Another Denise van Outen-fronted, lid-lifting, consumer-championing series of Secrets of Supermarket Buyers (Channel 4, 14 April, 8pm) has landed. The opening episode focused on Waitrose and how it creates “destination” products for people who “live to eat rather than eat to live”.
Alongside the repetitive B roll shots of Waitrose bakery items, former buyers, journalists and retail experts were interviewed for clarity and context.
The programme acted as an excellent ad for Waitrose – showing how it stays on top of trends with more creative products, such as its No.1 Leckford Wash Cheese. The product, viewers learned, is the only British cheese bathed in British sparkling wine on the market. It’s the kind of “sexy” product getting shoppers through the door, we are told.
Beyond the lovely food shots, the programme promised to help shoppers become savvier and used a group of ‘normal people’ to showcase some of these so-called “secrets” of the industry. However, most of these revelations won’t just be well known to readers of The Grocer – but to your average shopper, too.
One secret it ‘exposed’ was the high apple juice content in high street smoothies, when compared with the variety of fruits called out on front of pack. However, it isn’t the first to do so – the “applejuiceification” of smoothies went viral on X last year.
It may be interesting to see how other retailers fare in their episodes – but will that be enough of a reason to watch what is ultimately a rather bland show?
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