NEWS IN BRIEF

Retail News

Asda news

Brand News

Asda is celebrating Christmas early by opening Santa's grottos at stores in 17 stores. The grottos are designed to encourage customers to start saving for the festive season and are advertising Christmas card savings. Asda daily news update

Irish Yogurts, which supplies products to ASDA, has predicted that it will return to profit this year as it expects that sales will rise by 25%. Asda daily news update

Hovis is launching a range of breakfast biscuits supported by a major marketing campaign in an attempt to pinch market share from Kraft-owned Belvita. http://www.brandrepublic.com

Zeo, an 'adult soft drink' brand owned by Freedrinks, has launched a £600,000 outdoor campaign with a 96-sheet billboard on London's Old Street roundabout. http://www.brandrepublic.com

Kallo, the organic food company, is launching its biggest ad campaign to date to introduce a new brand positioning focusing on "simple pleasures". http://www.brandrepublic.com

European business and consumer confidence deteriorated notably in August, according to the economic sentiment indicator (ESI), released yesterday by the European Commission. Asda daily news update

Waitrose boss Mark Price anticipates doubling the grocer’s store count to 600 as well as rapidly increasing its online sales. http://www.retail-week.com/

Amazon has launched an Amazon Local daily deals website in the UK, pitting it head-to-head with established players such as Groupon. http://www.retail-week.com/

Anchor butter is to be produced in the UK for the first time, as brand owner Arla migrates production from New Zealand. The Grocer

Sainsbury’s is launching English-grown kiwiberries – a first for any retailer in the UK. http://www.talkingretail.com/

Aquafresh will be re-launching in the UK next month with a £2.4m marketing campaign designed to inspire and encourage British families to maintain happy, healthy mouths for life. The 360 degree campaign launches on 1 September and includes: sponsorship; an extensive outdoor, digital, press and in-store activity, consumer sampling across the UK and a dental expert engagement programme. http://www.talkingretail.com/

John Lewis has launched its first ever fitted bathrooms department as part of its Home division’s plans to cater for every room in the house. http://www.theretailbulletin.com/

Health & beauty retailer Boots is to roll out a 12 month trial to expand into the healthy convenient food market, it has been announced. Launched in conjunction with food retail partner Musgrave, the trial will see Musgrave sell its products in 11 selected Boots stores across the UK and will include fresh meat and fish as well as ready meals. http://www.retailgazette.co.uk/

Soda Stream has opened its first-ever store. The fizzy drink company launched the EcoStream concept store in Brighton last month, for shoppers who want to cut waste by buying refills. The Grocer

Bargain Booze is trialling a premium wine collection in stores that face competition from specialist local wine merchants. The Grocer

Birds Eye is revamping its frozen poultry with new packaging, improved recipes and new variants. The Grocer

Andrex is to use a 'real' puppy mascot again as a one-off for a campaign to celebrate its 40th anniversary. http://www.brandrepublic.com/

Innocent is to intensify its focus on direct to consumer marketing such as social media and experiential as it looks to overcome the “challenge” of growing the business while keeping a close relationship with consumers . http://www.marketingweek.co.uk

What’s coming up….

• Period 10 (11th September – 15th October) • 15th – 16th Sep: National Eczema week • 17th – 23rd Sep: National cupcake week • 22nd - 30th Sep: British cheese week • 1st – 7th Oct: National porridge week • 1st - 7th Oct: Potato week • 1st Oct: World vegetarian day • 8th – 14th Oct: Chocolate week • 8th – 14th Oct: National curry week • 10th Oct: World Porridge day • 12th Oct: World Egg day

• Period 11 (16th October – 5th November)

• 16th Oct: World food day • 21st Oct: National apple day • 22nd Oct: World nut day • 31st Oct: Halloween • 1st Nov: World Vegan day

• Period 12 (6th November – 10th December)

• 12th – 18th Nov: Indoor allergy week

• 13th – 17th Nov: Diwali

Comment

Volvic Has launched new berry medley flavour and larger 1.5l formats

Green & Blacks Has unveiled 2 new ‘foodie flavours’ - a new sea salt with milk chocolate and spiced chilli with dark chocolate, which combines 7 different spices

Lindt Has launched a new filled chocolate bar range. Lindt Creation comprises Luscious Caramel, Divine Hazelnut, Velvety Vanilla Almond and Sumptuous Almond

Pieminister Is relaunching its pie range with new flavours and packaging as it looks to boost repeat purchases – and sales.

Quaker Plans to build on the success of its Oat So Simple range with the launch of 2 new flavours. This month, its Original and Golden Syrup varieties will launch in ‘Big Bowl’ sachets, which are 33% larger than the standard format. It is also adding strawberry, raspberry & cranberry, and vanilla & honey flavours to the range and introducing Oat So Simple Strawberry to the children’s portfolio

Trees Can’t Dance The Northumbrian chilli brand has extended its range of cooking paste with 5 new variants. 2 variants are exclusively available in Sainsbury’s until the end of the year, while the remaining 3 have been launched to the wider trade

Penn State Has launched a spooky snack variant ahead of Halloween. The 175g sharing bag of ‘web shape’ baked pretzels in a new ‘Devil’s Flame Roasted Chipotle Chilli’ flavour is aimed at the growing number of 18 to 34 year-olds celebrating Halloween

Taylors of Harrogate Is extending its selection packs for cafetieres into Tesco and Asda this month

Bio Green Dairy Is launching a 125ml breakfast shot under its Good Heavans! Brand

Alex James Is adding a new artisan cheese to its portfolio and relaunching 2 existing cheeses as he seeks wider distribution for his artisan range

What’s new this week ….

Comment

Bear Has added a mango flavour to its Yo Yo’s baked fruit range. The launch is being supported by a Back to School advertising campaign from this month with press, outdoor activity, sampling, POS and social media

Heinz Has added Cream of Mushroom with a Hint of Garlic and Cream of Chicken with a dash of White wine to its Classic soup special edition portfolio in a bid to “attract a younger audience” to the ambient soup aisle

Eylure Is celebrating its 65th birthday with a new range of retro lashes. The Anniversary Celebration Lashes range. Which is rolling out this month, consists of 4 vintage-inspired styles designed to salut the 1960’s

Kraft Is bringing US candy Sour Patch Kids to the UK this month as it looks to return Maynards to growth. Sour Patch Kids will be supported by a multimillion-pound marketing push early this month

Covent Garden Soup Co

Has unveiled a range of world-inspired premium soups as part of its relaunch

Bulldog Is bringing its first natural men’s deodorant to the market. It will roll out exclusively on the company’s website this month before seeking wider distribution in the mainstream retailers in the next few month

Vosene Has taken its kids sub-brand into the bathing segment with 2 new products launches.

Bernard Matthews Is launching an American-themed sliced smoked turkey meats range. The East River Smokehouse Co range has been launched in the mults this week

Frijj Is joining the fast growing trend for coffee flavoured drinks with the launch of the brand’s first coffee variant in 10 years. Caramel Latte will launch under the Frijj The Incredible sub-brand this month

What’s new this week ….

What’s HOT and what’s NOT….

Warmer weather and the Olympics – as well as heavy vouchering – helped grocers to their best trading performance of the year last month. Grocery sales in the four weeks to 18 August were up 3.5% over the equivalent period last year, according to new data from Nielsen Spar (UK) made a return to form by jointly topping the table of the Top 25 UK’s leading drinks retailing websites for August, although it was helped by Aldi delivering a weaker performance this month. John Lewis sales jumped 8.8% over the week to August 25 driven by electricals, home and technology.

HOT NOT Morrisons is expected to reveal a decline in half-year sales after adverse weather conditions and cut throat competition hit the business where it hurts. Like-for-like sales are expected to be down 0.7 per cent, perhaps even as much as 1.5 per cent. Pre-tax profits are expected to have fallen by two to three per cent to £434-427 million. Nestle has cut the size of its Quality Street tins from 1kg to 820g – an 18% reduction