My shop, my brand, my everything

Recently European retail chains have signed many strategic partnership agreements. One of these is a cooperation that Tesco and Carrefour started. Their objective is to unite the strengths of the two companies in the domains of product manufacturing and purchasing private label products. The partnership also extends to tasks related to marketing work and data collection. Casino Group, Auchan Retail, Metro , DIA and Schiever Group have also launched a cooperation project, under the name Horizon, as part of which the retailers join forces in managing the partnerships with suppliers and purchasing processes in the international markets. In Germany Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have strengthened their cooperation in the field of private label products.

Besides the cooperation agreements, European FMCG retail chains are also busy realising development projects. For instance Aldi Nord has started the company’s biggest modernisation project ever, with a budget of EUR 5.2 billion. At the same time Carrefour has signed a cooperation agreement with Google and Chinese company Tencent, the aim of which is to conquer the world of e-commerce. Lidl plans to strengthen its presence in France: recently they have modernised 600 stores in France and plan to do the same with another 100 soon. There are nearly 1,500 Lidl stores in France and the chain would like to have 1,800 in the near future. They also wish to increase the floor space of shops from the average 900m² to 1,400m².

In the United Kingdom wine is one of the most important products in the private label market. According to data from IRI, sales of the private label wines of retailers increased by 9 percent last year. In the same period sales of branded wines only improved by 1 percent. In the UK 1 from every 5 bottles of wine sold is a private label product. Another IRI report informs that all over Europe retail chains are developing their private label product selection in the segment of premium products, in categories such as cooled ready meals, healthy snacks, healthy foods in general and beauty care products. This innovation direction was reflected by the international trade fair World of Private Label, held in Amsterdam on 29-30 May. According to information from PLMA, more than 15,000 trade visitors were present, learning about the latest products and services.

Manufacturers brought a large number of healthy foods to the trade fair, introducing the latest vegan, gluten- and lactose free and organic products. In the New Product Expo section of the trade fair more than 40 percent of the debuting products also belonged to these categories. PLMA’s calculation is that in 2016 the European retail sales of organic foods represented a value of EUR 33.5 billion. Their estimation is that sales of lactose- and gluten-free products can grow to EUR 10 billion by 2021 from the EUR 6 billion value back in 2016. In addition to the trends of premiumisation and healthy eating, there is a third trend as well: environmentally conscious retail trade.//