PLMA news about assortment extension

Albert Heijn expands international range

Dutch retailer AH is enlarging its range of international dishes with more than 125 new items. According to the market leader, customer interest for new dishes and spices from abroad is growing. Mexican, Thai, Arabic and Indian meals are among the fastest growing segments.

New products include fresh meal packages such as Tom Kha Kai, Lebanese pita, red curry and mild green curry, a poké bowl, beef teryiaki, shakshuka and Mexican wraps. In addition, new fresh herbs and fresh meals are included in the range.

Albert Heijn is also working to make existing products healthier and more sustainable. In 2020, more than 146 million less sugar cubes, 65,000 kilograms less salt and 366,000 kilograms less saturated fat was used in products. The number of kilos of used packaging was reduced by 3.6%. The retailer is expanding its “Better for Cow, Nature & Farmer” own brand programme with approximately 150 dairy farmers by the end of this year.

Waitrose launches big own label range

Waitrose has announced the launch of its first-ever combined own label range with John Lewis in the UK. The range includes almost 300 private label products from the Levant region, a Middle East area that includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Cyprus.

It is called the Levantine Table and will include a wide spectrum of food products, from scratch cook ingredients to prepared meat and vegetable dishes, snacks and desserts from the region. In addition, there will be a selection of homeware and tabletop products.

Lidl advances in digital and vegan

In the UK, Lidl has launched a new feature in its loyalty scheme app aimed at helping customers avoid crowds and easing shopper numbers throughout the day. The app shows a bar chart indicating how busy the shop is during each trading hour of that day and is updated in real time.

Lidl Poland is equipping its stores with Electronic Shelf Labels. The labels are being tested in one store and will soon be rolled out to all 700 stores.

Lidl uses its loyalty app to provide women in Ireland with free menstrual items every month. In this way, the discounter wants to tackle the issue of “Period Poverty.”

In Portugal, Lidl has launched its first exclusive certified vegan wine, Indelével Tinto, from the Alentejo region.

Lidl Germany launched a new umbrella brand: Vemondo. The new own brand will combine around 450 items in the vegetarian and vegan segment.

Coop Switzerland has introduced a new own brand called Yolo. The vegan line includes plant-based substitutes for meat, fish and cheese under the motto ‘Just plants – No kiddin’.

Aldi is testing certified natural cosmetics items in selected stores. The test includes body and hair care items and will be offered under Aldi’s private label.

Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd have launched a new own brand for chocolate ‘Choco Changer.’ The retailer is the first discounter to work with Tony’s Open Chain that aims to contribute to overcoming modern slavery and illegal child labour in the cocoa industry by adhering to specific procurement principles.

Coop has launched a new Swiss chocolate brand, Halba. It replaces the Qualité & Prix brand and the recipe has been revised. The range is set to increase.

Auchan plans to increase its organic private label offer with nearly one hundred new items in France.

Plus wants to double the turnover and growth of the organic private label in the next three years. To this end, Plus is introducing the new own brand Biologisch Plus [Organic Plus] and is also extending the organic range significantly.

Intermarché has reworked its price entry own brand, Top Budget. The project included new recipes with fewer controversial additives, discontinuation of some items and a global makeover of packaging.

Covirán plans to finalize the reformulation process of almost 200 private label products to reduce their sugar, salt and saturated fat content and help prevent diseases such as overweight and obesity at an early age, by this year.