is, in the good old days when you were driving around looking for a pub to have lunch in. And you drive past the first one and it says, “Home prepared food.” You’ve driven past it before you can work out that actually, that means it came out of a big breaks truck. And what you’re actually looking for is the home prepared, I think. No. Darren A. Smith: Home-cooked, home-prepared. Andrew Grant: Home-cooked is heated up. Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: Home prepared is we took the lid off the packet first. Homemade, homemade is what you’re looking for. Darren A. Smith: Ah, so it’s three. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But as you can see, you’ve driven a couple of miles by the time you’ve worked out, “Am I getting fresh, prepared, cooked, and made food in my pub? Or am I just getting something that’s had the lid taken off?” (silence) Darren A. Smith: Cheers. Andrew Grant: With the truth. Darren A. Smith: Andrew. Oh, you’re back. Okay. You froze for 30 seconds. Andrew Grant: Okay. Well, yeah. A bit like the food, I guess. Darren A. Smith: All right. Let’s talk about a few other examples. So I saw that even Amazon, who are obviously doing very, very well. We’ve got Amazon Prime instant video. I have no idea what that is and I’m fairly tech-savvy. Do you know what that is? Andrew Grant: Yeah. No, I’m just one of the people that whenever there was something like that, I think of whether the acronym makes up something rude. So, APIV. No, it doesn’t. APIV. Darren A. Smith: Well, we’re also working on a product slightly outside of training, but we’ll talk about that at the moment. Cyber-security. Do you know what phishing is? I’ve learned about phishing. Do you know what phishing is? P-H. What is it? Andrew Grant: That’s sending an email with a dodgy link, isn’t it? Darren A. Smith: I think that’s it. Andrew Grant: You then click on. Darren A. Smith: That’s it. So we’ve changed the training course for phishing, which people can reach to, to something called email safety. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: And then. Sorry, go on. Andrew Grant: As you say, it does what it says on the tin is usually the best starting point for deciding what to name something. Darren A. Smith: That’s probably true. And we ought to turn the mirror on ourselves. So in our industry, we have things that we use at MBM, like individual ILO, individual learning objective. Okay. We use that term, but actually, what we’re trying to say is what’s in it for you? What the hell do you want to get out of spending five hours training to that? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: So, it happens in the training industry as well. Andrew Grant: Yeah. No. It goes back to your four by four. It should have just been called fits on a slice of bread. Darren A. Smith: It could be. And I understand what they did was by understanding there was a piece of the terminology they were using, the shopper wasn’t, then they got to a point of sandwich ham. Ideal for sandwiches, ideal for bagels. So they had different hams. So by trying to figure out what terminology they were using that doesn’t fit with the shopper, they found a new opportunity. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And I guess, talking of the bread analogy, we have toaster bread, don’t we? So what came first? The toaster or the bread? interestingly, the toaster came second, and then they reinvented the bread to fit the toaster. Because otherwise, you get a standard loaf of bread and the top third of your slice sticks out and doesn’t get nicely toasted. Unless you buy square toaster bread. So, I don’t know if you can buy a toaster that is loaf size, but most of them are square size. Darren A. Smith: Probably true. And then the other part, is sometimes we need to lead the consumer, the customer, the shopper because they won’t have the vocabulary. So I’m trying to think of what categories where we’ve led the shopper. Andrew Grant: Well, I think there was the example, a couple of examples last week. Would frozen foods really exist unless the supermarkets put it all in one place? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Probably true. Andrew Grant: Because if you’re cooking Sunday lunch, you’re looking for again, if we use our industry terminology, a main plate protein item is what shoppers look for their Sunday lunch. So, are we having chicken, lamb, pork or beef? Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: They don’t think, “Right. I’m going to have chicken. It must be frozen chicken.” Yep. We’re having chicken. And then the decision is, is it going to be fresh? Is it going to be frozen? Is it going to be wings? Or, is it going to be a whole bird? Et cetera. Andrew Grant: So, in true shopper decision hierarchy, you should put the frozen chicken portions next to the fresh chicken. But from a technical perspective, that’s tough. And it’s very expensive. So this category called frozen foods was invented. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Yeah. True. True. Okay. Yep. That makes sense. That makes absolute sense. Yeah. Andrew Grant: Yes. I guess it is the challenge of product developers, marketers, buyers, that you don’t get hoodwinked by your own internal thinking and knowledge. Too much knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Andrew Grant: When you’re talking about, I always remember somebody saying to me the average shopping trip is about 45 minutes. There are 25,000 SKUs in a superstore. Divide 25,000 by 45 minutes. You’re down to a decision of less than half a second per product. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So, don’t make it complicated for the shopper. You’re asking them to make a decision in less than half a second. So it’s got to say what it does on the tin. Darren A. Smith: And I think that there are some categories like cooked ham, which to me seemed like just a wall of pink. Bagged salads seemed like a wall of green. But let’s talk about bagged salads just for a moment. We’re working with a client and we had shoppers in a room, one of those shopper focus groups. Darren A. Smith: And these shoppers were picking up the bags and doing this. We sort of had to, “What are you doing?” And then it reminds me of when we saw people do it with fruit. You know when you pick up fruit and you do this? The pressure test. Now, the consumer doesn’t really have a description of what they do, they just do these things. Darren A. Smith: Where we got to with the bag of salads is they call it bounce. If it felt sort of bouncy as a bag, thumbs up. If it didn’t, they weren’t going to buy it. And what the supplier cleverly did, was then put that in their QA, bounce. And tried to take the intangible to tangible. It has to look like this. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: So our challenge for our viewers is to identify five pieces of terminology that they use, but the shopper doesn’t. Andrew Grant: No, that’d be great. Yeah. Let’s get our viewers to send in some, maybe we can talk about them next week. Darren A. Smith: That’d be great because I think every one of them is an opportunity. Where we are the buffer, we need to take that, identify it and find the opportunity that sits behind it. Andrew Grant: Yeah, I agree. Darren A. Smith: All right. Andrew Grant: Very good. Darren A. Smith: Okay, Andrew. So terminology this week. Any ideas what we’re going to talk about next week? Or are we going to keep it a surprise? Andrew Grant: I think we keep it as a surprise. There’s so much potentially happening out there that something will have cropped up by next Friday, I’m sure. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew, you have a good weekend. Andrew Grant: Take care and you too. Bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Purchase Decision Hierarchy Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the fifteenth episode of Grocery Guru. This episode discusses the purchase decision hierarchy, shopper map, analytic hierarchy process, consumer decision tree… Whatever you call it, understanding how the shopper shops is key to category performance. Purchase Decision Hierarchy – the way customers decide what they’re going to buy. You Can Read the Full Purchase Decision Hierarchy Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 15 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. Yes. Very, very well. Thank you. Darren A. Smith: Good. Good. All right. Well, this week we’re going to get stuck in straight away because I know you and I had a debate earlier about purchase decision hierarchy. What the hell is it? Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, absolutely. The way customers decide what they’re going to buy. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: And a lot of commentators have said it’s no longer relevant in the world of shopper insight. When a club card swipe can tell you everything you want to know about your shopper, category management’s dead, isn’t it? Darren A. Smith: Well… So it’s also called customer decision hierarchy, consumer decision hierarchy. I like to call it shopper map because I think it gives you a map of how to shop something. And if you can’t understand the map, you’re not going to shop it or you’re going to buy less of it. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But a lot of people would say, the minute you’ve got that club card or that loyalty data, you can see inside the basket and you can see what the shopper bought with what, when, from which part of the store, how often and how that links to his or her family situation. So why do you need to spend time at a flip chart, working out what the customer decision hierarchy is? Darren A. Smith: Because I think we need to know what decisions the shopper makes both before and at the fixture. Andrew Grant: Well, let’s do a little test because I do believe that actually loyalty data is, as we kept going on about it, it’s the future. And it can tell you a lot. There’s one thing it can’t tell you. So, Darren, I

Purchase Decision Hierarchy Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the fifteenth episode of Grocery Guru. This episode discusses the purchase decision hierarchy, shopper map, analytic hierarchy process, consumer decision tree… Whatever you call it, understanding how the shopper shops is key to category performance. Purchase Decision Hierarchy – the way customers decide what they’re going to buy. You Can Read the Full Purchase Decision Hierarchy Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 15 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. Yes. Very, very well. Thank you. Darren A. Smith: Good. Good. All right. Well, this week we’re going to get stuck in straight away because I know you and I had a debate earlier about purchase decision hierarchy. What the hell is it? Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, absolutely. The way customers decide what they’re going to buy. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: And a lot of commentators have said it’s no longer relevant in the world of shopper insight. When a club card swipe can tell you everything you want to know about your shopper, category management’s dead, isn’t it? Darren A. Smith: Well… So it’s also called customer decision hierarchy, consumer decision hierarchy. I like to call it shopper map because I think it gives you a map of how to shop something. And if you can’t understand the map, you’re not going to shop it or you’re going to buy less of it. Andrew Grant: Yeah. But a lot of people would say, the minute you’ve got that club card or that loyalty data, you can see inside the basket and you can see what the shopper bought with what, when, from which part of the store, how often and how that links to his or her family situation. So why do you need to spend time at a flip chart, working out what the customer decision hierarchy is? Darren A. Smith: Because I think we need to know what decisions the shopper makes both before and at the fixture. Andrew Grant: Well, let’s do a little test because I do believe that actually loyalty data is, as we kept going on about it, it’s the future. And it can tell you a lot. There’s one thing it can’t tell you. So, Darren, I take you’d like a bit of wine? Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: I know you like to whine, but you do like some wine. Darren A. Smith: I like wine. Go on. Andrew Grant: Okay. So let’s assume you are going on an essential journey to your local supermarket this afternoon. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Cool. Andrew Grant: And you’re going to shop the wine aisle for the weekend. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: Just do me a quick picture on a piece of paper of what you’re going to buy. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Right, pen. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Ready for rubbish drawing? Oh God, I feel like I’m back in art class at school. Now, this is what we buy as a treat. And I realized only six months ago, I’ve been saying it wrong for 20 years. Andrew Grant: What, Liebfraumilch? Oh, right. Darren A. Smith: Barolo. Andrew Grant: Okay. Right. That’s interesting. You’ve drawn a bottle of wine. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So you’re not in the market for a box of wine or one of those little miniatures that you used to be able to get on a train? Darren A. Smith: Not if I’m going this afternoon because it’s Friday. No, for the family, who’s the kids now drink wine as well. Kids in their 20’s. Andrew Grant: So this is the bit where I think customer decision hierarchy is important because what a club card or a loyalty data can’t tell you is that subconscious decision. You decided before, almost without thinking about it- Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: … I’m in the market for a bottle of wine, not a five-litre box of wine. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: You’ve made a subconscious decision. It’s the same with cars. If I asked you to draw the next car you want, you would probably draw a four-wheel-drive SUV. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Yeah? Because you’ve subconsciously said, well, I don’t want a Supermini- Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: Or I don’t want an estate car. You draw a saloon. You wouldn’t draw an estate car because subconsciously I’m not in the market for an estate car. Darren A. Smith: Nope. That’s very true. That’s very true. Now here’s the bit that winds me up. And I’m going to get on my high horse just for a moment. Shopping wine, I can’t see the data, but I would bet £5 of your money, Andrew, that people buy a lot of promotions online because they look at the wine fixture. They can’t understand the map and they go, “Stop this. I’m going to the bottle at the end because it’s on offer. So it’s probably quite good. And I’m going to grab that.” Andrew Grant: Yeah, no, absolutely. And that’s what people… When people don’t believe in category management and decision hierarchy is they often rubbish it by saying, “Well, people just shop on price.” Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: And actually, you’re right. The vast majority of people are very price-conscious. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: But let’s put it this way. So you just drew you a nice bottle of Barolo, which if my memory serves me right, is a very decent Italian red. Darren A. Smith: It is. It’s one of our favourites. Yes. Andrew Grant: Okay. If Blue Nun is on offer in Tesco at £2.49 a bottle, are you going to buy that? It’s dead cheap. Darren A. Smith: No- Andrew Grant: No. Well, there you go. Darren A. Smith: Because I tried Blue Nun when I was 17, it was horrible. Andrew Grant: Okay. So the price isn’t important to you because if the price was the sole decision, you would buy the Blue Nun at 2.49 bug off. Darren A. Smith: Absolutely. I agree. I agree. The other bit that winds me up, why is it that when I go to a restaurant it’s so different? Andrew Grant: What, so much more expensive? Darren A. Smith: No, no, no, no, not expensive. The map. So I open the wine menu in the restaurant and I’m looking, the first thing I see is, as we call it pink, white, or red or sparkling. Okay. So that sort of matches what’s in the supermarket-ish, but the next decision we make is a bit about the price because in a restaurant it was sort of £20-something much, much higher. And we’re looking at the grape. The kids quite like a Merlot. We don’t really spend that much about wine, but they quite like a Merlot, we like a Shiraz. That’s how we’re shopping. So why is it, it’s all laid out by countries in the supermarket? Andrew Grant: Well, absolutely. Because lots and lots in there and we already burned three-quarters of our time because when we do this with clients, we spend a good morning, at least doing this because there are some fascinating insights that come out. But just talking about the restaurant experience, you’ve already decided the occasion. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: You’re not going to order a five-litre box of wine because it’s a restaurant occasion or I hope you don’t. So occasion is probably the number one factor when deciding on a bottle of wine. And I don’t want to denigrate any retailers here, but you’re not going to take the cheapest bottle of Fred Blog’s discount stores red to your mum’s 70th birthday party. Darren A. Smith: Of course. Of course. The occasion’s important. Absolutely. Yeah. I would agree. Andrew Grant: So occasion drives a lot of it, then as we’ve just said, it’s not the price with wine. It’s actually colour. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: Because if you like red wine, are you really going to get tempted to buy Rose or white? Darren A. Smith: No. No. Andrew Grant: You did on occasion maybe. Darren A. Smith: Yep. So I’m looking at the first three decisions we make in any task. And I would guess with wine, it’s colour first, probably pricing somewhere in there, and then there’s something about the grape. Andrew Grant: I think it’s the occasion, colour, and then it’s grape or brand actually. When you do the research, and I bought wine for a number of years, it was really interesting. People think the grape variety’s often the brand. Darren A. Smith: Oh, is that? Andrew Grant: They think Chardonnay is a brand as well as being an ’80s footballer’s wife. It’s also in their head, a brand. As is a Shiraz. And they often get confused and people with wine, and this is a UK thing because we were fairly late to the party drinking house wine. They go to a restaurant and they have a nice bottle of something that says Jacob’s Creek. Darren A. Smith: Yep. Andrew Grant: And instantly on the shelves, they look for that sort of brand beacon that says, Jacob’s Creek, or actually, I had that nice Shiraz. So they get the brand and the grape mixed up. Unfortunately, some people like that also buy it because it’s got a nice, big cuddly fat penguin on the label. I didn’t know you’d be surprised. If you look at the wine aisle, there’s lots and lots of bottles with nice, colourful lizards on it, big fat penguins, French men riding bicycles with a beret.  A lot of people buy on that’s a nice bottle, that looks fun. Darren A. Smith: Well, and that comes back to it’s… And I guess some wine buyers out there are thinking we ought to be more educated, but I think they need to make it easier for us. Why am I presented by an aisle that’s by country when I don’t shop by country? I don’t know Australian, I don’t care. Andrew Grant: Well, again, that comes back to some of these ingrained habits. I mean, would you invent a category called frozen foods because you don’t think I must have a frozen burger for dinner tonight. Darren A. Smith: No, no, very expensive. Andrew Grant: I want a burger, and then you decide whether you want to have it fresh or frozen or eat out or whatever. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: The fact that it’s just so expensive to put frozen food cabinets in a supermarket means they all have to be clustered together. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So you create this artificial category called frozen foods that people just got used to shopping. And in wine, it was exactly the same thing. Back in the ’60s or the ’70s, Sainsbury’s actually decided that the UK market was right for drinking table wine. And so they brought French table wine to the masses. Sainsbury’s being Sainsbury’s. As all good retailers, they said to the French wine board, “If you want to sell lots of wine tours, it’d be really nice if you paid for the displays.” So the French wine board at the time, very kindly paid a whole load of money for Sainsbury’s to set up a French wine section. And then of course, when the Australians came along and said, “Good day, mates. Can we sell you some of our wine?” They said, “Well, yeah, but you’re going to have to pay for the space.” Darren A. Smith: Right. Andrew Grant: So hence now in every supermarket, there’s a French section. There’s an Australian section. There’s a Chilean section, et cetera. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: It’s a hangover from way, way back. Darren A. Smith: And what I see when I look at the wine section, there’s probably seven different maps from tiers to countries, to colour, to a format. And then you’ve got sort of the copy of the cheese, which is a mature red or light and fizzy, or whatever it is. It just adds more complexity. And then they started changing the bottle tops to match those colours and those varieties and it’s, oh, I’ve got so many maps to look at I can’t understand it. Andrew Grant: Well, that comes down to the conundrum of category management. You’re trying to please all the people all the time because some people will want to buy their wine based on I’m having Stilton for my dessert course. Some people will hate sweet wines. They want something very, very dry. Some people will only buy wine if it’s won a gold medal somewhere, or if Heston Blumenthal says it’s the very best thing to drink in the Saturday Times. So what they’re trying to do with that complexity that you see, they’re trying to meet all the needs of everybody, which is why shelves have to work so, so hard. Darren A. Smith: They do. And I think particularly for wine, a bugbear of mine, I think they’re trying to be a Jack of all trades, master of none. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Now, who does category management perfectly? Final question before we have to go. Who does wine category management perfectly? Darren A. Smith: God. Don’t know. Andrew Grant: They all do. It’s when you go online. When you go online, yeah? Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: You can set the store app to Darren’s personal preference. So I only want to see Italian reds in bottles. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, true. Andrew Grant: I only want to see Italian reds in bottles under £8. And then you might do it by body or sweetness or dryness or ones that have won medals. So you can set out the store, whether it’s Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, whoever to Darren’s personal wine selection. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. And the challenge with that is if my wall of wine is this big, it’s only ever going to be this big because it will struggle to go wider than that. And then we go back to where Sainsbury’s was talking about sleep shopping some years ago, where we just, let’s order that. It comes, done. Okay, Andrew, we’re out of time. What’s the takeaway for our viewers before we go? Andrew Grant: Well, I wouldn’t match wine with a takeaway unless it’s a really good takeaway. I think the takeaway is yes, look, I always find them great fun. Whenever we do this with clients, they love doing these decision trees. It’s great, great fun getting a group of guys and girls around a flip chart and getting them to try and decide how they shop, but then how other shoppers shop. So it is still valid even in this crazy electronic world of loyalty and insight and data that we keep banging on about. Some of the old truth still ring true. Darren A. Smith: Very true. All right, thank you, Andrew. And next week, I think we’re going to talk about terminology and some of the crazy stuff we use in this industry that shoppers have no clue about. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Okay. Let’s talk about that. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Until next week. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: Andrew, thank you. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Range Reviews and Resets Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the fourteenth episode of Grocery Guru: Discussing Range Reviews and Range Resets. Discover more about range reviews and resets with our comprehensive discussion. You Can Read the Full Range Reviews and Resets Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 14 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Good, good. Thank you. You? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. Looks like you’re at your mum’s, am I guessing? Andrew Grant: I am at the homely palatial pile. Darren A. Smith: Very nice. Very nice. All right, looks lovely. This week I think we’re talking about range reviews, range resets, that sort of thing. That’s what we discussed? Andrew Grant: Yeah, I think we said last week, not a lot hot happening out there. About the only bit of newsworthy stuff to come out is Morrisons have had a virtual supplier conference and have announced a major category reset. What I found quite funny actually is some of the learned publications out there picked up the fact that it’s a 170 category range review. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: But published it as Morrisons to change 170 products. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Well, that’s not many, so that shouldn’t take long. Andrew Grant: Might take them about 12 minutes, I reckon. Yeah. But no, it’s 170 categories, full-on range reset by the sounds of it and utilizing their new Morrisons Edge shopper insight technology. Darren A. Smith: And is this their hookup with IRI, am I guessing? Andrew Grant: Yeah, with IRI. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So a crazy time to be doing a range review, range reset? Andrew Grant: Well, yeah, exactly. That was my first thought. We don’t know what the new normal is. So they’re going to be looking at a year’s worth of data when… just take a few categories. People haven’t really bought any sandwiches for lunch. People haven’t been doing meal deals. Everybody’s been baking at home and cooking at home. So ready meals sales probably aren’t reflective of whatever the new normal is. So I think it quite, quite difficult to do a range review when the world’s been turned upside down. Why the timing now, is slightly bizarre to me. Darren A. Smith: I don’t know. I mean, it’s a topsy-turvy time obviously to do it, and you’re basing it on data that may then change as shopper habits change, we come out of lockdown, blah, blah, blah. Is it a brave move to be doing it? I think not is my suspicion. Not a brave move. Andrew Grant: I suppose, as long as they put a common-sense rule over it. But obviously, we don’t know what data will come out, but you can sort of, with some of the macro trends we’ve talked about over the last few months, you could almost imagine a situation where a whole aisle of flour, you de-list ready meals, you take out front of the store and fill it with masks. That ain’t going to be the new normal back in, hopefully, in May, June, July. Darren A. Smith: You’re right, it’s not. And I think with what we could both credit our friends in Bradford with more intelligence, and of course, they’re not going to put a whole aisle of masks in, but it comes down to the nitty-gritty, doesn’t it? Are they going to extend baking by 20% and then try and change it again in June when they go, “Hold on, we’re now not all baking”? Andrew Grant: Yeah exactly. So it will be interesting. And I guess for the suppliers out there, our clients, it’s going to be quite a challenging range reset for them to go through. I guess our message is we’ve got a lot of experience of this. And obviously, the inevitable negotiations that will come to fruit from the winners and the losers being put under pressure. So I guess, yeah. I guess the message of today’s webinar is that we’re here to help if there’s any Morrisons supplier out there caught up in this range reset. Quite important, I think, that they spend the commensurate amount of time on it because it’s going to be a weird one. Darren A. Smith: It is. And also not forgetting we’ve got our new man in the office, Mark White. So GSCOP is looking down with a fresh lens at de-lists, which Morrisons could come a cropper on if they’re not careful with those. I’m sure they are. Andrew Grant: Well yeah no, as always, yeah. There’s a new adjudicator there, I think we’ve said way back in an early one of these. Yeah. He will want to make his mark. What is it, the famous first hundred days? Darren A. Smith: Yes, yes. Andrew Grant: He must be coming close to that, so I’m sure he’ll want to make his mark. But we’ve seen that all the signed-up retailers under GSCOP, they do pretty much play by the rules. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes. And we’ve got the Code Confident pack, which was launched a couple of weeks ago by Mark, which we’re having a look at. Yep, thumbs up to that. And then that made me think about Biden’s first hundred days. A quick note to him. I think he’s made some cracking decisions of basically overturning everything that Trump did. Andrew Grant: Yeah, yeah. Probably not a difficult first hundred days for him, but probably outside our remit, I think, Darren. Darren A. Smith: I think so. So let’s come back to range reviews. Your experience, what would you tell the people watching this on range reviews? I’ve got a couple of things I’d share, but what would you say has been through probably hundreds? Andrew Grant: You’ve just got to immerse yourself in the data and come up with the… Well, stick with the shopper, as we’ve always said. The shopper is king. Start with the shopper and work back. I guess if you’re a supplier or a brand that gets genuinely bad news, in the sense that your products are no longer shopper relevant, then you’re going to have to do some very, very deep naval-gazing. Because otherwise you’ll just end up basically spending money to keep listed, which might work in the short term, may buy you the time to sort of re-strategize in the medium term. But other than that, suppliers need to be all over the numbers and really understand why, if we’re talking Morrisons, why Morrisons shoppers buy their products. And build themselves an armoury of insights, so when the inevitable conversation comes along, be it good or bad, it will inevitably be attached to money. They can have a very forceful and logical argument based on Morrison’s own shopper behaviours. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I like that. My own experience of being on the sidelines and watching some reviews is that they don’t start with an objective. So the objective should be we’re going to make X more money. We’re going to attract 10% more clients. And what’s your friend’s phrase? WOP, FOP and PEN? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Just explain that so these guys know what we’re talking about. Andrew Grant: It’s very simple. The only three ways you can add value to a category is to bring your shoppers in, which is penetration. The hardest one to achieve. Get customers to spend more, that’s weight of purchase, valuated purchase, or get them to buy bigger packs, volume weight of purchase. Or get them to buy more often. Get them to come in every week, rather than every fortnight, which is frequency. Darren A. Smith: Lovely, I like that. WOP, FOP and PEN. That’s right, isn’t it? Andrew Grant: WOP, FOP, PEN. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: So you either get more shoppers in, you get them to buy more, or you get them to buy more often. And- Andrew Grant: Or ideally all three. Darren A. Smith: … or all three. And our suggestion should be that your range review would start with an objective of one of those. Now typically when you move one of those styles, one of the others goes back down, but overall you should add to your category 3%, 5%, we’ve going to get 10,000 more customers, 10,000 more shoppers. Andrew Grant: Yeah and we’ve got one of the dynamics of this pandemic is frequency has dropped considerably. So people have gone back to a bi-weekly or even a monthly shop. As we said right at the start this morning, people aren’t popping in every day for lunch and picking up their dinner, because they’re stuck at home and they’re probably getting the delivery. We talked about home deliveries a lot. Again, a home delivery truck every two weeks. So frequency has dropped dramatically. But I remember Tesco’s financial statement, the weight of purchase has rocketed. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, that makes sense. Andrew Grant: And particularly in areas like beers, wines, and spirits, obviously, because there are no pubs to go to. Darren A. Smith: Well, how else do we get through lockdown? One last piece for me on range reviews is that I see suppliers and supermarkets treating every SKU the same in terms of availability. But if we understand that this SKU is substitutable, then maybe this SKU will be bought in its place. We don’t need to drive 100% availability of this one because they’ll buy this one. You take Tabasco. 100% availability, of course, because you’re not going to buy anything else. But there are other SKU’s that’ll be more substitutable. So one of the things I would advocate is an availability strategy along with the weight. Andrew Grant: Well, yeah, it’s the basic building blocks of category management. Complementarity and substitutability, and it’s where if you are a product that is not substitutable, and I’d say something like HP sauce. If you want, people buy HP sauce because it’s HP sauce. A few people may buy their own label, but pretty much it’s a non-substitutable product. Darren A. Smith: Agreed. Andrew Grant: So you can build yourself a very strong argument for being in a category if people will walk away if that particular product isn’t available. But then complementarity is very important. If you’re selling jam, you probably have to sell spreads and bread. So again, you can create yourself strong category arguments based on you’re either not substitutable or you’re highly complementary to some of the major basket items. Darren A. Smith: Good, like it. I’m going to leave you with a question, see if you can answer it. HP, what does it stand for? Andrew Grant: Houses of Parliament, isn’t it? It was on the labels. Darren A. Smith: Very good, okay. Andrew Grant: Used to be on the labels back in the day. Darren A. Smith: I’ll catch you out next time. Andrew for this week, thank you very much. I’ll press stop. Take care. Andrew Grant: Okay, take care. Bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Range Reviews and Resets Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the fourteenth episode of Grocery Guru: Discussing Range Reviews and Range Resets. Discover more about range reviews and resets with our comprehensive discussion. You Can Read the Full Range Reviews and Resets Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 14 of the Grocery Guru with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Good, good. Thank you. You? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. Looks like you’re at your mum’s, am I guessing? Andrew Grant: I am at the homely palatial pile. Darren A. Smith: Very nice. Very nice. All right, looks lovely. This week I think we’re talking about range reviews, range resets, that sort of thing. That’s what we discussed? Andrew Grant: Yeah, I think we said last week, not a lot hot happening out there. About the only bit of newsworthy stuff to come out is Morrisons have had a virtual supplier conference and have announced a major category reset. What I found quite funny actually is some of the learned publications out there picked up the fact that it’s a 170 category range review. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: But published it as Morrisons to change 170 products. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Well, that’s not many, so that shouldn’t take long. Andrew Grant: Might take them about 12 minutes, I reckon. Yeah. But no, it’s 170 categories, full-on range reset by the sounds of it and utilizing their new Morrisons Edge shopper insight technology. Darren A. Smith: And is this their hookup with IRI, am I guessing? Andrew Grant: Yeah, with IRI. Darren A. Smith: Okay. So a crazy time to be doing a range review, range reset? Andrew Grant: Well, yeah, exactly. That was my first thought. We don’t know what the new normal is. So they’re going to be looking at a year’s worth of data when… just take a few categories. People haven’t really bought any sandwiches for lunch. People haven’t been doing meal deals. Everybody’s been baking at home and cooking at home. So ready meals sales probably aren’t reflective of whatever the new normal is. So I think it quite, quite difficult to do a range review when the world’s been turned upside down. Why the timing now, is slightly bizarre to me. Darren A. Smith: I don’t know. I mean, it’s a top

The Basic Principles of Negotiating Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirteenth episode of Grocery Guru: The Basic Principles of Negotiating and the Squredance. Discover how knowledge of the basic principles of negotiating can improve your results. You Can Read the Full Principles of Negotiating Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week 13 of the Grocery Guru, and we are with Andrew Grant. Andrew, hello. Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. How are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m good, I’m good. Lockdown, blah, let’s not go through that. We’ve got a few weeks to go, vaccine. Let’s talk about Grocery, what’s going on in the world of Grocery this week? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s been a quiet week, actually. You look at the news-wise, not very much has happened, actually. Nothing stands out. So I thought maybe we’d talk about, I think we did mention it last week in the end. Let’s go back to basics. Let’s talk about negotiation 101. Darren A. Smith: Oh, negotiation 101, okay. Now, recently I wrote an article in The Grocer, name-drop, about negotiation. And a couple of people wrote to me on LinkedIn and said it was very good. It was about me selling my wife’s Beetle. And short story, the guy, we took it out for a spin and he said to me, while he was driving the Beetle, he said, “You know I want to negotiate.” I said, “Yeah, brilliant.” And we came back here, this is my house. And we’re looking around the car, as two men do, and I know nothing about cars. We’re kicking the tires. And he said, “Right, I’m ready to negotiate.” And I said, “Cool.” And I pushed the price up by 250 quid. And he said, “No, no, no, we were going to negotiate.” I said, “I am.” Andrew Grant: A little bit cheeky, a little bit cheeky. I’d suggest if you’re a small supplier to a Tesco, you don’t do that. But fair enough. I think in the world of cars, there are no rules. Andrew Grant: But no, I was reading an article in one of the Sunday papers about the Brexit deal. And they were saying that the deal was only done because the EU convinced themselves that Boris was mad enough to go through with a no-deal. So effectively, that Boris was willing to cut his nose off to spite his face. And it was only because they were convinced he was willing to do something almost illogical that they came to the party. And it just got me thinking about, I always remember being told, taught, “Never threaten something you’re not willing to carry through.” Darren A. Smith: Absolutely, yeah. Andrew Grant: Because if you get called out on it, that is your credibility gone forever and a day. Darren A. Smith: Well, and that’s it. And you’ve lost the negotiation, but not only that, you’ve lost the relationship long-term. Because every time you ever bluff in the future, they’ll say, “Yeah, we’ll call it.” Yeah, I’d agree. Andrew Grant: Yeah, and I think that’s probably the critical thing when it comes to supermarket negotiations, hopefully, they’re not just one-offs. You selling your wife’s car is a one-off, clearly, you didn’t mind if you upset the other guy. Andrew Grant: Yeah, hopefully, you’ll never see him again. But yeah, if you’re hoping to have a long and fruitful supply relationship with a supermarket, you really do need to get into that win-win zone. Into a lose-win, or even… Yeah, win for the supplier, lose for the supermarket, probably not a good long-term option. Darren A. Smith: No, no. And there’s Steven Covey, in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, talks about in the habit win-win. A great story, where it goes through win-win, or win-lose, or lose-win. And he talks about the long-term effects of that. Because lots of people talk about win-win, but actually what they’re sort of thinking is win-die, “I’m going to take as much as I can, and the rest can go poke it.” But Covey puts it really, really well. So I’m going to recommend the audio version of that habit. Andrew Grant: Okay, yeah. Because yes, I think you’re right. I think when people start negotiating, and certainly, I’m sure we can both remember 21-year-old buyers pumped full of testosterone or what have you. It was negotiations about being aggressive. Negotiations about thumping the table, and threatening delists, and what have you. And it’s only as you get a bit more mature, a bit more experience, do you realize, “Actually it’s not about that.” It’s not about putting the Arnold Schwarzenegger underpants on in the morning. It’s actually about being quite creative and being sensible about your negotiation plan. Darren A. Smith: And that makes me think that rather than aggressive, forceful, scary, which are the words that people often associate with negotiation. You’re absolutely right, I’d like to add words like curious, exploration, creative, innovative. They, for me, are much more effective negotiators. Andrew Grant: Yeah, I think it’s about planning. I mean, you’d never walk into a negotiation without a plan. And coming back to the Boris situation. Yeah, they talked about the whole of that four-year Brexit period was about red lines. And whether Theresa May would cross her red lines, and whether Barnier would cross his red lines. It’s important you have the red lines in the right place. And going back to what I said at the start, that you don’t set red lines which you then cross, because your credibility is gone. “That’s my final price. Oh no, yeah, I’ll give you a discount.” You have no credibility in the future. So I- Darren A. Smith: It’s a little bit like my wife was buying a leather coat on eBay. And she said, “No, I’m not going to spend more than £65, it’s not worth it.” And then she was bidding with this guy and ended up spending £77. Right past the red line, it was in the rearview mirror. Andrew Grant: Yeah. So yeah, no, yeah, be careful where you set those red lines. And, I guess, in the spirit of win-win, and we have said it before, it’s being creative with what you negotiate about. Because I know we often play that game of, “Darren, I’ve got a £10 note here, will you give me 20 quid for it?” And you go, “Why would I give you 20 quid for a £10 note? I’ll give you a fiver.” And £10 is£10. If we try and negotiate just on £10, one of us is going to lose, or we’re going to have the world’s biggest argument. Darren A. Smith: Which often happens, doesn’t it? Negotiators go into that negotiation, then they’re surprised when they’re in this head-to-head on price. Because they haven’t got the variables, the tradables, the gives the wishes, whatever you call them. And I know you and I term that as the grease that keeps the engine moving. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: And without those, you just bang. Andrew Grant: So I guess it’s a good introduction, as we were talking about negotiation 101. A good point for you to spend 15 seconds talking about our wonderful Squaredance tool, and where it came from. Darren A. Smith: Ooh. So the Squaredance is a simple template, and it encourages you to prepare for your negotiation, and it will give you confidence. My experience of watching people prepare for negotiations, is they start with PowerPoint. PowerPoint is not a negotiation preparation tool, it’s a presentation tool. So you and I built Squaredance, and people are finding it fabulous. That was more than 15 seconds, wasn’t it? Andrew Grant: No, but it is. And I guess we do these things to sell some courses and get some people working with us. And I think the Squaredance is one of the better tools out there, in the basis of its simplicity. But also the fact it comes out with something very focused, and very practically useful for anybody going into, actually, almost any sort of negotiation. Even if it is buying a used car privately, or negotiating with one of the supermarkets. And I guess in the current climate, coming back to the news, there are all these reports of Brexit delays, and meat and fish rotting in Rotterdam. There’s a lot of extra costs as a result of the friction caused by the new rules. I’m sure there’s a lot of suppliers out there thinking about, “How do I approach my supermarket customer with a price increase this spring?” And that’s inevitably going to come down to a negotiation at some point. Darren A. Smith: Yes, it is. And you and I have seen learners over the years increase their confidence through preparation, which is typically where confidence comes from. And they go into that negotiation with a much better approach and attitude. Because it’s less this, and it’s much more, “How can we work together? Here’s a bunch of questions I’m going to ask you to seek information.” In order to then get to stage three, four, which is around the proposal, and summary. And, “Okay, we’ve come out the other side, and we haven’t just beaten each other up on price.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. And I guess from the individual’s perspective that often, I always make the analogy, “Maybe you shouldn’t mention Jurgen Klopp after last night’s result.” But Jurgen Klopp, Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, they don’t just say to their players, “Guys, we’re playing so-and-so tomorrow at 5:00. Rock up at quarter to 5:00, get your shorts on, get your boots on. Let’s go out and play.” Andrew Grant: They practice, and they plan, and they practice, and they plan ad infinitum. So yeah, often we speak to national account managers, who the finance director has the bright idea of, “Oh, let’s put a 10% cost price increase through.” And the national account manager is sent over the barricades, literally with no practice, or planning and they have no armour. And obviously, some of the stuff we can give them, I think gives them confidence. Because they feel, “Look, we’ve got our suit of armour around us. We’ve got our Squaredance, we’ve got our tradables plan. We’ve got all the tools around us, therefore we’re properly clothed for what we’re about to go into.” Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes, you’re absolutely right. Absolutely right. We want to help them be the best version of themselves and the Squaredance. So if anyone is looking for the Squaredance, it’s obviously an [inaudible 00:10:11] word. So you should be able to type it into Google, just put MBM on the end. You’ll find the article, you can download it absolutely free. We’ve put it out there as a template. It’s taken Andrew and I best part of a lot of years to build and refine, we know it works. Best of luck with it. Andrew, any final words before we depart? Andrew Grant: No, I think you just said it. I think, hopefully, the Squaredance is relatively self-explanatory. But of course, there’s, yeah, no substitute for picking up the phone, or dropping us an email, and letting us help you. Darren A. Smith: Cool, lovely. Andrew, until next week, you take care. Andrew Grant: Yeah, cheers. Bye. Darren A. Smith: Cheers, bye. Bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

The Basic Principles of Negotiating Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the thirteenth episode of Grocery Guru: The Basic Principles of Negotiating and the Squredance. Discover how knowledge of the basic principles of negotiating can improve your results. You Can Read the Full Principles of Negotiating Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week 13 of the Grocery Guru, and we are with Andrew Grant. Andrew, hello. Andrew Grant: Good morning, Darren. How are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m good, I’m good. Lockdown, blah, let’s not go through that. We’ve got a few weeks to go, vaccine. Let’s talk about Grocery, what’s going on in the world of Grocery this week? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s been a quiet week, actually. You look at the news-wise, not very much has happened, actually. Nothing stands out. So I thought maybe we’d talk about, I think we did mention it last week in the end. Let’s go back to basics. Let’s talk about negotiation 101. Darren A. Smith: Oh, negotiation 101, okay. Now, recently I wrote an article in The Grocer, name-drop, about negotiation. And a couple of people wrote to me on LinkedIn and said it was very good. It was about me selling my wife’s Beetle. And short story, the guy, we took it out for a spin and he said to me, while he was driving the Beetle, he said, “You know I want to negotiate.” I said, “Yeah, brilliant.” And we came back here, this is my house. And we’re looking around the car, as two men do, and I know nothing about cars. We’re kicking the tires. And he said, “Right, I’m ready to negotiate.” And I said, “Cool.” And I pushed the price up by 250 quid. And he said, “No, no, no, we were going to negotiate.” I said, “I am.” Andrew Grant: A little bit cheeky, a little bit cheeky. I’d suggest if you’re a small supplier to a Tesco, you don’t do that. But fair enough. I think in the world of cars, there are no rules. Andrew Grant: But no, I was reading an article in one of the Sunday papers about the Brexit deal. And they were saying that the deal was only done because the EU convinced themselves that Boris was mad enough to go through with a no-deal. So effectively, that Boris was willing to cut his nose off to spite his face. And it was only because they were convinced he was willing to do something almost illogical that they came to the party. And it just got me thinking about, I always remember being told, taught,

Tesco Christmas Q3 Results Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twelfth episode of Grocery Guru: Tesco Christmas Q3 Results – 80% of sales in large stores are through Clubcard. You Can Read the Full Tesco Christmas Results Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week 12 with The Grocery Group. It is Andrew Grant. Andrew, hello. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Darren, good to see you again. How are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m all right. I’m all right. Lockdown, blah, vaccination, blah. We’re not going to talk about any of that, are we? Andrew Grant: No. No. It’s still the post-Christmas results season, and I thought today … I think it was yesterday, Tesco’s Christmas results statement was released. All very good stuff. Probably exactly what you would have expected. 8% like-for-like growth. People piling into Finest Christmas products. Lots and lots of online orders. So, I think the stuff we talked about last week in regard to Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. So yeah, a very, very good festive season for Tesco, but- Darren A. Smith: You’re talking about the Q3 statement for Christmas, aren’t you, the results for Tesco Group? Andrew Grant: That’s it. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: All right. All right. Andrew Grant: Inside that statement, not particularly hidden, but towards the end of that statement was a fascinating fact. They talked about the … And it’s very rare; actually, retailers disclose their loyalty information because it’s pretty sensitive stuff. So quite surprised that Ken Murphy actually said that in large stores, 80% of their sales at Christmas were Clubcard sales linked to people swiping their Clubcard at the checkout. That’s phenomenal. Darren A. Smith: That is high. So 8 in 10 pounds that are spent in Tesco is by someone who has a Clubcard, who’s swiped. Andrew Grant: In their larger stores, which you can understand. Because obviously in the Expresses, they’re much more transitory. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: People dining in for a sandwich or a bottle of water are less likely either to have a Clubcard or to swipe it. But in their bigger stores, which is obviously the vast bulk of their volume, to have 8 out of 10 customers loyal, if you like. Loyal Clubcard shoppers. And what do you think’s driven that? I don’t think it was just the Christmas effect. I think it was something else. Darren A. Smith: What’s driven that? Andrew Grant: I don’t know if you’re a Tesco shopper if you’re a regular Tesco shopper. You should have noticed. Darren A. Smith: We’re more online, but then it still happens there. So I think because I’ve had a look at the Q3 statements. I knew what you were go

Tesco Christmas Q3 Results Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twelfth episode of Grocery Guru: Tesco Christmas Q3 Results – 80% of sales in large stores are through Clubcard. You Can Read the Full Tesco Christmas Results Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week 12 with The Grocery Group. It is Andrew Grant. Andrew, hello. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Darren, good to see you again. How are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m all right. I’m all right. Lockdown, blah, vaccination, blah. We’re not going to talk about any of that, are we? Andrew Grant: No. No. It’s still the post-Christmas results season, and I thought today … I think it was yesterday, Tesco’s Christmas results statement was released. All very good stuff. Probably exactly what you would have expected. 8% like-for-like growth. People piling into Finest Christmas products. Lots and lots of online orders. So, I think the stuff we talked about last week in regard to Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. So yeah, a very, very good festive season for Tesco, but- Darren A. Smith: You’re talking about the Q3 statement for Christmas, aren’t you, the results for Tesco Group? Andrew Grant: That’s it. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: All right. All right. Andrew Grant: Inside that statement, not particularly hidden, but towards the end of that statement was a fascinating fact. They talked about the … And it’s very rare; actually, retailers disclose their loyalty information because it’s pretty sensitive stuff. So quite surprised that Ken Murphy actually said that in large stores, 80% of their sales at Christmas were Clubcard sales linked to people swiping their Clubcard at the checkout. That’s phenomenal. Darren A. Smith: That is high. So 8 in 10 pounds that are spent in Tesco is by someone who has a Clubcard, who’s swiped. Andrew Grant: In their larger stores, which you can understand. Because obviously in the Expresses, they’re much more transitory. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: People dining in for a sandwich or a bottle of water are less likely either to have a Clubcard or to swipe it. But in their bigger stores, which is obviously the vast bulk of their volume, to have 8 out of 10 customers loyal, if you like. Loyal Clubcard shoppers. And what do you think’s driven that? I don’t think it was just the Christmas effect. I think it was something else. Darren A. Smith: What’s driven that? Andrew Grant: I don’t know if you’re a Tesco shopper if you’re a regular Tesco shopper. You should have noticed. Darren A. Smith: We’re more online, but then it still happens there. So I think because I’ve had a look at the Q3 statements. I knew what you were going to talk about. I think you’re going to say it’s promotions. Andrew Grant: Yeah. I think they’d been incredibly clever. I mean, most retailers with their loyalty promotions, they’re sort of second-best. They’re sort of add-ons and throw-ins. “Oh, use your loyalty card and get a minor promotion.” What Tesco, I think, have done very, very cleverly is taken their mainstream, high-hitting promotions and made them Clubcard-only. I mean, there are some fantastic Clubcard-only offers out there. And if you haven’t got a Clubcard, you’re wandering around a Tesco thinking, “I’m missing out on some fantastic deals here.” So probably, again, data they won’t share. They probably recruited a whole army of new Clubcard customers since they’ve started those promotions. Darren A. Smith: Well, I read the Q3 statement because I knew you were going to ask about it, and one of the things I read was that the … Let’s have a look. Clubcard penetration has gone up 10 points to over 80%, which ties in with what you said, and there are 2 million more active users. Wow. Andrew Grant: Ah, I missed that bit. I should have read a bit more closely. Right. So another- Darren A. Smith: I mean, that’s truly amazing. Andrew Grant: Absolutely. I mean, and I guess the two important points out of that for our dear listeners and viewers here is those Clubcard promotions, if you want to promote with Tesco going forward, then the biggest and beefiest promotions are going to be those Clubcard ones. If you’re not all over Clubcard loyalty data, if you’re not buying it of Dunnhumby, you’re going to have another arm sort of tied behind your back when it comes to trading with Tesco. So suppliers are going to be encouraged, I guess, to spend more and more on shopper data. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, and understand it, and learn from it, and evaluate. Does the buy two, get third free work? I mean, my experience of working with a lot of clients and a lot of suppliers over the last 10 years is, they don’t all have … Actually, I’m going to go as far. I’ll say most don’t have a return on investment from the amount they spend on promotions. They don’t say, “I spend £1, I got back £1.25.” Now, this is a whole new level of complexity, which is going to make it even harder but absolutely essential. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Absolutely. Secondly, with we said that 80% figure, which is phenomenal, Tesco are now literally almost owning their shoppers. There is the old industry adage that Tesco with its Clubcard knows better than your GP when you’re going to die. Yeah, because no. They know your postcode, they know your lifestyle, they know exactly what your diet is. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes. Andrew Grant: I’m sure we all go to the doctors and don’t actually quite tell them how much we exactly eat. Eat and drink, and particularly how much we drink. Tesco knows exactly how much you drink when you put those seven bottles of cheap red plunk in your basket every week. They see it. Darren A. Smith: Well, it’s very true, because you get the GP questionnaire. How many units of alcohol? You think, “Is a pint just one unit?” Only one. Andrew Grant: No. Darren A. Smith: I’m going to share a couple of other facts that amaze me in here. You mentioned the like-for-like growth of Tesco, 8%. Booker with 15%, which I thought was damn pretty good. Andrew Grant: Well, considering restaurants and hospitality are shut, that is pretty good. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. So, that one amazed me. And then just a couple of other stats. Over Christmas, 7 million orders, 400 million items. Wow. And Tesco are looking after, supporting 786,000 vulnerable shoppers. I mean, some big numbers there. Some really big numbers. Andrew Grant: No, I think as we’ve said before, the supermarkets that are clear winners out of this nasty virus crisis we’ve had, they’ve been doing the right thing. Was it Morrisons announced yesterday, they’re going to be the first supermarket to pay £10 an hour? Darren A. Smith: Oh, are they? I didn’t read that. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay, I was going to just say something else. They pay £10 an hour. Yeah. Okay. Andrew Grant: I’m going to be applying, Darren. So, it could be the last one of these. But yeah, they’re firing on all cylinders. Just about all the supermarkets firing on all cylinders at the moment. But also, I think, tend to do the right thing as well. Darren A. Smith: Certainly seems that way. I’ve got one more stat before we wrap up. The other one I saw was that we’ve got +80% increase in online sales, which equated to another billion pounds worth of online sales over the Q3, which I think was 19 weeks at Tesco. A billion pounds worth of online sales additional. Andrew Grant: Well, I think we said at the very, very first one of these, where I trapped you into working out what UFC was, yeah. Probably their biggest challenge now is, how do they cope with that probably unstoppable growth of online? Are there going to be enough vans to go on the roads to deliver this stuff? Where I live, constantly all you see is white vans delivering Amazon, DPD, food, you name it. That growth is phenomenal, and whether they can keep up with it, and manage to pick it, and make money doing it. Because as we’ve said before, the grocers have to some extent been lucky for the last 60 years. They’ve persuaded us to be our own pickers and deliverers, and we’re now turning our backs on that. Darren A. Smith: They certainly have. So I think where that leads me to is the new battleground maybe moves away from pricing to data, to insight. Understanding our shoppers, but not just regurgitating the Nielsen, the Kantar, the IRI data. Actually turn it into something that says, “There’s £7 million worth of opportunity in the category if we do these three things. One on promotion, one on decision hierarchy, and one on availability.” Fantastic. That’s got to be the new battleground. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Price is always going to be there, and as a supplier, these retailers are going to knock seven bells out of you on price. Of course they will, because they’re still operating on tiny, tiny margins. But yeah, if you can use insight to drive profitable volume, even if you’re making very, very small margins yourself doing it, then that’s the way to grow and survive. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Andrew. We will see you next week for week 13, and let’s what happens in the world of grocery. Andrew Grant: Lucky 13. Darren A. Smith: Lucky 13. You take care. Andrew Grant: Okay. Take care. Bye-bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Grocery Sales Christmas 2020: Who Are the Winners and Turkeys? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eleventh episode of Grocery Guru: Are there any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? It’s that time of the year where we get to reflect upon the results of the Christmas 2020 trading period. Who were the winners and who were the turkeys when we take a look at the Christmas grocery sales 2020? You Can Read the Full Grocery Sales Christmas 2020 Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to, this is week 11 of the Grocery Guru, with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Yes. Happy New Year, Darren. Season’s greetings. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Thank you. How was your Christmas? Andrew Grant: Yeah, very good. Very good. I can’t remember what part of lockdown we were in, but yeah, it was a pretty good Christmas, despite. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Then we had the announcement on Monday. But, let’s ignore that, move on straight onto grocery stuff. So, I believe the title of the episode you’ve given us this week is, Are There Any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? Which has intrigued me, because I know nothing about what we’re going to talk about this week. Andrew Grant: Okay. Christmas turkeys left over, maybe was the full title. Darren A. Smith: Ah, that one. Andrew Grant: No. It’s that time of the year where obviously, you get to see who were the winners and the turkeys over Christmas. So the latest Kantar data came out, I think on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday. Tuesday, I think. So here we go, Darren. Which multiple do you think was the best performing over Christmas, by a long chalk? Darren A. Smith: Really? Okay. Best multiple. And is this growth on growth? Andrew Grant: Sorry. Let’s say the best grocer. Darren A. Smith: The best grocer, okay. Is this growth on growth, or best overall market share? Andrew Grant: No, no. This is market share. This is growth in the however many weeks up to Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. Andrew Grant: 12 weeks up to the 27th of December, the country’s fastest-growing food retailer was? Darren A. Smith: I’m going to go Aldi. Now, I’m going to go, Aldi, because I think they were doing very well. We shopped in late December, or just before Christmas Day, and we found things like prawn rings, which were cracking value. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: It was something like £3.80 for this prawn ring of 70 prawns. Andrew Grant: Okay. All right. So your answer is Aldi? Darren A. Smith: It is. Andrew Grant: I&

Grocery Sales Christmas 2020: Who Are the Winners and the Turkeys? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eleventh episode of Grocery Guru: Are there any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? It’s that time of the year where we get to reflect upon the results of the Christmas 2020 trading period. Who were the winners and who were the turkeys when we take a look at the Christmas grocery sales 2020? You Can Read the Full Grocery Sales Christmas 2020 Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to, this is week 11 of the Grocery Guru, with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Yes. Happy New Year, Darren. Season’s greetings. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Thank you. How was your Christmas? Andrew Grant: Yeah, very good. Very good. I can’t remember what part of lockdown we were in, but yeah, it was a pretty good Christmas, despite. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Then we had the announcement on Monday. But, let’s ignore that, move on straight onto grocery stuff. So, I believe the title of the episode you’ve given us this week is, Are There Any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? Which has intrigued me, because I know nothing about what we’re going to talk about this week. Andrew Grant: Okay. Christmas turkeys left over, maybe was the full title. Darren A. Smith: Ah, that one. Andrew Grant: No. It’s that time of the year where obviously, you get to see who were the winners and the turkeys over Christmas. So the latest Kantar data came out, I think on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday. Tuesday, I think. So here we go, Darren. Which multiple do you think was the best performing over Christmas, by a long chalk? Darren A. Smith: Really? Okay. Best multiple. And is this growth on growth? Andrew Grant: Sorry. Let’s say the best grocer. Darren A. Smith: The best grocer, okay. Is this growth on growth, or best overall market share? Andrew Grant: No, no. This is market share. This is growth in the however many weeks up to Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. Andrew Grant: 12 weeks up to the 27th of December, the country’s fastest-growing food retailer was? Darren A. Smith: I’m going to go Aldi. Now, I’m going to go, Aldi, because I think they were doing very well. We shopped in late December, or just before Christmas Day, and we found things like prawn rings, which were cracking value. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: It was something like £3.80 for this prawn ring of 70 prawns. Andrew Grant: Okay. All right. So your answer is Aldi? Darren A. Smith: It is. Andrew Grant: I’ll change the question then. Which was the worst-performing retailer over Christmas? Because it’s the same answer, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Oh, is it? Andrew Grant: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Aldi only showed 6% growth in a market that grew by 11.3. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: I know. I was shocked for about five seconds, but there’s a very obvious answer. Darren A. Smith: All right. So obvious that I don’t know it. I can’t even reach for it. So let me just understand. So they were five points of growth behind the average, Aldi? Andrew Grant: Behind the average. And when I tell you who the biggest, or when you guess who the biggest grower is, they were 30-odd points behind the biggest grower. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: So what have we been talking about, quite a few of the last 10-odd episodes? What’s been the biggest change in grocery this year because of the pandemic? Darren A. Smith: Okay. So we’re talking about online shopping, I guess. Andrew Grant: Okay. And what haven’t Aldi got? Darren A. Smith: Online shopping. Very good point, Andrew. Very good point. I think you’ve caught me out. Andrew Grant: Absolutely. So I think Aldi has really, really suffered. If you think the last three or four years we’ve expected to see double-digit growth from the likes of Aldi and Lidl. A lot of it because of new stores, obviously. But yeah, worst performing multiple, Aldi, principally, I think because they haven’t got a big online shopping presence. Lidl interestingly managed to show 15% growth, but they did a very big, I think it was, spend £40 and save £15. They did a very deep discount coupon promotion- Darren A. Smith: Right, okay. Andrew Grant: … during Christmas, which I think obviously saved their bacon, as it were. Darren A. Smith: Well, it clearly did. Whatever marketing guru who came up with that, thumbs up to you. Andrew Grant: Yeah. So you should now be able to guess, based on the Aldi answer, who was the fastest-growing retailer? Darren A. Smith: Ocado? Andrew Grant: Ocado, yeah. 38-odd percent growth. So obviously, that M&S tie-up, where they’ve obviously now sorted out a lot of the early teething troubles is absolutely rocking and rolling for them. Darren A. Smith: Cor. Is it true that they are trying to hang on to COVID and stop the vaccinations? Andrew Grant: Well, who knows? Darren A. Smith: No. But it’s come up. Andrew Grant: But yeah, so I think those are probably the two standouts. Your usual suspects all did pretty well. Tesco, 11% growth, Sainsbury’s, 11% growth, Morrison’s, 13. Iceland, 21, pretty good. So look, a really healthy grocery market. Not surprisingly, a lot of non-essential retail struggling or not allowed to open. Home delivery just going bananas, and people having to change their eating plans for Christmas at the last minute, obviously had to go out and shop differently. I imagine the amount of waste would have been horrific. Darren A. Smith: Oh, I think it will have been. Just coming back to what you said on Iceland. So they doubled the market growth. And I’m just racking my brain thinking, what did Iceland particularly do? I certainly didn’t notice anything in their marketing that would have achieved double growth for Christmas. Andrew Grant: Remember, Iceland’s customer demographic is probably older and slightly more downmarket than others. They can’t go out and shop every week. They probably just fill their freezer for a month. Darren A. Smith: Could be. Could be. Andrew Grant: Massive, massive generalisation, but you imagine Iceland benefiting from people stocking up because of the worries about the lockdown. Darren A. Smith: Let me add another generalisation to that. With the economy, the way it is people losing their jobs, unfortunately, redundancies and so on, are people down shopping a bit? Dropping a level? Could be. Andrew Grant: Well, interesting, because on top of those Kantar figures, were starting to get the Christmas trading statements. We’ve had Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s so far, Tesco’s is next week. Very much what Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s are saying in their Citi updates, mirror the Kantar data. So Morrison’s, 9.3% like for like over Christmas. Sainsbury’s 9.3, the same. Morrison’s saying champagne sales up 64%, fresh salmon up 40%, their online business up 300%. Darren A. Smith: Wow. Andrew Grant: What other? Oh, yes. And online sales accounting for 13% of all their business, and for Sainsbury’s, 18% of all their business. Everything we’ve seen since lockdown one, all coming together at Christmas, and the big players with home delivery and online cleaning up. Darren A. Smith: A win. So was that Sainsbury’s one in every five pounds spent at Sainsbury’s is online? Andrew Grant: No, no, no. So hang on. 18%. Yeah, getting on for one in five. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: Near enough. Darren A. Smith: One in five. Wow. And let me make another stonking generalization that may or may not be true. Are we starting to see the population maybe split between those who are financially struggling, maybe they’re downtrading a bit, moving more into Iceland, those who maybe have more stability, but can’t go out, can’t go to restaurants anymore, stocking up on champagne, fresh salmon? Maybe they’re moving up a bit in their tiers. Andrew Grant: Yeah, obviously. I’ve got a figure here somewhere. Yeah, normally four billion is spent out of home over the festive period on drinking in pubs, eating in restaurants, having Christmas parties, and what have you. That four billion obviously transferred pretty much lock, stock and barrel into those figures. So that 11% total growth for the multiple markets, pretty much has come at the expensive of your Mitchells & Butlers, and your restaurant chains, and what have you. Only looking at the news today, I think Mitchell & Butlers, 40 million a month they’re burning through, just to keep their pub chains closed. It’s scary stuff for hospitality. Darren A. Smith: Well, it’s one of those machines that are very big, operates on an okay margin. But as soon as that margin stops, the costs still keep ramping through, and you’re going to burn through it, what, three, six months before you go and struggle? Andrew Grant: Yeah. So there we are. Snapshot of what Christmas looked like, 2020. If you’re in supermarket land, you probably had to work exceptionally hard, but you’re reaping some pretty good rewards. Darren A. Smith: So the three highlights will be the winner is Ocado of this Christmas. Christmas 2020. Andrew Grant: The winner is definitely Ocado, plus the usual suspects, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s. Stand out is Aldi. I think there’ll be a lot of questions being asked in Aldi HQ about those figures. Darren A. Smith: And the second point is roughly one in every five pounds spent at Sainsbury’s is now online. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Another big one. And our third one. What’s our third stand out for you? Andrew Grant: Well, I think we just said that there’s this disparity. People went out and indulged themselves if they had the money, but there’s a lot of people seriously struggling out there. You just see the figures, I think again, a couple of days ago, the number of food banks and the number of people accessing food banks, we are massively polarizing between the haves and the have-nots. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, we are. A lot of people struggling out there. We wish them well. All right. Andrew, till next week, be safe. Thank you very much. Andrew Grant: Take care. Darren A. Smith: Take care. Bye-bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Grocery Sales Christmas 2020: Who Are the Winners and Turkeys? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eleventh episode of Grocery Guru: Are there any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? It’s that time of the year where we get to reflect upon the results of the Christmas 2020 trading period. Who were the winners and who were the turkeys when we take a look at the Christmas grocery sales 2020? You Can Read the Full Grocery Sales Christmas 2020 Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to, this is week 11 of the Grocery Guru, with Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you? Andrew Grant: Yes. Happy New Year, Darren. Season’s greetings. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Thank you. How was your Christmas? Andrew Grant: Yeah, very good. Very good. I can’t remember what part of lockdown we were in, but yeah, it was a pretty good Christmas, despite. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Then we had the announcement on Monday. But, let’s ignore that, move on straight onto grocery stuff. So, I believe the title of the episode you’ve given us this week is, Are There Any Christmas Turkey Leftovers? Which has intrigued me, because I know nothing about what we’re going to talk about this week. Andrew Grant: Okay. Christmas turkeys left over, maybe was the full title. Darren A. Smith: Ah, that one. Andrew Grant: No. It’s that time of the year where obviously, you get to see who were the winners and the turkeys over Christmas. So the latest Kantar data came out, I think on Tuesday or maybe Wednesday. Tuesday, I think. So here we go, Darren. Which multiple do you think was the best performing over Christmas, by a long chalk? Darren A. Smith: Really? Okay. Best multiple. And is this growth on growth? Andrew Grant: Sorry. Let’s say the best grocer. Darren A. Smith: The best grocer, okay. Is this growth on growth, or best overall market share? Andrew Grant: No, no. This is market share. This is growth in the however many weeks up to Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. Andrew Grant: 12 weeks up to the 27th of December, the country’s fastest-growing food retailer was? Darren A. Smith: I’m going to go Aldi. Now, I’m going to go, Aldi, because I think they were doing very well. We shopped in late December, or just before Christmas Day, and we found things like prawn rings, which were cracking value. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: It was something like £3.80 for this prawn ring of 70 prawns. Andrew Grant: Okay. All right. So your answer is Aldi? Darren A. Smith: It is. Andrew Grant: I&

It’s CPI Time! Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the sixth episode of Grocery Guru: It’s CPI Time! You Can Read the Full CPI Time! Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: We’re in week six. Last week, we spoke about the demise of the deli counter and how it was a bit like a turkey at Christmas. Remember? Andrew Grant: Remind me of the turkey at Christmas analogy. Darren A. Smith: I was trying to say that a counter is a bit… You don’t want to get rid of it. You don’t want to get rid of turkeys at Christmas. No one really likes how they taste, but they are Christmas. Andrew Grant: But given what this stage has done, I’d say they are stuffed. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. All right. What are we talking about this week? In week six. Andrew Grant: Well, I know you like a good riddle at the start of these conversations we have, get you and get your brain matter going during the lockdown. So here, here are our test top three things guaranteed to annoy a buyer, hang on a second now. I’ll give you the first two and you’ve got to guess the third. Darren A. Smith: Right? Go. Andrew Grant: No. Top three things not to say to your buyer. If you’re an account manager if you don’t want to ruin their day. One, I’m having an affair with your nearest and dearest. Darren A. Smith: Fair. Andrew Grant: Two. I have just run over your favourite pet cat or dog. Now, obviously, depending on the buyer, those first two could be interchangeable. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: But what was the third one guaranteed to put your buyer into a bad mood? Darren A. Smith: I have, we’ve just managed to not deliver the stock that you absolutely need to do for Easter Christmas or a big promotion. Andrew Grant: Yeah. A bump in the road. No, the, the number three guaranteed to ruin that day is we’re putting through a cost price increase. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: As I said, other than you running over their favourite Pet, or having an affair with their nearest and dearest, it’s probably the worst thing you can say to a buyer. Darren A. Smith: So what about when suppliers used to say, but if you put the prices up, You’ll make more money? Darren A. Smith: Yeah but. Yeah. I think you see with the buyer. A Couple of things is one, will the market, particularly the current market take a

Discussing the Deli Counter Demise We all love them, buy a treat from them occasionally, but have they had their day? Are we witnessing the demise of the deli counter? Is it time to put them out to pasture? You Can Read the Full Deli Counter Demise Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week five with the Grocery Guru, there is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Good morning. I think it’s still good morning, Darren. But suffice to say I’m in mourning. Darren A. Smith: You are in mourning. Andrew Grant: See what I did there? See what I did there? Darren A. Smith: I see that was a good double pun. I understand you’re in mourning because of some news about some counters. Is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Sainsbury’s closing all their meat, fish, and deli counters, which was ground zero for me as a fresh face graduate buying fish for Sainsbury’s fish counters. So a little bit of history ending for me so hence the small little tear of regret. Darren A. Smith: So the retail landscape, the high street is changing, counters are going for one of the big supermarkets. But interestingly, I also read that Waitrose has taken advantage of this and put more lines, extended their range on their counters. Andrew Grant: Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a person with a calculator and a red pen made the decision to close those counters. If you dial into their half-year results presentation to the city, they said they’ll save 60 million by closing the counters. Now their underlying profits are really 300 million, so that’s a good 20% of profits that will get boosted when they close them. So I think it’s very much been a financial decision. Darren A. Smith: And I’m not surprised by that. Now, did you know that MBM used to have a sister business called MCM? Andrew Grant: Well, I do remember you used to be in the counter business because the other point I was going to make it all right, you’re going to save 60 million in operating costs. But what do you do with all that metal and perspex and refrigeration and yeah, it’s an expensive kit. Darren A. Smith: So we used to be very big into counters. At one point for four years, we coached all the food counter people at Sainsbury’s and then made a great market share difference for them. They then took it in-house and we took the idea to Tesco, had a team of 60 people coaching all the people behind counters. So I know a bit about it. Now what one of the Tesco’s guys said at the time, was the counters was the window to fresh. And if shoppers saw counters looking good and feeling good and it was intangible, they said that was something we need to keep. Because it keeps shoppers coming in, even though they didn’t buy from it. Andrew Grant: Wel

It’s CPI Time! Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the sixth episode of Grocery Guru: It’s CPI Time! You Can Read the Full CPI Time! Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: We’re in week six. Last week, we spoke about the demise of the deli counter and how it was a bit like a turkey at Christmas. Remember? Andrew Grant: Remind me of the turkey at Christmas analogy. Darren A. Smith: I was trying to say that a counter is a bit… You don’t want to get rid of it. You don’t want to get rid of turkeys at Christmas. No one really likes how they taste, but they are Christmas. Andrew Grant: But given what this stage has done, I’d say they are stuffed. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. All right. What are we talking about this week? In week six. Andrew Grant: Well, I know you like a good riddle at the start of these conversations we have, get you and get your brain matter going during the lockdown. So here, here are our test top three things guaranteed to annoy a buyer, hang on a second now. I’ll give you the first two and you’ve got to guess the third. Darren A. Smith: Right? Go. Andrew Grant: No. Top three things not to say to your buyer. If you’re an account manager if you don’t want to ruin their day. One, I’m having an affair with your nearest and dearest. Darren A. Smith: Fair. Andrew Grant: Two. I have just run over your favourite pet cat or dog. Now, obviously, depending on the buyer, those first two could be interchangeable. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: But what was the third one guaranteed to put your buyer into a bad mood? Darren A. Smith: I have, we’ve just managed to not deliver the stock that you absolutely need to do for Easter Christmas or a big promotion. Andrew Grant: Yeah. A bump in the road. No, the, the number three guaranteed to ruin that day is we’re putting through a cost price increase. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: As I said, other than you running over their favourite Pet, or having an affair with their nearest and dearest, it’s probably the worst thing you can say to a buyer. Darren A. Smith: So what about when suppliers used to say, but if you put the prices up, You’ll make more money? Darren A. Smith: Yeah but. Yeah. I think you see with the buyer. A Couple of things is one, will the market, particularly the current market take a

Who’s the Pantomime Villain? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the seventh episode of Grocery Guru: Who’s the Pantomime Villain? You Can Read the Full Pantomime Villain Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hi, Andrew, welcome to week six. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Is it week six or week seven? I can’t remember. But yes, I’m good. Darren A. Smith: Definitely one of them. This is week six, we think, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Now, he’s looking like he’s just stepped off an Eminem video. Andrew Grant: I’m not sure how many people can remember that far back, but yeah, it’s quite cold here. I think we’re moving into the proper weather for the proper season. Darren A. Smith: We are. We are. So this week, what are we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, I think, as I said, we’re moving into Christmas season, despite the government possibly doing its best to stop us enjoying ourselves, whether that’s right or wrong. I think it’s pantomime season. I think it’s time to start rolling out the, “He’s over there”, and, “Oh yes, he did.” Darren A. Smith: “Oh no, he’s not.” Andrew Grant: “Oh no, he’s not.” Have a look at maybe some of the villains, pantomime villains for the season. Darren A. Smith: All right. And pantomime season’s coming up. May happen, may not. But I get your point. Who’s our villain that you want to talk about? Andrew Grant: Well, I just think because we’re trying to keep these things topical, the British Brands Group, which encompasses some of the biggest UK brands, published a review this week of retailer compliance to GSCOP. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. Okay. [crosstalk 00:01:24] For those that don’t know is a piece of law governing UK supermarkets. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And every year legally, each of the 13 designated supermarkets has to write a report to the adjudicator. The government official that runs GSCOP telling her, now him, how they’ve done. British brands have collated all that. And yeah, here we are. Let’s have a guess. So the, the country’s largest retailer is… Darren A. Smith: Tesco. Andrew Grant: How many complaints of all the many thousands of suppliers they deal with and the billions that they spend with suppliers each year. How many complaints do you think they had last year? Sorry, alleged complaints. Darren A. Smith: Okay good. So these are breaches of GSCOP and by the way, you worded the question, I should say thousands, but I’m going to guess it’s not. Andrew Grant: Okay. Well, they’re alleged breaches, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Alleged breaches. All right, so I’m going to go with 250. Andrew Grant: Okay. It was 45- Andrew Grant: …whi

The Future of High Street Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Future of High Street. You Can Read the Full Future of High Street Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: … keeping their staff safe, understanding the rules, blah, blah, blah. You’re right. They’ve done it. Do you say they were cajoled into doing this? Andrew Grant: Who knows. Who knows the discussions I had. I think the important thing is that it’s been done and I guess that’s sort of the breaking news. So it almost links to what I was going to talk about today, which is they’re also having to, as we’ve said in a couple of the previous episodes of this, they’re having to deal with change to their market where 10 years of change has happened in six months. [crosstalk 00:00:00:38]. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And the costs involved in just coping with that must be immense. Darren A. Smith: And what does that mean? I mean, we’ve got the future of the High Street. I’m sure that’s well documented. And particularly we’ve got Debenhams, Arcadia recent. The future of our High Street, I mean, is it all going to be coffee shops and hairdressers? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s interesting. I think, unfortunately, you get the pain before the game. I saw over the weekend, Bill Grimsby, Bill Grimsey, I don’t even remember him, used to run Iceland and then Wix. Seasoned retail professional. Got a lot of time for the guys. A really good operator. I think he interviewed me once but didn’t give me the job. So anyway, not everyone’s perfect. But he basically was saying that people like himself spent the eighties and the nineties creating Lego brick towns where you can remember every single town was a copycat. There was a Boots, a WHSmiths. Also a Tesco. There was a Curry’s, there was a God going back, Timothy Wise, Radio Rentals, and every town was a carbon copy. Darren A. Smith: And I remember as a kid and then becoming an adult, you, you went from towns being very different. You’ve visited towns as a kid and you saw different things. And then as an adult, we went to towns and it was exactly the same damn thing in every town. But now that’s going to go completely off. Andrew Grant: That is the opportunity that supermarkets, as we said, they will be different. They’re not going to have deli counters. As we said, I think last week or the week before, these urban fulfilment centres where half of the store turns dark and the new Lego brick is online. So online is in

The Three Ghosts of Christmas Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Three Ghosts of Christmas; Past, Present and Future. You Can Read The Full Three Ghosts of Christmas Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. Welcome to episode nine of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Hello. You’re looking very festive with your Christmas tree. Andrew Grant: Yes, look. Yeah. All nice and ready. Not a lot of presents under the tree. A bit worried. It must be these port delays that we’re hearing about. Darren A. Smith: It must be. Now one of my favourite films is the Christmas Scrooge Muppet Carol with Michael Caine. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Michael Caine. Darren A. Smith: Now I’ve said that because I’ve set you up in the… I don’t know, you want to talk about the three ghosts, is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. No, the Christmas Carol. Yes. Charles Dickens, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They visited Scrooge on Christmas Eve and yeah, I think this is really aimed at, I guess, at account managers, because obviously, the Ghost of Christmas Past, both you and I as buyers used to see, I don’t know, what 20 account managers a week? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Or more. Yeah, yeah. The whole variety. Yeah. Andrew Grant: They’d spend their day driving down the M1, they’d turn up with that Greggs sausage roll pastry on their suit. They’d have a nice half-hour chat with us. We might even give them a cup of coffee. And then they’re off to have a sleep in the lay-by for the afternoon. Darren A. Smith: They were all hardworking as well. Andrew Grant: I’m sure they were all very hardworking but unfortunately, the fact of Christmas present is, I’m not sure there’ll be a single account manager out there that has actually had a physical meeting with a buyer this year. And we’ve said in a couple of these episodes, haven’t we, that the last nine months has compressed 10 years’ worth of change to everything. To all our lives, but, just as much grocer, I think we said it with home shopping, home deliveries and now at the stage where they were expected to be in 2030, not in 2020. Darren A. Smith: And wasn’t it the CEO of Airbnb that said something like 18 years of development has been crushed in nine months. Andrew Grant: Yeah. This nine months has changed our lives at warp speed. And just thinking of the account

2021 Predictions Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: Good Riddance 2020! Our Predictions for 2021… You Can Read the Full 2021 Predictions Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 10, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Hello Darren. Yes, Merry Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Merry Christmas to you. We’re the 17th December, not long until the big one, until the big, fat man comes. Andrew Grant: Yeah. One week, one week, six nights, seven nights, something like that. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Seven nights. All right. In this episode we said that we would talk about predictions for ’21, trying to put 2020 behind us with a big boo and a mask. Andrew Grant: Yeah. No. Absolutely. I mean, obviously, it’s been a pretty horrible year… everybody around the planet. We won’t be doing this again until it is 2021. So yeah, farewell 2020, won’t be missed. What’s 2021 going to look like? I’ve been thinking of a few things that may or may not happen. I don’t know about you if you have any predictions? Darren A. Smith: Well, I’ve got a few predictions, so I’m going to share my first one with you. I’ve got a few and I’m sure you have too. I’m going to predict that the title of the national account manager is going to be wiped. What I mean by that is national account managers traditionally looked after the account, looked after the buyer, did the negotiations. I think they’re all going to be turning into shopper insights managers, insights managers, category managers. I think it’s going to go. Andrew Grant: And NAM becomes a SIM. Darren A. Smith: And NAM becomes a SIM, yes. Andrew Grant: I think we talked about that last week, didn’t we? Absolutely. I think you said that any national account manager that’s been [inaudible 00:03:19] months and maybe is slightly worried about his or her future, the future gets on top of the data. Become an expert at turning that data into insight so that you can sit on Zoom with your supermarket buyers and show them that you know their shoppers better than they do. Darren A. Smith: Like it, like it. All right. That’s my first prediction, call me Nostradamus. What’s yours? Andrew Grant: Mine, I think this is a very, very safe bet of £10 of your money, Darren. I know yo

Discussing the Deli Counter Demise We all love them, buy a treat from them occasionally, but have they had their day? Are we witnessing the demise of the deli counter? Is it time to put them out to pasture? You Can Read the Full Deli Counter Demise Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week five with the Grocery Guru, there is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Good morning. I think it’s still good morning, Darren. But suffice to say I’m in mourning. Darren A. Smith: You are in mourning. Andrew Grant: See what I did there? See what I did there? Darren A. Smith: I see that was a good double pun. I understand you’re in mourning because of some news about some counters. Is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Sainsbury’s closing all their meat, fish, and deli counters, which was ground zero for me as a fresh face graduate buying fish for Sainsbury’s fish counters. So a little bit of history ending for me so hence the small little tear of regret. Darren A. Smith: So the retail landscape, the high street is changing, counters are going for one of the big supermarkets. But interestingly, I also read that Waitrose has taken advantage of this and put more lines, extended their range on their counters. Andrew Grant: Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a person with a calculator and a red pen made the decision to close those counters. If you dial into their half-year results presentation to the city, they said they’ll save 60 million by closing the counters. Now their underlying profits are really 300 million, so that’s a good 20% of profits that will get boosted when they close them. So I think it’s very much been a financial decision. Darren A. Smith: And I’m not surprised by that. Now, did you know that MBM used to have a sister business called MCM? Andrew Grant: Well, I do remember you used to be in the counter business because the other point I was going to make it all right, you’re going to save 60 million in operating costs. But what do you do with all that metal and perspex and refrigeration and yeah, it’s an expensive kit. Darren A. Smith: So we used to be very big into counters. At one point for four years, we coached all the food counter people at Sainsbury’s and then made a great market share difference for them. They then took it in-house and we took the idea to Tesco, had a team of 60 people coaching all the people behind counters. So I know a bit about it. Now what one of the Tesco’s guys said at the time, was the counters was the window to fresh. And if shoppers saw counters looking good and feeling good and it was intangible, they said that was something we need to keep. Because it keeps shoppers coming in, even though they didn’t buy from it. Andrew Grant: Wel

Discussing the Deli Counter Demise We all love them, buy a treat from them occasionally, but have they had their day? Are we witnessing the demise of the deli counter? Is it time to put them out to pasture? You Can Read the Full Deli Counter Demise Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week five with the Grocery Guru, there is Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Good morning. I think it’s still good morning, Darren. But suffice to say I’m in mourning. Darren A. Smith: You are in mourning. Andrew Grant: See what I did there? See what I did there? Darren A. Smith: I see that was a good double pun. I understand you’re in mourning because of some news about some counters. Is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Sainsbury’s closing all their meat, fish, and deli counters, which was ground zero for me as a fresh face graduate buying fish for Sainsbury’s fish counters. So a little bit of history ending for me so hence the small little tear of regret. Darren A. Smith: So the retail landscape, the high street is changing, counters are going for one of the big supermarkets. But interestingly, I also read that Waitrose has taken advantage of this and put more lines, extended their range on their counters. Andrew Grant: Yeah, it’s interesting, isn’t it? I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that a person with a calculator and a red pen made the decision to close those counters. If you dial into their half-year results presentation to the city, they said they’ll save 60 million by closing the counters. Now their underlying profits are really 300 million, so that’s a good 20% of profits that will get boosted when they close them. So I think it’s very much been a financial decision. Darren A. Smith: And I’m not surprised by that. Now, did you know that MBM used to have a sister business called MCM? Andrew Grant: Well, I do remember you used to be in the counter business because the other point I was going to make it all right, you’re going to save 60 million in operating costs. But what do you do with all that metal and perspex and refrigeration and yeah, it’s an expensive kit. Darren A. Smith: So we used to be very big into counters. At one point for four years, we coached all the food counter people at Sainsbury’s and then made a great market share difference for them. They then took it in-house and we took the idea to Tesco, had a team of 60 people coaching all the people behind counters. So I know a bit about it. Now what one of the Tesco’s guys said at the time, was the counters was the window to fresh. And if shoppers saw counters looking good and feeling good and it was intang

It’s CPI Time! Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the sixth episode of Grocery Guru: It’s CPI Time! You Can Read the Full CPI Time! Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: We’re in week six. Last week, we spoke about the demise of the deli counter and how it was a bit like a turkey at Christmas. Remember? Andrew Grant: Remind me of the turkey at Christmas analogy. Darren A. Smith: I was trying to say that a counter is a bit… You don’t want to get rid of it. You don’t want to get rid of turkeys at Christmas. No one really likes how they taste, but they are Christmas. Andrew Grant: But given what this stage has done, I’d say they are stuffed. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. All right. What are we talking about this week? In week six. Andrew Grant: Well, I know you like a good riddle at the start of these conversations we have, get you and get your brain matter going during the lockdown. So here, here are our test top three things guaranteed to annoy a buyer, hang on a second now. I’ll give you the first two and you’ve got to guess the third. Darren A. Smith: Right? Go. Andrew Grant: No. Top three things not to say to your buyer. If you’re an account manager if you don’t want to ruin their day. One, I’m having an affair with your nearest and dearest. Darren A. Smith: Fair. Andrew Grant: Two. I have just run over your favourite pet cat or dog. Now, obviously, depending on the buyer, those first two could be interchangeable. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. Andrew Grant: But what was the third one guaranteed to put your buyer into a bad mood? Darren A. Smith: I have, we’ve just managed to not deliver the stock that you absolutely need to do for Easter Christmas or a big promotion. Andrew Grant: Yeah. A bump in the road. No, the, the number three guaranteed to ruin that day is we’re putting through a cost price increase. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: As I said, other than you running over their favourite Pet, or having an affair with their nearest and dearest, it’s probably the worst thing you can say to a buyer. Darren A. Smith: So what about when suppliers used to say, but if you put the prices up, You’ll make more money? Darren A. Smith: Yeah but. Yeah. I think you see with the buyer. A Couple of things is one, will the market, particularly the current market take a

Who’s the Pantomime Villain? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the seventh episode of Grocery Guru: Who’s the Pantomime Villain? You Can Read the Full Pantomime Villain Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hi, Andrew, welcome to week six. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Is it week six or week seven? I can’t remember. But yes, I’m good. Darren A. Smith: Definitely one of them. This is week six, we think, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Now, he’s looking like he’s just stepped off an Eminem video. Andrew Grant: I’m not sure how many people can remember that far back, but yeah, it’s quite cold here. I think we’re moving into the proper weather for the proper season. Darren A. Smith: We are. We are. So this week, what are we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, I think, as I said, we’re moving into Christmas season, despite the government possibly doing its best to stop us enjoying ourselves, whether that’s right or wrong. I think it’s pantomime season. I think it’s time to start rolling out the, “He’s over there”, and, “Oh yes, he did.” Darren A. Smith: “Oh no, he’s not.” Andrew Grant: “Oh no, he’s not.” Have a look at maybe some of the villains, pantomime villains for the season. Darren A. Smith: All right. And pantomime season’s coming up. May happen, may not. But I get your point. Who’s our villain that you want to talk about? Andrew Grant: Well, I just think because we’re trying to keep these things topical, the British Brands Group, which encompasses some of the biggest UK brands, published a review this week of retailer compliance to GSCOP. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. Okay. [crosstalk 00:01:24] For those that don’t know is a piece of law governing UK supermarkets. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And every year legally, each of the 13 designated supermarkets has to write a report to the adjudicator. The government official that runs GSCOP telling her, now him, how they’ve done. British brands have collated all that. And yeah, here we are. Let’s have a guess. So the, the country’s largest retailer is… Darren A. Smith: Tesco. Andrew Grant: How many complaints of all the many thousands of suppliers they deal with and the billions that they spend with suppliers each year. How many complaints do you think they had last year? Sorry, alleged complaints. Darren A. Smith: Okay good. So these are breaches of GSCOP and by the way, you worded the question, I should say thousands, but I’m going to guess it’s not. Andrew Grant:

2021 Predictions Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the tenth episode of Grocery Guru: Good Riddance 2020! Our Predictions for 2021… You Can Read the Full 2021 Predictions Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 10, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Hello Darren. Yes, Merry Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Merry Christmas to you. We’re the 17th December, not long until the big one, until the big, fat man comes. Andrew Grant: Yeah. One week, one week, six nights, seven nights, something like that. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Seven nights. All right. In this episode we said that we would talk about predictions for ’21, trying to put 2020 behind us with a big boo and a mask. Andrew Grant: Yeah. No. Absolutely. I mean, obviously, it’s been a pretty horrible year… everybody around the planet. We won’t be doing this again until it is 2021. So yeah, farewell 2020, won’t be missed. What’s 2021 going to look like? I’ve been thinking of a few things that may or may not happen. I don’t know about you if you have any predictions? Darren A. Smith: Well, I’ve got a few predictions, so I’m going to share my first one with you. I’ve got a few and I’m sure you have too. I’m going to predict that the title of the national account manager is going to be wiped. What I mean by that is national account managers traditionally looked after the account, looked after the buyer, did the negotiations. I think they’re all going to be turning into shopper insights managers, insights managers, category managers. I think it’s going to go. Andrew Grant: And NAM becomes a SIM. Darren A. Smith: And NAM becomes a SIM, yes. Andrew Grant: I think we talked about that last week, didn’t we? Absolutely. I think you said that any national account manager that’s been [inaudible 00:03:19] months and maybe is slightly worried about his or her future, the future gets on top of the data. Become an expert at turning that data into insight so that you can sit on Zoom with your supermarket buyers and show them that you know their shoppers better than they do. Darren A. Smith: Like it, like it. All right. That’s my first prediction, call me Nostradamus. What’s yours? Andrew Grant: Mine, I think this is a very, very safe bet of £10 of your money, Darren. I know you don’t like spending your money on bets. But Amazon gets added to GSCOP, so the Grocery Code Adjudicator makes Amazon the 14th, I think I would be right, the 14th retailer to be covered by the code. With all this COVID stuff Amazon’s business has just skyrocketed this year, and possibly almost under the radar. But I think 2021 will be the year when the new adjudicator goes, “This is a massive, massive food business now.” We’re also going to have the first Amazon ghost stores, the checkout-less, completely checkout-less electronic stores. They’ll probably open first quarter. And probably just the publicity [inaudible 00:04:39] publicity over those will raise the awareness. So yeah, Amazon to be added to GSCOP. Darren A. Smith: Okay. All right. I think you’re right, to make 14. So that will be Mark White, the new GCA Groceries Code Adjudicator. Andrew Grant: Yeah. If you’re him you’re just coming into that fabled first 100 days, what’s the thing that you can say you’ve done in your first 100 days? Darren A. Smith: Very true. Very true. All right. All right. My prediction- Andrew Grant: I think that’s a good headline. Darren A. Smith: Sorry, go on. A good headline? Andrew Grant: No, a good 100-day headline for him is, “Yeah, I’ve added Amazon to the list of covered retailers.” Darren A. Smith: Very true. Very true. All right. So currently 39% of us buy our groceries online. So that’s 39%, so let’s call it 40%, 4 out of 10 of us are buying groceries online. I’m going to make an easy prediction, 2021 that’s going to topple above 50, which means one in two people are buying their groceries online. Andrew Grant: I can see that by the middle of next year. I mean, the current trend rate we’ll be there April, May time. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Here’s my bit to add to that. I think what might happen is the shop falls into two, the boring I’ve got the toilet rolls, the kitchen rolls, the washing powder, blah, blah, blah, coming online. But then I want to go out for a sort of a treat, or as we call it in our family, a morsel shop where I buy those little things that are really nice, like king prawns in garlic or something. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Well, I think that will be potentially the saviour of the high street. They’ll order their big shop of toilet rolls and bulky stuff from the online retailer of their choice, but then they’ll want to go to farm shops and independent delis. People do love to get out there and shop. I mean, particularly the Brits, we love to get out there and browse and shop and mingle. I don’t think that will stop, but I think I [inaudible 00:06:46] very first of these that… It’s pretty remarkable that back in 1950, or whatever it was, the first self-service supermarket persuaded us to push our own trolley around a store and do self-picking and self-packing. It’s just crazy when you think back at it. Darren A. Smith: Very true. Very true. All right. What’s your prediction? Andrew Grant: Well, there’s another one linked to that, with your prediction of 50% of people shopping online. Will the world run out of vans? Darren A. Smith: Run out of vans, Transit vans? Andrew Grant: Well, other makes of van are available, but yeah, will the world run out of delivery Transit vans? Because that’s all I see on the roads now is delivery van after delivery van. Darren A. Smith: I saw a lovely viral video the other day of the Hermes driver versus the Amazon driver versus the DPD driver, and what they do differently. And one, let’s say, was a lot more polite and a lot more what you would want than the other. Andrew Grant: Actually, just on that, total aside, but [inaudible 00:07:56] inside the FedEx logo. Darren A. Smith: Yes. You’ve told me about this. Go on. I won’t steal your thunder. Andrew Grant: No, it’s great fun. Look for the arrow between the D and the E, or is it the E and the X, the E and the X in FedEx. There is an arrow pointing forwards, which is obviously is a perfect depiction of what they do. It’s like one of those pictures, once you see the arrow, that’s all you’ll ever see. Right, what’s your next prediction, Darren? Darren A. Smith: All right. Well, I’m going to go for data versus insight. I think as an industry we talk about data and insight an awful lot and people think that they are interchangeable, they’re not. So data might be I buy eight packs or eight bottles of Ghost Ship, one of my favourite beers, every week. That’s data. The insight is the reason I like it is because of its citrusy flavour and because my mate drinks it as well. That’s the insight. Andrew Grant: Okay. Darren A. Smith: So we’ve got to get from data to insight. And over the years, and I’m sure you saw it as well, I was presented lots of data, but no one really took it from, “Okay. Here’s a bunch of numbers, statistics. This is the insight and this is what you can do with it.” And that, I think, has got to come, particularly as 50% of shopping will be online and we’ll get even more data. Andrew Grant: Well, yeah. And that’s where you get some brilliant low hanging fruit. I used to love the sort of data where [inaudible 00:09:23] come along and say, “Look, it’s 60% of your shoppers buy fresh produce from you, but only 30% buy fresh meat.” So if they’re buying your produce, why aren’t they buying your meat? You’ve got an opportunity to double your meat business. And home shopping brings that exactly to life. So if somebody is ordering all their toilet rolls for home delivery, why aren’t they ordering their bleach and their cleaning products and their batteries and their kitchen towel, disposable kitchen towels, all the household stuff? There’ll be some massive insight opportunities in that sort of data. Darren A. Smith: One of my favourite ones is slabs of Heineken. They used to put on there, “Win FA Cup tickets.” But what some bright spark figured out, let’s call a shopper insights manager, a SIM, was that actually, the ladies were buying it for the husbands. So the offer became get a free spa day, Heineken went up. Andrew Grant: Well, there you go. Right. Final prediction from me. Darren A. Smith: Prediction, the final one. Go on. What have you got? Andrew Grant: Asda and convenience stores. Obviously, they’re now owned by those brothers that are preeminent forecourt retailers. Marry that to Asda and it will be interesting to see. I think they’ve got three stores called On the Move already, but it will be interesting to see what a convenience Asda looks like. They’ve tried it in the past, not so easy to go from big-box retailing with all the efficiencies and simplicity to something of 10,000 square feet or less in a city centre with lots of hassle and lots of operational issues. I’m not going to make a prediction as to how well they do or don’t, but I’ll be fascinated to visit some. Darren A. Smith: A much more complex supply chain and management. Okay. We’re up. Andrew, I’m going to thank you for 2020 and your Grocery Guru insight, and we’ll see you in 2021. Andrew Grant: I shall see you on the other side. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Darren A. Smith: Happy New Year. Thank you. Take care. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Who’s the Pantomime Villain? Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the seventh episode of Grocery Guru: Who’s the Pantomime Villain? You Can Read the Full Pantomime Villain Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hi, Andrew, welcome to week six. How are you doing? Andrew Grant: Is it week six or week seven? I can’t remember. But yes, I’m good. Darren A. Smith: Definitely one of them. This is week six, we think, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Now, he’s looking like he’s just stepped off an Eminem video. Andrew Grant: I’m not sure how many people can remember that far back, but yeah, it’s quite cold here. I think we’re moving into the proper weather for the proper season. Darren A. Smith: We are. We are. So this week, what are we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, I think, as I said, we’re moving into Christmas season, despite the government possibly doing its best to stop us enjoying ourselves, whether that’s right or wrong. I think it’s pantomime season. I think it’s time to start rolling out the, “He’s over there”, and, “Oh yes, he did.” Darren A. Smith: “Oh no, he’s not.” Andrew Grant: “Oh no, he’s not.” Have a look at maybe some of the villains, pantomime villains for the season. Darren A. Smith: All right. And pantomime season’s coming up. May happen, may not. But I get your point. Who’s our villain that you want to talk about? Andrew Grant: Well, I just think because we’re trying to keep these things topical, the British Brands Group, which encompasses some of the biggest UK brands, published a review this week of retailer compliance to GSCOP. Darren A. Smith: Oh, okay. Okay. [crosstalk 00:01:24] For those that don’t know is a piece of law governing UK supermarkets. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And every year legally, each of the 13 designated supermarkets has to write a report to the adjudicator. The government official that runs GSCOP telling her, now him, how they’ve done. British brands have collated all that. And yeah, here we are. Let’s have a guess. So the, the country’s largest retailer is… Darren A. Smith: Tesco. Andrew Grant: How many complaints of all the many thousands of suppliers they deal with and the billions that they spend with suppliers each year. How many complaints do you think they had last year? Sorry, alleged complaints. Darren A. Smith: Okay good. So these are breaches of GSCOP and by the way, you worded the question, I should say thousands, but I’m going to guess it’s not. Andrew Grant: Okay. Well, they’re alleged breaches, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Alleged breaches. All right, so I’m going to go with 250. Andrew Grant: Okay. It was 45- Andrew Grant: …whi

The Future of High Street Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Future of High Street. You Can Read the Full Future of High Street Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: … keeping their staff safe, understanding the rules, blah, blah, blah. You’re right. They’ve done it. Do you say they were cajoled into doing this? Andrew Grant: Who knows. Who knows the discussions I had. I think the important thing is that it’s been done and I guess that’s sort of the breaking news. So it almost links to what I was going to talk about today, which is they’re also having to, as we’ve said in a couple of the previous episodes of this, they’re having to deal with change to their market where 10 years of change has happened in six months. [crosstalk 00:00:00:38]. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And the costs involved in just coping with that must be immense. Darren A. Smith: And what does that mean? I mean, we’ve got the future of the High Street. I’m sure that’s well documented. And particularly we’ve got Debenhams, Arcadia recent. The future of our High Street, I mean, is it all going to be coffee shops and hairdressers? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s interesting. I think, unfortunately, you get the pain before the game. I saw over the weekend, Bill Grimsby, Bill Grimsey, I don’t even remember him, used to run Iceland and then Wix. Seasoned retail professional. Got a lot of time for the guys. A really good operator. I think he interviewed me once but didn’t give me the job. So anyway, not everyone’s perfect. But he basically was saying that people like himself spent the eighties and the nineties creating Lego brick towns where you can remember every single town was a copycat. There was a Boots, a WHSmiths. Also a Tesco. There was a Curry’s, there was a God going back, Timothy Wise, Radio Rentals, and every town was a carbon copy. Darren A. Smith: And I remember as a kid and then becoming an adult, you, you went from towns being very different. You’ve visited towns as a kid and you saw different things. And then as an adult, we went to towns and it was exactly the same damn thing in every town. But now that’s going to go completely off. Andrew Grant: That is the opportunity that supermarkets, as we said, they will be different. They’re not going to have deli counters. As we said, I think last week or the week before, these urban fulfilment centres where half of the store turns dark and the new Lego brick is online. So online is

The Three Ghosts of Christmas Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Three Ghosts of Christmas; Past, Present and Future. You Can Read The Full Three Ghosts of Christmas Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. Welcome to episode nine of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Hello. You’re looking very festive with your Christmas tree. Andrew Grant: Yes, look. Yeah. All nice and ready. Not a lot of presents under the tree. A bit worried. It must be these port delays that we’re hearing about. Darren A. Smith: It must be. Now one of my favourite films is the Christmas Scrooge Muppet Carol with Michael Caine. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Michael Caine. Darren A. Smith: Now I’ve said that because I’ve set you up in the… I don’t know, you want to talk about the three ghosts, is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. No, the Christmas Carol. Yes. Charles Dickens, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They visited Scrooge on Christmas Eve and yeah, I think this is really aimed at, I guess, at account managers, because obviously, the Ghost of Christmas Past, both you and I as buyers used to see, I don’t know, what 20 account managers a week? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Or more. Yeah, yeah. The whole variety. Yeah. Andrew Grant: They’d spend their day driving down the M1, they’d turn up with that Greggs sausage roll pastry on their suit. They’d have a nice half-hour chat with us. We might even give them a cup of coffee. And then they’re off to have a sleep in the lay-by for the afternoon. Darren A. Smith: They were all hardworking as well. Andrew Grant: I’m sure they were all very hardworking but unfortunately, the fact of Christmas present is, I’m not sure there’ll be a single account manager out there that has actually had a physical meeting with a buyer this year. And we’ve said in a couple of these episodes, haven’t we, that the last nine months has compressed 10 years’ worth of change to everything. To all our lives, but, just as much grocer, I think we said it with home shopping, home deliveries and now at the stage where they were expected to be in 2030, not in 2020. Darren A. Smith: And wasn’t it the CEO of Airbnb that said something like 18 years of development has been crushed in nine months. Andrew Grant: Yeah. This nine months has changed our lives at warp speed. And just thinking of the account

2021 Predictions Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the tenth episode of Grocery Guru: Good Riddance 2020! Our Predictions for 2021… You Can Read the Full 2021 Predictions Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to episode 10, with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. How are you? Andrew Grant: Hello Darren. Yes, Merry Christmas. Darren A. Smith: Merry Christmas to you. We’re the 17th December, not long until the big one, until the big, fat man comes. Andrew Grant: Yeah. One week, one week, six nights, seven nights, something like that. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: Seven nights. All right. In this episode we said that we would talk about predictions for ’21, trying to put 2020 behind us with a big boo and a mask. Andrew Grant: Yeah. No. Absolutely. I mean, obviously, it’s been a pretty horrible year… everybody around the planet. We won’t be doing this again until it is 2021. So yeah, farewell 2020, won’t be missed. What’s 2021 going to look like? I’ve been thinking of a few things that may or may not happen. I don’t know about you if you have any predictions? Darren A. Smith: Well, I’ve got a few predictions, so I’m going to share my first one with you. I’ve got a few and I’m sure you have too. I’m going to predict that the title of the national account manager is going to be wiped. What I mean by that is national account managers traditionally looked after the account, looked after the buyer, did the negotiations. I think they’re all going to be turning into shopper insights managers, insights managers, category managers. I think it’s going to go. Andrew Grant: And NAM becomes a SIM. Darren A. Smith: And NAM becomes a SIM, yes. Andrew Grant: I think we talked about that last week, didn’t we? Absolutely. I think you said that any national account manager that’s been [inaudible 00:03:19] months and maybe is slightly worried about his or her future, the future gets on top of the data. Become an expert at turning that data into insight so that you can sit on Zoom with your supermarket buyers and show them that you know their shoppers better than they do. Darren A. Smith: Like it, like it. All right. That’s my first prediction, call me Nostradamus. What’s yours? Andrew Grant: Mine, I think this is a very, very safe bet of £10 of your money, Darren. I know you

The Future of High Street Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Future of High Street. You Can Read the Full Future of High Street Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: … keeping their staff safe, understanding the rules, blah, blah, blah. You’re right. They’ve done it. Do you say they were cajoled into doing this? Andrew Grant: Who knows. Who knows the discussions I had. I think the important thing is that it’s been done and I guess that’s sort of the breaking news. So it almost links to what I was going to talk about today, which is they’re also having to, as we’ve said in a couple of the previous episodes of this, they’re having to deal with change to their market where 10 years of change has happened in six months. [crosstalk 00:00:00:38]. Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And the costs involved in just coping with that must be immense. Darren A. Smith: And what does that mean? I mean, we’ve got the future of the High Street. I’m sure that’s well documented. And particularly we’ve got Debenhams, Arcadia recent. The future of our High Street, I mean, is it all going to be coffee shops and hairdressers? Andrew Grant: Well, it’s interesting. I think, unfortunately, you get the pain before the game. I saw over the weekend, Bill Grimsby, Bill Grimsey, I don’t even remember him, used to run Iceland and then Wix. Seasoned retail professional. Got a lot of time for the guys. A really good operator. I think he interviewed me once but didn’t give me the job. So anyway, not everyone’s perfect. But he basically was saying that people like himself spent the eighties and the nineties creating Lego brick towns where you can remember every single town was a copycat. There was a Boots, a WHSmiths. Also a Tesco. There was a Curry’s, there was a God going back, Timothy Wise, Radio Rentals, and every town was a carbon copy. Darren A. Smith: And I remember as a kid and then becoming an adult, you, you went from towns being very different. You’ve visited towns as a kid and you saw different things. And then as an adult, we went to towns and it was exactly the same damn thing in every town. But now that’s going to go completely off. Andrew Grant: That is the opportunity that supermarkets, as we said, they will be different. They’re not going to have deli counters. As we said, I think last week or the week before, these urban fulfilment centres where half of the store turns dark and the new Lego brick is online. So online is in

The Three Ghosts of Christmas Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the eighth episode of Grocery Guru: The Three Ghosts of Christmas; Past, Present and Future. You Can Read The Full Three Ghosts of Christmas Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. Welcome to episode nine of the Grocery Guru. We’re here with Andrew Grant. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren. Darren A. Smith: Hello. You’re looking very festive with your Christmas tree. Andrew Grant: Yes, look. Yeah. All nice and ready. Not a lot of presents under the tree. A bit worried. It must be these port delays that we’re hearing about. Darren A. Smith: It must be. Now one of my favourite films is the Christmas Scrooge Muppet Carol with Michael Caine. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Michael Caine. Darren A. Smith: Now I’ve said that because I’ve set you up in the… I don’t know, you want to talk about the three ghosts, is that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. No, the Christmas Carol. Yes. Charles Dickens, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. They visited Scrooge on Christmas Eve and yeah, I think this is really aimed at, I guess, at account managers, because obviously, the Ghost of Christmas Past, both you and I as buyers used to see, I don’t know, what 20 account managers a week? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, yeah. Or more. Yeah, yeah. The whole variety. Yeah. Andrew Grant: They’d spend their day driving down the M1, they’d turn up with that Greggs sausage roll pastry on their suit. They’d have a nice half-hour chat with us. We might even give them a cup of coffee. And then they’re off to have a sleep in the lay-by for the afternoon. Darren A. Smith: They were all hardworking as well. Andrew Grant: I’m sure they were all very hardworking but unfortunately, the fact of Christmas present is, I’m not sure there’ll be a single account manager out there that has actually had a physical meeting with a buyer this year. And we’ve said in a couple of these episodes, haven’t we, that the last nine months has compressed 10 years’ worth of change to everything. To all our lives, but, just as much grocer, I think we said it with home shopping, home deliveries and now at the stage where they were expected to be in 2030, not in 2020. Darren A. Smith: And wasn’t it the CEO of Airbnb that said something like 18 years of development has been crushed in nine months. Andrew Grant: Yeah. This nine months has changed our lives at warp speed. And just thinking of the account manager, nine months without a physical meeting with a buyer, lucky probably even to get Zoom meetings. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: So the future, looking forward to the Ghost of Christmas Future is, and not wanting to be too bleak about it, but I think buyers have become a lot more self-sufficient, a lot less needy of their account managers in the last nine months. And I don’t see that changing. Darren A. Smith: Well, that’s very true. And also I’m just going to touch on the Ghost of Christmas Past a little more, in that those account managers, some of them are excellent at their interpersonal skills, building relationships and that’s all flipped on its head where they’re now trying to do it over Zoom, which is much, much harder. Andrew Grant: Darren, remind us of your Zoom statistic. Why is Zoom so difficult? Darren A. Smith: Well, Zoom’s difficult because the eye can see 576 million pixels. Now that just means we’re in higher resolutions. When I see you face to face, you’re in high resolution, I can see all the corners of your mouth changing, your eyebrows raised, all those nonverbal cues that could be an idea of what you’re doing or what you’re really saying. But over here, my laptop’s running about a million pixels, maybe a million and a half. So it’s like watching someone through a fog. I can’t see all the little changes that you’re making that give me the idea of what you really mean. And that’s hard and it’s exhausting. And that’s why the Ghost of Christmas Past, sorry, Present, is such a pig. Andrew Grant: Yep. No. And that’s aside from the fact that zoom meetings are very, very difficult. As I said, I think buyers are becoming more self-sufficient, so the Nam of Christmas future needs to rejig his or her toolkit or skillset to survive the future. Darren A. Smith: It does. It does. And one of the biggest challenges I think is that if we just go back for a moment to the past if it was a boring presentation, it becomes really boring over Zoom. And if your influence was poor face-to-face, it becomes really difficult over Zoom. So for me, it magnifies things so that the challenges for the future is you got to up your game on those presentations, on that influencing, in a whole different way. Andrew Grant: Yeah. You and I, whenever we do programs, always laugh about that dreadful four o’clock on a Thursday when the shiny suited Nam turns up with his or her 173 page PowerPoint presentation, you really just want to… Darren A. Smith: I know. And now the problem is you see someone open up a presentation on Zoom or whatever medium people are using. The first thing they do is look bottom left or bottom right, depending on which program and they see one of 150 slides or one of 70, and already you go… That’s it. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. The challenge of the future is going to be, how do you grab buyers’ attention? How do you make them want to talk to you? Be it physically, or be it remotely. And for me, it comes back to what we’ve always gone on about is, the new gold dust of selling, which is shopper insight. Tell them things about their shoppers that maybe they didn’t fully realize that helps them to sell more and then consequently make more. I can bang on about this for hours, but, absolutely if you know your customers’ shoppers at least as well, if not better than them, then you’re going to be a successful Nam in the future. Darren A. Smith: And we’ve both seen those presentations where however many slides there are, you get to the recommendations at the end and they’re all quite vague and you think, “My God, I’ve now got this presentation, I think the supplier wants to do really, really well. I think there’s a bunch of money in it.” But you put it on your desk and think, “My God, I don’t know what to do with it next.” Andrew Grant: Yeah. Darren A. Smith: If we were to flip that into, here’s a presentation of seven ways to make 10 million pounds on your category, hold on, I’m all ears. I’m listening to you all day long. You give me a plan. You told me things that I didn’t know about my shoppers and here’s how I can go and do it, talk to Bob, talk to Ron. Make this happen, that happen. Boom. Andrew Grant: Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think account managers, just like all of us are going to have to live with a new normal when we finally come out of this thing, hopefully, April, May time. I guess the Ghost of Christmas Future looks like reequip yourself, take this time now to reequip yourself with the skills to be indispensable when it comes to your customers’ shopper data, would be my [inaudible 00:07:11]. Darren A. Smith: Yeah. I would build on that. So shopper insight. Absolutely. I would add to that influencing because I’ve seen, we worked with a lot of clients over the years and it’s become apparent in the last nine months. I’ll do this. You see some of them are talking to you like this, others are talking to like this. Some are here and the lighting’s poor. And all of it contributes to reducing their power of influence. I mean, we want to be framed correctly, want to have good lighting. You want to be able to see me because already you’re going through a filter. I’ve got to make sure I’m using a lot more hand gestures than I did before. Andrew Grant: Yeah. And have a decent Christmas tree in the background, another top tip. Darren A. Smith: That would absolutely help. Andrew Grant: I’m not sure if there’s a fairy on the top, it’s missing. Oh, it’s got a star. It’s got to star on the top. Darren A. Smith: All right. So just tell us in summary, what are our three ghosts? Andrew Grant: Okay. So obviously Ghost of Christmas Past, good old days when buyers wanted to see their account managers, account managers on the road. Most of them love that lifestyle. Unfortunately, the Ghost of Christmas Present is nine months of effective lockdown. Haven’t seen your buyer physically for nine months, challenges as you’ve just very clearly gone through. Challenges of making Zoom work for you. Ghost of Christmas Future actually can be a positive future, but people are going to need to reequip with the skills to live in this new normal. Darren A. Smith: And I’d leave our viewers with one question. Do you understand the difference between data insight? Most people don’t. And if you don’t, come and talk to us about shopper insights, we’ll explain the difference and we’ll help you go from a whole load of data over here, to how can I make my buyer a load of money over here. Until then. Andrew, thank you. Lovely Christmas tree. I’ll see you next week. Andrew Grant: Take care. Bye-bye. For further tips and information, you can take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Category Management and our Category Management YouTube Channel. Also, check out our award-winning blog to see more Category Management tips and articles.

Discussing the New Grocery Code Adjudicator Mark White has taken-over from Christine Tacon. What will the new grocery code adjudicator want from the named retailers? And will he name Amazon in 2021? You Can Read the Full New Grocery Code Adjudicator Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week four of The Grocery Guru with our grocery guru, Andrew Grant, hello. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: I’m good. We’re not even going to talk about L-O-C-K, up or down. Not mentioning it, not allowed. Andrew Grant: Okay, day one, 26 to go. Darren A. Smith: He mentioned it. Okay, moving swiftly on. So we’ve talked about Urban Fulfillment Centers. We’ve talked about Category Management is Dead. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Oh, you missed week three. Darren A. Smith: Oh God, we did. Andrew Grant: Well, we were talking about what we can’t talk about, and how- Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: Yes, and how difficult Christmas is going to be. And if you think about it, we spoke about that last Thursday and it was on Saturday morning we all found out, that actually our worst fears, even worst fears were coming true. Darren A. Smith: I know. Do you see what I did there? I didn’t even talk about it. I just went straight over it. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Okay. Let’s say how up with the latest grocery-news you are. I want to talk about the latest grocery kid on the block. A gentleman by the name of Mr Mark White. Any ideas? Darren A. Smith: I think you’ll talk about the GCA or the Groceries Code Adjudicator, also known as the Grocery [Tsar 00:00:01:22], am I right? Andrew Grant: Oh, very good. Yes, you obviously read your industry news or you’ve got the right alert set up on your phone. Yes, Mark White took over as the UK’s second Groceries Code Adjudicator on Monday [crosstalk 00:00:01:41]- Darren A. Smith: Okay, so the previous one was Christine Tacon, is that right? Andrew Grant: Christine who we all know very well. She had spent what? Five years, actually, five years in the role, essentially defining what the code was. Because when she started, it was just this big blob of legislation that was completely new to the UK. Nobody quite knew what it was, what it would do. And she put, breathed life into it, and breathed form and focus into it, I guess. Darren A. Smith: All right. So just for everyone who thinks, “What the hell are these guys talking about?” And if you’re in the world of UK grocery, you really need to know this stuff. So I’m just going to test my knowledge a bit and check with Andrew, who is the guru? So I think the order was passed in parliament in 2009? And the order was 16 pages of law that contained [GSCOP], did I get some of that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Part of the Enterprise Act, which went legal in 2010, although it went through parliament in 2009. So you are correct. Dar

Discussing the New Grocery Code Adjudicator Mark White has taken-over from Christine Tacon. What will the new grocery code adjudicator want from the named retailers? And will he name Amazon in 2021? You Can Read the Full New Grocery Code Adjudicator Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week four of The Grocery Guru with our grocery guru, Andrew Grant, hello. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: I’m good. We’re not even going to talk about L-O-C-K, up or down. Not mentioning it, not allowed. Andrew Grant: Okay, day one, 26 to go. Darren A. Smith: He mentioned it. Okay, moving swiftly on. So we’ve talked about Urban Fulfillment Centers. We’ve talked about Category Management is Dead. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Oh, you missed week three. Darren A. Smith: Oh God, we did. Andrew Grant: Well, we were talking about what we can’t talk about, and how- Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: Yes, and how difficult Christmas is going to be. And if you think about it, we spoke about that last Thursday and it was on Saturday morning we all found out, that actually our worst fears, even worst fears were coming true. Darren A. Smith: I know. Do you see what I did there? I didn’t even talk about it. I just went straight over it. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Okay. Let’s say how up with the latest grocery-news you are. I want to talk about the latest grocery kid on the block. A gentleman by the name of Mr Mark White. Any ideas? Darren A. Smith: I think you’ll talk about the GCA or the Groceries Code Adjudicator, also known as the Grocery [Tsar 00:00:01:22], am I right? Andrew Grant: Oh, very good. Yes, you obviously read your industry news or you’ve got the right alert set up on your phone. Yes, Mark White took over as the UK’s second Groceries Code Adjudicator on Monday [crosstalk 00:00:01:41]- Darren A. Smith: Okay, so the previous one was Christine Tacon, is that right? Andrew Grant: Christine who we all know very well. She had spent what? Five years, actually, five years in the role, essentially defining what the code was. Because when she started, it was just this big blob of legislation that was completely new to the UK. Nobody quite knew what it was, what it would do. And she put, breathed life into it, and breathed form and focus into it, I guess. Darren A. Smith: All right. So just for everyone who thinks, “What the hell are these guys talking about?” And if you’re in the world of UK grocery, you really need to know this stuff. So I’m just going to test my knowledge a bit and check with Andrew, who is the guru? So I think the order was passed in parliament in 2009? And the order was 16 pages of law that contained [GSCOP], did I get some of that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Part of the Enterprise Act, which went legal in 2010, although it went through parliament in 2009. So you are correct. Dar

How the New Normal May Impact Holidays In this episode of The Grocery Guru, we discuss the ‘new normal’ and how this is likely to affect Christmas. Touch challenges for our industry during Covid-19. You Can Read the Full New Normal Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. We’re on week three of the Grocery Guru. That is Andrew Grant. Hello. Andrew Grant: Hi Darren. You okay? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. So in our first week, we talked about the UFC’s, which were Urban Fulfillment Centers. In our second week, you said to us that category management is dead, very provocative, very emotive, which we had a nice debate about. And in week three, I’m waiting with bated breath. What’re we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, maybe slightly off-topic, I’m not sure. But Christmas, and what are you buying me, Darren? Darren A. Smith: Oh. Andrew Grant: Front of my mind. Darren A. Smith: I was thinking of a big pair of those monster slippers. Andrew Grant: Oh, with Garfield on the front? Darren A. Smith: All right. Why is Christmas on your mind? Apart from it’s coming up in- Andrew Grant: No, just thinking. What is it today? The 27th. So it’s the end of October. We are … in two months’ time Christmas will be done. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes. Andrew Grant: And I’m just thinking back. If we think back to sort of the 23rd of January, two months on from then, 23rd of March, when we got … Boris locked us all down. Did we really expect on the 23rd of Jan, that what happened to us was going to happen? I mean, we knew something was going on in China. There was a city we never heard of called Wuhan, and some people were getting bad colds. Could you ever have expected two months later, us to go into what we’ve now had for six months? Darren A. Smith: No, no, not a chance. Something to do with a bat as well as in the story, wasn’t it? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Some strange seafood market and doing strange things with bats. But yeah, whatever. Darren A. Smith: All the people out there talking about grocery. Why are you thinking about it now? Andrew Grant: What is the link? Well, I’m just thinking that this is traditionally the time, post-Halloween, when the retailers go into, and I’m going to use the phrase actually, go into Christmas lockdown mode. 1st of November it is all about the home run to Christmas. They start counting back to Christmas Day. So it’s Christmas Day minus 56 days, 55 days. All their plans. This Chr

Category Management is Dead Is Category Management Dead? In episode 2 of Grocery Guru, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith talk about how the pandemic has affected Category Management. Is it completely dead, dying, or changing into something else to adapt to the needs and demands of consumers? The age-old question. If Category Management is about meeting the shopper’s demands better and quicker than the next guy, then it’s a ‘No’. You Can Read the Full Category Management is Dead Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: This is Week Two and we’re here with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Hello? How are you doing? Andrew Grant: I’m good Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m good, I’m good. This is Week Two of our Grocery Guru and last week, we were talking about UFC, which I thought was Ultimate Fighting Champion, but you corrected me and said it’s urban for Urban Fulfillment Centers. Andrew Grant: Right. Second time. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: I remember, so would you just give us 30 seconds on UFC? What was that all about? Andrew Grant: Right. Well, if I can remember a week ago, right. The future really of retailing and what we’re going to talk about today, I think carries on from there. But basically, grocery home shopping has grown faster since March than in the previous 10 years. Because clearly so many people at home, people not wanting to go and wander around a Superstore because of the physical distance rules. They’ve all ordered home shopping. Andrew Grant: Home shopping is now, I hope I’ve got my numbers right, can be up to 30% of the supermarkets turnover. And it’s only going one way. As a result, we’re having to find ways to pick stuff more efficiently. And the likes of, I think I said last week, Cardo has spent gazillions on massive, great automated factories. People like Tesco, and Sainsbury’s use people in-store to pick the stuff, and if you’ve got 50% of your business you’re going to have more people picking than you have customers. Andrew Grant: What they’ve very cleverly done and we talked about the good old days where stores had stock rooms. They’re taking the biggest out of town stores, which we all know are slightly white elephants now, and turning half of them over to picking spaces for home delivery. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: These are now called dark stores or Urban Fulfillment Centers. Tesco, I think I’ve got 17 planned in the next year. Darren A. Smith: I remember you telling me about the winners and the losers. We’re looking at Albi and Lidl possibly losing and Tesco, probably winning and Asda. Is that right? Andrew Grant: A big opportunity for Asda because they

Discussing the New Grocery Code Adjudicator Mark White has taken-over from Christine Tacon. What will the new grocery code adjudicator want from the named retailers? And will he name Amazon in 2021? You Can Read the Full New Grocery Code Adjudicator Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Welcome to week four of The Grocery Guru with our grocery guru, Andrew Grant, hello. Andrew Grant: Hi, Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: I’m good. We’re not even going to talk about L-O-C-K, up or down. Not mentioning it, not allowed. Andrew Grant: Okay, day one, 26 to go. Darren A. Smith: He mentioned it. Okay, moving swiftly on. So we’ve talked about Urban Fulfillment Centers. We’ve talked about Category Management is Dead. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Oh, you missed week three. Darren A. Smith: Oh God, we did. Andrew Grant: Well, we were talking about what we can’t talk about, and how- Darren A. Smith: Yes. Andrew Grant: Yes, and how difficult Christmas is going to be. And if you think about it, we spoke about that last Thursday and it was on Saturday morning we all found out, that actually our worst fears, even worst fears were coming true. Darren A. Smith: I know. Do you see what I did there? I didn’t even talk about it. I just went straight over it. What are we talking about this week? Andrew Grant: Okay. Let’s say how up with the latest grocery-news you are. I want to talk about the latest grocery kid on the block. A gentleman by the name of Mr Mark White. Any ideas? Darren A. Smith: I think you’ll talk about the GCA or the Groceries Code Adjudicator, also known as the Grocery [Tsar 00:00:01:22], am I right? Andrew Grant: Oh, very good. Yes, you obviously read your industry news or you’ve got the right alert set up on your phone. Yes, Mark White took over as the UK’s second Groceries Code Adjudicator on Monday [crosstalk 00:00:01:41]- Darren A. Smith: Okay, so the previous one was Christine Tacon, is that right? Andrew Grant: Christine who we all know very well. She had spent what? Five years, actually, five years in the role, essentially defining what the code was. Because when she started, it was just this big blob of legislation that was completely new to the UK. Nobody quite knew what it was, what it would do. And she put, breathed life into it, and breathed form and focus into it, I guess. Darren A. Smith: All right. So just for everyone who thinks, “What the hell are these guys talking about?” And if you’re in the world of UK grocery, you really need to know this stuff. So I’m just going to test my knowledge a bit and check with Andrew, who is the guru? So I think the order was passed in parliament in 2009? And the order was 16 pages of law that contained [GSCOP], did I get some of that right? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Part of the Enterprise Act, which went legal in 2010, although it went through parliament in 2009. So you are correct. Dar

How the New Normal May Impact Holidays In this episode of The Grocery Guru, we discuss the ‘new normal’ and how this is likely to affect Christmas. Touch challenges for our industry during Covid-19. You Can Read the Full New Normal Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. We’re on week three of the Grocery Guru. That is Andrew Grant. Hello. Andrew Grant: Hi Darren. You okay? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. So in our first week, we talked about the UFC’s, which were Urban Fulfillment Centers. In our second week, you said to us that category management is dead, very provocative, very emotive, which we had a nice debate about. And in week three, I’m waiting with bated breath. What’re we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, maybe slightly off-topic, I’m not sure. But Christmas, and what are you buying me, Darren? Darren A. Smith: Oh. Andrew Grant: Front of my mind. Darren A. Smith: I was thinking of a big pair of those monster slippers. Andrew Grant: Oh, with Garfield on the front? Darren A. Smith: All right. Why is Christmas on your mind? Apart from it’s coming up in- Andrew Grant: No, just thinking. What is it today? The 27th. So it’s the end of October. We are … in two months’ time Christmas will be done. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes. Andrew Grant: And I’m just thinking back. If we think back to sort of the 23rd of January, two months on from then, 23rd of March, when we got … Boris locked us all down. Did we really expect on the 23rd of Jan, that what happened to us was going to happen? I mean, we knew something was going on in China. There was a city we never heard of called Wuhan, and some people were getting bad colds. Could you ever have expected two months later, us to go into what we’ve now had for six months? Darren A. Smith: No, no, not a chance. Something to do with a bat as well as in the story, wasn’t it? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Some strange seafood market and doing strange things with bats. But yeah, whatever. Darren A. Smith: All the people out there talking about grocery. Why are you thinking about it now? Andrew Grant: What is the link? Well, I’m just thinking that this is traditionally the time, post-Halloween, when the retailers go into, and I’m going to use the phrase actually, go into Christmas lockdown mode. 1st of November it is all about the home run to Christmas. They start counting back to Christmas Day. So it’s Christmas Day minus 56 days, 55 days. All their plans. This Chr

Urban Fulfilment Centres In the Grocery Guru’s pilot episode, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith discuss Urban Fulfilment Centres and how it will affect the UK grocery industry. Find out what UFC’s are, and how they will impact the grocery industry. Tesco is first with Asda hot on their tail. You Can Read the Full Urban Fulfilment Centres Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Good morning. I’m very good. A cup of tea. All ready for a few minutes’ chat. Darren A. Smith: Cool. So, we’re here with the Grocery Guru, the man that is Andrew Grant, and this is our weekly slot for about 10 to 15 minutes, let’s see. We’re going to ask him what the latest is going on in the world of grocery. We wanted to call him Andrew Gandalf, but he won’t let us, so it’s going to be Guru. So, Mr Grocery Guru, what’s going on in the world of grocery at the moment? Andrew Grant: Well, a test for you Darren. If I said to you UFCs, what springs to mind? It’s the latest happening thing. Darren A. Smith: Ultimate Fighting Champion. Andrew Grant: That’s a good one. Not unidentified flying curry? Darren A. Smith: Oh okay. Yeah. I like that. Andrew Grant: That’s what happens if you leave the microwave on too long. Any more guesses? The latest happening thing in the world of grocery that every national account manager needs to be aware of. Darren A. Smith: I’m on the spot now. Urban depot thing. Andrew Grant: Well, you missed the F and the C out, but you were close with urban. Right, urban fulfilment centres, the latest buzzword in the world of grocery, UFC. Darren A. Smith: UFC. Yeah. Andrew Grant: Everyone’s probably heard the stats, it’s been very well documented over the last few months. But as a result of lockdown, obviously, a lot of people decided they weren’t going to go to supermarkets anymore, either because of the restrictions of going round those supermarkets or the fact that they were worried about catching the virus. So as a result online home delivery grocery has grown more in six months than it did in the previous, I think 10 years is the stat. Andrew Grant: We’ve got some of the retailers now up to 30% of their orders are online. Darren A. Smith: I didn’t know that. So a third of their sales are online now? Andrew Grant: I seem to remember that stat. For goodness, don’t hold me to it, I’m sure you will. Darren A. Smith: No. It sounds plausible. Andrew Grant: But they’re basically certainly 10 years’ worth of growth in six months. Now, obviously, anybody that knows anything about home deliveries, there’s two basic models. You got the Ocado and the Amazon technical model, whereby they have huge, massive, great automated warehouses, cost gazillions in capital s

How the New Normal May Impact Holidays In this episode of The Grocery Guru, we discuss the ‘new normal’ and how this is likely to affect Christmas. Touch challenges for our industry during Covid-19. You Can Read the Full New Normal Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Hello. We’re on week three of the Grocery Guru. That is Andrew Grant. Hello. Andrew Grant: Hi Darren. You okay? Darren A. Smith: Yeah, I’m good. I’m good. So in our first week, we talked about the UFC’s, which were Urban Fulfillment Centers. In our second week, you said to us that category management is dead, very provocative, very emotive, which we had a nice debate about. And in week three, I’m waiting with bated breath. What’re we talking about? Andrew Grant: Well, maybe slightly off-topic, I’m not sure. But Christmas, and what are you buying me, Darren? Darren A. Smith: Oh. Andrew Grant: Front of my mind. Darren A. Smith: I was thinking of a big pair of those monster slippers. Andrew Grant: Oh, with Garfield on the front? Darren A. Smith: All right. Why is Christmas on your mind? Apart from it’s coming up in- Andrew Grant: No, just thinking. What is it today? The 27th. So it’s the end of October. We are … in two months’ time Christmas will be done. Darren A. Smith: Yes. Yes. Andrew Grant: And I’m just thinking back. If we think back to sort of the 23rd of January, two months on from then, 23rd of March, when we got … Boris locked us all down. Did we really expect on the 23rd of Jan, that what happened to us was going to happen? I mean, we knew something was going on in China. There was a city we never heard of called Wuhan, and some people were getting bad colds. Could you ever have expected two months later, us to go into what we’ve now had for six months? Darren A. Smith: No, no, not a chance. Something to do with a bat as well as in the story, wasn’t it? Andrew Grant: Yeah. Yeah. Some strange seafood market and doing strange things with bats. But yeah, whatever. Darren A. Smith: All the people out there talking about grocery. Why are you thinking about it now? Andrew Grant: What is the link? Well, I’m just thinking that this is traditionally the time, post-Halloween, when the retailers go into, and I’m going to use the phrase actually, go into Christmas lockdown mode. 1st of November it is all about the home run to Christmas. They start counting back to Christmas Day. So it’s Christmas Day minus 56 days, 55 days. All their plans. This Chr

Urban Fulfilment Centres In the Grocery Guru’s pilot episode, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith discuss Urban Fulfilment Centres and how it will affect the UK grocery industry. Find out what UFC’s are, and how they will impact the grocery industry. Tesco is first with Asda hot on their tail. You Can Read the Full Urban Fulfilment Centres Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Good morning. I’m very good. A cup of tea. All ready for a few minutes’ chat. Darren A. Smith: Cool. So, we’re here with the Grocery Guru, the man that is Andrew Grant, and this is our weekly slot for about 10 to 15 minutes, let’s see. We’re going to ask him what the latest is going on in the world of grocery. We wanted to call him Andrew Gandalf, but he won’t let us, so it’s going to be Guru. So, Mr Grocery Guru, what’s going on in the world of grocery at the moment? Andrew Grant: Well, a test for you Darren. If I said to you UFCs, what springs to mind? It’s the latest happening thing. Darren A. Smith: Ultimate Fighting Champion. Andrew Grant: That’s a good one. Not unidentified flying curry? Darren A. Smith: Oh okay. Yeah. I like that. Andrew Grant: That’s what happens if you leave the microwave on too long. Any more guesses? The latest happening thing in the world of grocery that every national account manager needs to be aware of. Darren A. Smith: I’m on the spot now. Urban depot thing. Andrew Grant: Well, you missed the F and the C out, but you were close with urban. Right, urban fulfilment centres, the latest buzzword in the world of grocery, UFC. Darren A. Smith: UFC. Yeah. Andrew Grant: Everyone’s probably heard the stats, it’s been very well documented over the last few months. But as a result of lockdown, obviously, a lot of people decided they weren’t going to go to supermarkets anymore, either because of the restrictions of going round those supermarkets or the fact that they were worried about catching the virus. So as a result online home delivery grocery has grown more in six months than it did in the previous, I think 10 years is the stat. Andrew Grant: We’ve got some of the retailers now up to 30% of their orders are online. Darren A. Smith: I didn’t know that. So a third of their sales are online now? Andrew Grant: I seem to remember that stat. For goodness, don’t hold me to it, I’m sure you will. Darren A. Smith: No. It sounds plausible. Andrew Grant: But they’re basically certainly 10 years’ worth of growt

Urban Fulfilment Centres In the Grocery Guru’s pilot episode, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith discuss Urban Fulfilment Centres and how it will affect the UK grocery industry. Find out what UFC’s are, and how they will impact the grocery industry. Tesco is first with Asda hot on their tail. You Can Read the Full Urban Fulfilment Centres Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: Andrew, how are you doing? Andrew Grant: Good morning. I’m very good. A cup of tea. All ready for a few minutes’ chat. Darren A. Smith: Cool. So, we’re here with the Grocery Guru, the man that is Andrew Grant, and this is our weekly slot for about 10 to 15 minutes, let’s see. We’re going to ask him what the latest is going on in the world of grocery. We wanted to call him Andrew Gandalf, but he won’t let us, so it’s going to be Guru. So, Mr Grocery Guru, what’s going on in the world of grocery at the moment? Andrew Grant: Well, a test for you Darren. If I said to you UFCs, what springs to mind? It’s the latest happening thing. Darren A. Smith: Ultimate Fighting Champion. Andrew Grant: That’s a good one. Not unidentified flying curry? Darren A. Smith: Oh okay. Yeah. I like that. Andrew Grant: That’s what happens if you leave the microwave on too long. Any more guesses? The latest happening thing in the world of grocery that every national account manager needs to be aware of. Darren A. Smith: I’m on the spot now. Urban depot thing. Andrew Grant: Well, you missed the F and the C out, but you were close with urban. Right, urban fulfilment centres, the latest buzzword in the world of grocery, UFC. Darren A. Smith: UFC. Yeah. Andrew Grant: Everyone’s probably heard the stats, it’s been very well documented over the last few months. But as a result of lockdown, obviously, a lot of people decided they weren’t going to go to supermarkets anymore, either because of the restrictions of going round those supermarkets or the fact that they were worried about catching the virus. So as a result online home delivery grocery has grown more in six months than it did in the previous, I think 10 years is the stat. Andrew Grant: We’ve got some of the retailers now up to 30% of their orders are online. Darren A. Smith: I didn’t know that. So a third of their sales are online now? Andrew Grant: I seem to remember that stat. For goodness, don’t hold me to it, I’m sure you will. Darren A. Smith: No. It sounds plausible. Andrew Grant: But they’re basically certainly 10 years’ worth of growth in six months. Now, obviously, anybody that knows anything about home deliveries, there’s two basic models. You got the Ocado and the Amazon technical model, whereby they have huge, massive, great automated warehouses, cost gazillions in capital s

Category Management is Dead Is Category Management Dead? In episode 2 of Grocery Guru, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith talk about how the pandemic has affected Category Management. Is it completely dead, dying, or changing into something else to adapt to the needs and demands of consumers? The age-old question. If Category Management is about meeting the shopper’s demands better and quicker than the next guy, then it’s a ‘No’. You Can Read the Full Category Management is Dead Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: This is Week Two and we’re here with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Hello? How are you doing? Andrew Grant: I’m good Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m good, I’m good. This is Week Two of our Grocery Guru and last week, we were talking about UFC, which I thought was Ultimate Fighting Champion, but you corrected me and said it’s urban for Urban Fulfillment Centers. Andrew Grant: Right. Second time. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: I remember, so would you just give us 30 seconds on UFC? What was that all about? Andrew Grant: Right. Well, if I can remember a week ago, right. The future really of retailing and what we’re going to talk about today, I think carries on from there. But basically, grocery home shopping has grown faster since March than in the previous 10 years. Because clearly so many people at home, people not wanting to go and wander around a Superstore because of the physical distance rules. They’ve all ordered home shopping. Andrew Grant: Home shopping is now, I hope I’ve got my numbers right, can be up to 30% of the supermarkets turnover. And it’s only going one way. As a result, we’re having to find ways to pick stuff more efficiently. And the likes of, I think I said last week, Cardo has spent gazillions on massive, great automated factories. People like Tesco, and Sainsbury’s use people in-store to pick the stuff, and if you’ve got 50% of your business you’re going to have more people picking than you have customers. Andrew Grant: What they’ve very cleverly done and we talked about the good old days where stores had stock rooms. They’re taking the biggest out of town stores, which we all know are slightly white elephants now, and turning half of them over to picking spaces for home delivery. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: These are now called dark stores or Urban Fulfillment Centers. Tesco, I think I’ve got 17 planned in the next year. Darren A. Smith: I remember you telling me about the winners and the losers. We’re looking at Albi and Lidl possibly losing and Tesco, probably winning and Asda. Is that right? Andrew Grant: A big opportunity for Asda because they

Category Management is Dead Is Category Management Dead? In episode 2 of Grocery Guru, Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith talk about how the pandemic has affected Category Management. Is it completely dead, dying, or changing into something else to adapt to the needs and demands of consumers? The age-old question. If Category Management is about meeting the shopper’s demands better and quicker than the next guy, then it’s a ‘No’. You Can Read the Full Category Management is Dead Episode Transcript Below: Darren A. Smith: This is Week Two and we’re here with the Grocery Guru that is Andrew Grant. Hello? How are you doing? Andrew Grant: I’m good Darren, how are you? Darren A. Smith: Hey, I’m good, I’m good. This is Week Two of our Grocery Guru and last week, we were talking about UFC, which I thought was Ultimate Fighting Champion, but you corrected me and said it’s urban for Urban Fulfillment Centers. Andrew Grant: Right. Second time. Yeah. Darren A. Smith: I remember, so would you just give us 30 seconds on UFC? What was that all about? Andrew Grant: Right. Well, if I can remember a week ago, right. The future really of retailing and what we’re going to talk about today, I think carries on from there. But basically, grocery home shopping has grown faster since March than in the previous 10 years. Because clearly so many people at home, people not wanting to go and wander around a Superstore because of the physical distance rules. They’ve all ordered home shopping. Andrew Grant: Home shopping is now, I hope I’ve got my numbers right, can be up to 30% of the supermarkets turnover. And it’s only going one way. As a result, we’re having to find ways to pick stuff more efficiently. And the likes of, I think I said last week, Cardo has spent gazillions on massive, great automated factories. People like Tesco, and Sainsbury’s use people in-store to pick the stuff, and if you’ve got 50% of your business you’re going to have more people picking than you have customers. Andrew Grant: What they’ve very cleverly done and we talked about the good old days where stores had stock rooms. They’re taking the biggest out of town stores, which we all know are slightly white elephants now, and turning half of them over to picking spaces for home delivery. Darren A. Smith: Okay. Andrew Grant: These are now called dark stores or Urban Fulfillment Centers. Tesco, I think I’ve got 17 planned in the next year. Darren A. Smith: I remember you telling me about the winners and the losers. We’re looking at Albi and Lidl possibly losing and Tesco, probably winning and Asda. Is that right? Andrew Grant: A big opportunity for Asda because they

E16 – Change Management: Interview With Bestselling Author and BBC Television Personality Geoff Burch Dynamic, exciting and fun, Geoff Burch is a business expert like no other. He is internationally known for taking a walk on the wild side of business and turning it into an engaging, entertaining and humorous presentation that will lift and delight your audience. Geoff is the author of six best-selling business titles, is a regular presenter on BBC television and was voted Business Communicator of the Year by the Speechwriters’ Guild. Whether he is speaking on customers, sales, leadership, or change, once seen Geoff is never forgotten. Today, we discuss change management. You Can Read the Transcript of Our Interview Below: Nathan Simmonds: Welcome to the MBM interview series. This is the sticky interviews. Today I’ve got the pleasure of interviewing Geoff Burch. He is a best selling author. He’s got six books out already. He is a TV presenter for a business presenter for the BBC. He’s got tailored presentations that have helped motivate and inspire change within organization, a blend of motivational message and humor. And I’ve had the pleasure of talking to him before. Yes, there was a lot of humor. I can’t divulge a lot of what we talked about because the phrase effing and Geoffing may have been written about Geoff. So, we’re going to try and keep it business correct. Nathan Simmonds: His demand as a speaker has been voted Business Communicator of the Year by the Speech Writers Guild. And amongst that, he makes time to make his delivery entertaining, funny, digestible so that the normal man in your business can understand what is happening and effect change for themselves from the inside out. Now, the quote that resonated with me, Geoff, when we spoke last, “A change inflicted is a change resisted.” Geoff through his words makes change possible. So, thank you, Geoff, for being here. Welcome. Geoff Burch: Pleasure. Nathan Simmonds: First and foremost, why do you do what you do? Geoff Burch: Accident. No intention at all, absolutely not. Literally hurled into it. I feel like Brian in the Life of Brian, you know? I expect my mom to be at the window going, “He is not a guru. He’s a very naughty boy,” you know? Absolute total utter accident completely and utterly. And if I could understand how I do it and bottle it, I would be a lot richer than I am. But I have … I travel. I sort of travel like a comet. I think all the ancients would sort of … All the ancients would look at a comet and think that it imbued some sort of portent to something or other. But the comet is just a bit of frozen rock and frozen dinosaur poo sort of whistling through the universe. I feel like that, really. People interpret great portent from my things. And I’m just this piece of sort of deep frozen sort of archeology hurtling about the place really. Nathan Simmonds: I thought you were going to say you were a piece of dinosaur poo then. I was going- Geoff Burch: I was going to say that. But I noticed your sort

In our newest episode, we get to know Mark Thompson, CEO and Founder of GroceryAnchored.com. Mark, the “Grocery Guru,” worked as a broker for 10 years before building the website that he’d always wanted. This site has become a powerful resource in the grocery-anchored sector – providing industry professionals with a one-stop option to view deals on the market, sales comps, and daily news. Learn how it all began, along with Mark’s insights on the current state of retail in the grocery sector, the evolution of grocery delivery, and how grocers are effectively adapting to consumer demands.

Anderson had a run-in with an Australian man, TyTy has some unwanted updates on the International Space Station and Mike Carano has had his life changed by Trader Joe's.