Dream team
Sir, When Amazon finally swallowed Whole Foods, the price slashing commenced (‘Whole Foods price cuts just the beginning Amazon vows,’ thegrocer.co.uk, 1 September). This tactic, all too predictable, obscures a significant threat to grocery retailers. Amazon and Whole Foods bring to the table well-deserved reputations for, respectively, efficient and ethical business. Together they could offer the holy grail of choice and convenience with no guilt-inducing compromises. This raises the bar when rivals like Sainsbury’s are casting doubt on their commitment to sustainable best practice.
Granted, Amazon has been cast as somewhat ethically challenged in areas like supplier relations and taxation. But our research shows it enjoys more trust than its large peers. Cost cutting is only a stepping stone to hooking shoppers with the seductive combination of conscience and convenience.
Jon Tipple, chief strategy officer, Europe at FutureBrand
Indies must go digital
Sir, This week is the 14th annual Small Business Advice Week. With SMEs 99% of all UK businesses, the week is designed to offer crucial advice. Making simple steps to embrace the digital tools available could ensure independent high street businesses remain competitive. Expressly and Save the High Street have put together five simple things that any small retailer could implement today to get up to date with the digital shift. Go to buyexpressly.com/blog and savethehighstreet.org.
Lewis Gunn, Kin Communications
Traffic lights simplistic
Sir, I agree with Camilla Barnard (‘Colour coding encourages food fear culture,’ 19 August, p28). Reducing food to fat, sugar and salt is too simplistic. The front of pack is sometimes misleading, where companies claim a line contains only good stuff, less fat and sugar etc, but then the ingredients list contains things that shouldn’t be there. I’d prefer a clearer, easy-to-read ingredient list on the side or back of pack to a summary on the front.
Gianluca Moschini, via LinkedIn
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