Freshways has radically overhauled Milk & More since acquiring the business last November, with a shift towards more mainstream brands and the removal of most products in its much-vaunted refill offering.
An analysis by The Grocer of its current range reveals Milk & More has moved away from its positioning as a ‘farm shop on wheels’ and ‘the home of refill’, since being snapped up by Freshways for a nominal fee on 27 November.
Under ex-CEO Patrick Müller, the loss-making doorstep delivery brand offered more than 80 lines across categories ranging from dairy to household, store cupboard staples and even a Coca-Cola trial in packaging-free or refillable formats.
This time last year, the business also sold an array of products in the low & no-alcohol, premium meat, alt meat and cake categories, often sourced from artisan brands and via partnerships with upmarket suppliers such as Daylesford Organic.
However, Milk & More has since reduced its refill lineup to just 19 lines in glass bottles, and now offers a Sainsbury’s price-matching mechanic across 22 core SKUS.
Also out are the Daylesford lines, which included products such as bone broth, soups and granola, plus premium butter from the likes of All Things Butter and Trewithen Dairy, in addition to upmarket teas and coffees from brands such as Clipper and The Good Club.
In a move underpinned by Freshways’ existing independent retailer supply chain, the lineup has also evolved to include more mainstream brands such as Cathedral City, Country Life, Lurpak and Clover. The service is also selling lines from Kellogg’s, Robinsons, Nescafé, PG Tips and Warburtons, plus biscuits from McVitie’s, Cadbury’s Fingers and Kit Kats.
Milk is also available in plastic containers alongside Milk & More’s flagship glass bottles.
Freshways MD Bali Nijjar said the shift in positioning had been driven by customer research that called for “more convenience and better pricing”.
“As we are utilising the Freshways network, this means we can buy better and there are even products which are price-matched to Sainsbury’s, especially across bread,” he added.
“We continue to offer free delivery with no minimum order to all our customers, and with the new product range we hope to deliver great value and convenience on the doorstep.”
Read more: Müller sells Milk & More to Freshways in shock deal
Overall, Nijjar said he was “happy” with the progress of the business over the past five months.
Sustainability “was and always remains very central to our business model”, he added, with the service recycling over a million milk and juice bottles a week.
However, with milk and juice bottles accounting for 95% of purchases, Freshways had deemed the wider refill offering “unsuccessful due to the limited volume we sell”.
Freshways was instead pressing ahead with the rollout of its own recyclable cartons and “after a successful launch on Milk & More we are now in talks with many of the multiples on this project”, he added.
Milk & More had also launched a printed catalogue for customers to promote the products it had on sale, something that had been demanded by milkmen, he pointed out, with the first issue out this month, “making us more relevant more often with our customers”.
“However, there is still a lot to do. We are determined to take this business to the next level and have several strategies we are working on to drive growth.”
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