French retailer Auchan this week placed its flag in India as it announced a franchise deal with Landmark Group, through which it says it wants to build a “national” retail chain. Elsewhere, just-food spoke with Ella’s Kitchen CEO and founder Paul Lindley, and results from Wal-Mart, Brasil Foods and Flowers Foods hit the news desk. Here is a selection of quotes from just-food’s news and analysis this week.
“What it gives Auchan is a ready-made store infrastructure and a team that has had some traction and experience on the ground” – Kaushika Madhavan, a Mumbai-based partner at global retail consultants A.T. Kearney explains the benefits to Auchan signing a franchise deal with Landmark Group in India.
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“We remain doubtful over the longevity of Walmart’s back-to-basics approach. Low prices are no longer a USP but an expectation from shoppers” – Natalie Berg, global research director at Planet Retail, emphasises that the EDLP strategy does have its limitations.
“We do compete against the big multinational companies too, and have succeeded in taking market share and in growing the market because our brand is based on strong values and personality that are trusted and recognized – and which big companies often find very difficult to copy or replicate” – Ella’s Kitchen founder and CEO Paul Lindley talks to just-food about competition from major multinationals.
“Although, one quarter does not make a trend – these are steps in the right direction” – Janney analyst David Strasser said the slower pace of store expansion for Wal-Mart is expected to lead to an improved operating performance internationally.
“Maybe the truth is, it’s a good little PR stunt for Wyke and hats off to them for giving it a go, they’re not the first to do it and I’m pretty sure they won’t be the last” – FMCG consultant Hamish Renton discusses Wyke Farms’ Facebook campaign to gain a re-listing with Morrisons.
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By GlobalData“Some markets will allow [price increases], others won’t,” the company said. “Japan will not allow such an improvement. Europe won’t either. We will have to adjust local production” – Brasil Foods cautioned that it would be difficult to increase prices in some markets.
“You hear today how much unemployment we have, about how many people are living in poverty… I think what the food industry has to continue to look at – and I know this is probably being done by all of us – is if volume is down will tremendous price promotions drive that volume back up? Or is it a matter of if it is down, it is down? – Flowers chairman and CEO George Deese says the company has been forced to increase its level of promotional activity in the face of stiff competition as US consumer spending comes under increasing pressure.
“The company is also exploring production of other products with PepsiCo, such as oats,” a spokesperson for LT Foods tells just-food the company is eyeing further deals with PepsiCo following its tie-up for its Kurkure rice snack brand in India.
“There seems to be a considerable amount of resistance to the fact that the milk suppliers have got to at least be able to get a fair price for their milk. [Farmfoods] was quite blase about it all and has agreed to another meeting in six weeks time, but that’s just ridiculous” – Farmers For Action chairman David Handley on his latest attempts to reason with FarmFoods over milk prices.
“We will analyse the individual target markets and offer retail customers appropriate concepts” – a spokesperson for DMK says it has the “fundamental aim” of growing the Sunval brand in European and international markets.
