Siân Harrington
Shoppers have named Asda the country's favourite supermarket retailer as part of a new awards scheme launched by this magazine.
As you will read on page 38 of this week's issue, the grocer of the year award in association with ACNielsen is based on robust consumer research.
And it was the top prize in The Grocer Gold Awards, which were presented at a glittering business dinner at Claridge's Hotel in London this week.
But one of the biggest cheers of the night came with the news that Booths had been judged the country's best independent retail chain.
Entries to this award were limited to those companies appearing in the The Grocer Top 50 annual listing of Britain's biggest and best independent retail chains.
From the entries, our judges felt Booths stood out for a number of reasons.
They were impressed by its industry-beating like-for-like sales growth, and by the fact it had retained small company values that ran right through its business.
Waitrose beat off strong competition to win initiative of the year with its Locally Produced scheme. Our judges thought it went beyond anything rival supermarket chains had done in this area. They were particularly impressed with Waitrose's attention to detail and how it communicated the initiative to customers (see p42).
The Co-operative Group's Creatures TV campaign helped it to take the marketing excellence award. The judges highlighted the strong evidence of its impact on the bottom line, with the group demonstrating it had generated £19 for every £1 invested in advertising.
Asda also picked up The Grocer 33 shopping basket awards for price and service while Morrisons received the accolade for best at availability (see last week's issue).
Sainsbury's Freefrom was awarded best own label range in a strong category. It meets a true consumer need, and the judges praised the tie-up with Allergy UK and clear and honest consumer communication.
Wrigley's Extra Thin Ice was a popular choice for new product innovation (see p41). Declan Keogh, Wrigley's UK sales director, said he was delighted with its recognition.
"Thin Ice was our first foray outside chewing gum and a huge step. The award will have a real motivational impact on the company.
"People regard The Grocer as the voice of the industry, so to get recognition for the product through the award is the icing on the cake."
The best branded supplier and best own label supplier categories were voted for by senior buyers across the industry.
The category winners in The Grocer's annual branded and own label surveys went through to the final.
Brett Warburton, managing director of Warburtons, winner of the best branded supplier prize, said: "We're a northern business still trying to expand in the south. We looked at the other names in our category and were just pleased to be included, so to win was a surprise.
"We are thrilled to bits. The award reflects a lot of hard work by a lot of people. We still have a big job to do but this shows we are on the right track."
Robert McBride took away the best own label supplier accolade.
According to Mike Handley, chief executive: "We work very hard to make sure our retailers get what they need to compete against the brands and this tells us that we are succeeding in doing that. That is very satisfying."
>>pp18, 38, 41 full reports
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Shoppers have named Asda the country's favourite supermarket retailer as part of a new awards scheme launched by this magazine.
As you will read on page 38 of this week's issue, the grocer of the year award in association with ACNielsen is based on robust consumer research.
And it was the top prize in The Grocer Gold Awards, which were presented at a glittering business dinner at Claridge's Hotel in London this week.
But one of the biggest cheers of the night came with the news that Booths had been judged the country's best independent retail chain.
Entries to this award were limited to those companies appearing in the The Grocer Top 50 annual listing of Britain's biggest and best independent retail chains.
From the entries, our judges felt Booths stood out for a number of reasons.
They were impressed by its industry-beating like-for-like sales growth, and by the fact it had retained small company values that ran right through its business.
Waitrose beat off strong competition to win initiative of the year with its Locally Produced scheme. Our judges thought it went beyond anything rival supermarket chains had done in this area. They were particularly impressed with Waitrose's attention to detail and how it communicated the initiative to customers (see p42).
The Co-operative Group's Creatures TV campaign helped it to take the marketing excellence award. The judges highlighted the strong evidence of its impact on the bottom line, with the group demonstrating it had generated £19 for every £1 invested in advertising.
Asda also picked up The Grocer 33 shopping basket awards for price and service while Morrisons received the accolade for best at availability (see last week's issue).
Sainsbury's Freefrom was awarded best own label range in a strong category. It meets a true consumer need, and the judges praised the tie-up with Allergy UK and clear and honest consumer communication.
Wrigley's Extra Thin Ice was a popular choice for new product innovation (see p41). Declan Keogh, Wrigley's UK sales director, said he was delighted with its recognition.
"Thin Ice was our first foray outside chewing gum and a huge step. The award will have a real motivational impact on the company.
"People regard The Grocer as the voice of the industry, so to get recognition for the product through the award is the icing on the cake."
The best branded supplier and best own label supplier categories were voted for by senior buyers across the industry.
The category winners in The Grocer's annual branded and own label surveys went through to the final.
Brett Warburton, managing director of Warburtons, winner of the best branded supplier prize, said: "We're a northern business still trying to expand in the south. We looked at the other names in our category and were just pleased to be included, so to win was a surprise.
"We are thrilled to bits. The award reflects a lot of hard work by a lot of people. We still have a big job to do but this shows we are on the right track."
Robert McBride took away the best own label supplier accolade.
According to Mike Handley, chief executive: "We work very hard to make sure our retailers get what they need to compete against the brands and this tells us that we are succeeding in doing that. That is very satisfying."
>>pp18, 38, 41 full reports
{{NEWS }}
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