Heinz and HiPP are the biggest casualties of a baby fixture reset at Booths, with the northern supermarket bringing in smaller suppliers that it deems more local or eco-friendly.
HiPP and Heinz have seen all their wet and dry SKUs removed, though a small number of Heinz snacks including Farley’s Rusks will remain.
In their place, Booths is bringing in new food players Piccolo and Babease, which will sit alongside lines from Ella’s Kitchen. Both small brands have won listings for sharing the retailer’s vision in provenance and quality. Piccolo says it is a supporter of organic suppliers, while Babease sources ingredients from the UK where possible.
Aptimil escaped the axe in the “highly emotional area of baby milk” said Booths babycare buyer Rebecca Bektas, but would share shelf space with Kendamil - another new brand for Booths, which uses milk from Cumbrian cows, which will also have its dried baby porridge and baby rice on sale.
The nappy aisle also faces a revamp to reinforce Booths’ new ‘Better for me and my family and better for where I live’ baby strategy, which aims to help local communities and the planet.
The retailer is now stocking self-described ‘eco nappy’ retailer Naty as its ‘core brand of choice’ in all 29 stores, relegating market leader Pampers to a ‘secondary’ brand. It will be available only in larger stores, although its competitor Huggies pull-ups will continue in all branches.
“Most supermarkets lead on Pampers as the brand leader, and often don’t offer Naty in all their stores - we are going to do the reverse,” said Bektas. “We are offering the best quality products we can that not only have better ingredients and taste better, but are also nutritionally better or offer other health benefits such as around sensitive skin.”
Booths said sales in its baby range had risen 10% since the product overhaul a fortnight ago. There had been no price increase, it added - the newly listed foods are priced £1.10-£1.49, comparable to the delisted lines, while Naty’s nappies average 27p each, in line with Pampers at 24p-27p.
Booths is also making changes to its children’s snack division, moving away from high-sugar SKUs to alternatives such as Little Dish. In toiletries, it is shifting away from J&J and supporting Naty and Child’s Farm.
HiPP Organic did not comment on the delisting, but said it had “a strong record of driving sales” as the “longest-standing” organic baby food brand. Pampers said it worked hard to ensure availability but it was “ultimately up to the retailers to decide which brands to list”.
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