More agile initiatives from retailers outside the ‘Big 4’

Growth among the Top 4 retailers continues to stall in the UK, despite inflation in grocery being at an 18 month high and some of the more interesting developments are taking place among the smaller players:

Marks & Spencer is revamping its food offer, and a recent initiative – with the accent on both theatre and provenance – is vertical farms for herbs, allowing customers to select directly from store. In the coming year their partnership with Ocado will go live, with the fast-growing online retailer offering M&S own label products to highlight their premium proposition to shoppers as part of their range.  This partnership will finally give M&S a strong online platform for online food delivery as part of its proposition.

Meanwhile discounter Aldi reports another strong year with +11% increase in sales (to Dec 2018) and turnover of £11.3 billion – with plans to double its stores numbers in the Greater London area to 100 by 2025.  Following greater emphasis on fresh food, this now accounts for approx. 50% of all sales through its stores.