from Kenneth Mitchell, managing director, Euro Fine Foods
Sir; With reference to the letters and the editor’s reflections on new product development (The Grocer, December 4, p24).
Why is everyone so surprised that the market place in the retail sector lacks innovation or investment?
The truth is that after being screwed by the multiples in terms of payments of listing, advertising and other allowances, to say nothing of boning down to the very lowest price, can there be much left to put into NPD?
A product is not gauged by its quality or uniqueness, but by:
n How much support it is given
n The price
n How it compares to what is already on shelf
The small innovator does not stand a chance.
One fact that seems to have escaped the authors of the letters and the original submission on the lack of NPD in food and drink and the retail sector (‘Tesco attacks brands’ NPD record’, The Grocer, November 20, p68-69) is that innovation and development comes from the foodservice sector. Go to the basics of development on food such as mayonnaise, sun dried tomatoes, bread, sweet potatoes, pasta, the list is endless. Where did people first try these products? In a local restaurant, café or bar.
The same is true of the drinks industry, where drinks tried and tested in the bar come into the retail business.
I can also hear the screams of those who say, what about this innovation and that innovation? The only ground I will give in this regard is in packaging, where the retail trade has done a thing or two.
My 30 years in the food and booze businesses tells me that now, more than ever, buyers are followers, never leaders.
They are kept secure in their position of non-development by the order-takers who call upon them. Negotiation is a thing of the past.
Perhaps this truth will hit home where it needs to, but I doubt it.
Sir; With reference to the letters and the editor’s reflections on new product development (The Grocer, December 4, p24).
Why is everyone so surprised that the market place in the retail sector lacks innovation or investment?
The truth is that after being screwed by the multiples in terms of payments of listing, advertising and other allowances, to say nothing of boning down to the very lowest price, can there be much left to put into NPD?
A product is not gauged by its quality or uniqueness, but by:
The small innovator does not stand a chance.
One fact that seems to have escaped the authors of the letters and the original submission on the lack of NPD in food and drink and the retail sector (‘Tesco attacks brands’ NPD record’, The Grocer, November 20, p68-69) is that innovation and development comes from the foodservice sector. Go to the basics of development on food such as mayonnaise, sun dried tomatoes, bread, sweet potatoes, pasta, the list is endless. Where did people first try these products? In a local restaurant, café or bar.
The same is true of the drinks industry, where drinks tried and tested in the bar come into the retail business.
I can also hear the screams of those who say, what about this innovation and that innovation? The only ground I will give in this regard is in packaging, where the retail trade has done a thing or two.
My 30 years in the food and booze businesses tells me that now, more than ever, buyers are followers, never leaders.
They are kept secure in their position of non-development by the order-takers who call upon them. Negotiation is a thing of the past.
Perhaps this truth will hit home where it needs to, but I doubt it.
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