Globally, roughly 300 million tons of plastic are produced per year; 8 to 12 million tons of these end up in our oceans and have severe consequences for marine life. Around 80% of plastic waste in the ocean originate on land, much of it is packaging…
Last month, discounter Lidl has opened its first USA stores in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina: 7 more stores will open until the end of July. Have a look at the first stores here:…
There are many studies and consultant opinions detailing the demise of bricks and mortar retailing. The rise of e-commerce-only companies like Amazon, Alibaba, ASOS and Ocado are testament to the threat that the traditional retail business is faced with. But the growth of e-commerce grocery retailing,…
Paul Foley, founder and partner at FRC and Peter Harrer, senior consultant at FRC, were interviewed for the Austrian trade magazine „Handelszeitung“. They discussed grocery retailing in Austria with special focus on frozen food. Paul Foley highlighted that the Austrian grocery retail is highly developed, consolidated…
The answer to this question lies in two separate circumstances. Firstly, the ideal discount markets are running out for Lidl in Europe, therefore USA is the next best option. Ideal discount markets are characterised by several conditions: 1. Consumers who have enough money to choose their…
Many articles are written about successful retailers - sometimes by professional business gurus, sometimes by ex-managers. I am from the latter category, having spent 23 years with the company Aldi Süd. Since selling my retail knowledge in the form of a consultancy I am often asked (normally…
“ICA GRUPPEN Q3 results show slow net sales growth” – this is one of Planet Retail’s headlines from the 9th November. Some explanations are given in the article: low inflation, changes in basket size and frequency of visit, even low online sales penetration. Paul Foley, Managing Partner…
Paul Foley, Managing Partner at Foley Retail Consulting, commented on last week’s Grocer article about the financial cost of the failed joint venture between Sainsbury’s and Netto. To him, the failure came as no surprise! Read his opinion here: Sainsbury's and Netto should have known better…
The Grocer (UK) has recently published a very good article on the difficulties of making profits from online grocery sales. Although based on the UK, it is a well written and accurate account of a dilemma in most of the developed markets. The time poor consumer…
To reach consumers over a wide area, it now needs an increasingly stronger integration of digital communication – especially to appeal to young people. Over 90% of the study respondents inform themselves about discounts and promotions via leaflets and the internet. Only 8.2% of the consumers…
The value of internet retailing in this digital age is undeniable. It brings additional sales, growth opportunities and also credibility and exposure for your brand with customers of all ages and in all markets. There are many challenges to consider: You need to invest, for example,…
After two years, Sainsbury’s has ended its joint venture with Netto supermarkets in the UK. All 16 Netto stores will close at the end of the month. What was an attempt to compete with discounters Aldi and Lidl, failed due to several reasons. Paul Foley, Managing…
CRM is not new, in fact it’s as old as retailing itself! In Egypt, FRC recently worked on an exciting project helping a major new force in food retailing capture some of the “traditional market” (mom & pop stores) with its very professional new modern supermarkets.…
One of the most exciting occurrences in the worldwide retail industry is the conversion of traditional formats to modern chains. Food formats of all types, consumer electronics shops, drugstores, etc. - all exist in one way or another in every market of the world. But in…
The truth is that even aggressive retail entry strategies in themselves don’t normally disturb established medium sized or large markets dramatically in the first 5 years. Whatever the circumstances, it takes time to build enough stores, or to acquire enough regular e-commerce to make a significant…
If you ask anyone where the growth in global retail is, they will inevitably mention e-commerce first. But, there is another huge growth area - travel retail. More than 1 billion people travel each year and the retail opportunity has been recognised as very lucrative, firstly…
The challenge Following catastrophic storm damage in July 2013, Clerys iconic Dublin Department Store was closed for trading, with ceilings, shop fittings, flooring, lighting and offices destroyed across three floors. Our Senior Consultant Sue Dunn was asked to work with more than 46 Concession and Cosmetics…
The challenge A new and exciting food hypermarket business is looking to convert the traditional trade into their very modern format in an emerging market. They asked us to create a loyalty system, which rewarded their best customers and gave them valuable intelligence in which to…
The challenge The phenomenal success of BIM in Turkey (one of FRC’s favourite clients) has led to a number of enquiries in other emerging markets to copy BIM’s business model. Many commentators suggest the BIM success is based on the German discounters of Aldi or Lidl.…
E-commerce is trending but what seems like a “low-investment-fast-growth” business idea to entrepreneurs might not be an accurate assumption. Treat this not as discouragement to start something new, but as a caution note from a person who has faced/seen people facing such problems. If you do…
The visual presentation in the store has always been the major customer motivation accounting for the a majority of retail purchase. Your window display has the potential to attract the customer, reel them in and ultimately lead to purchase. However, there are a few key points…
The challenge A successful specialist supermarket in the UK with 800+ stores began to worry about where the growth to match the previous 10 solid years was going to come from. Although there were still plenty of gaps on the UK map, the opportunities would reduce…
In recent years the acceleration of e-commerce has brought especially Western hypermarkets under pressure by making their non-food products less attractive to consumers. Online retail is today the cheaper and more convenient alternative for buying electronics or bulky household products. This is painful for the hypermarket…
Russian food retail business has been showing impressive growth during the last decade. And there is no doubt that this process will continue for some time to come. There are still a lot of white spots on the map and a number of local and international…
Surveys show that Polish consumers are more price conscious than the European average and this consumer concern has become even more pronounced lately. As a big part of the country’s population lives in smaller cities, a big portion of the retail market still belongs to traditional…
A retail brand can be compared to a plant, it has to be nurtured! At any time if you just leave it to produce fruit (or profit) without the proper care (or investment) it will slowly, and then suddenly, die! That is what is happening to…
The food retail sector has always struggled with two conflicting factors. Firstly, many consumers like the idea of ordering groceries on the internet and having them delivered. Secondly, the process of retailer taking on the cost of the journey to deliver them to the consumer’s front…
The challenge A leading food retailer in Central Asia wanted to improve profitability. A structured study of the market was conducted and the client’s performance benchmarked against world class comparators, with results highlighting the under-management of the gross margin. The strategy After detailed analysis of possible…
Analysts who believed the retail press when Aldi and Lidl entered the UK market in 1990 that they would sweep all in front of them away, often ask me this question. The truth is the discounters had an impact much quicker than is generally understood! The…
The challenge A leading household and beauty retailer in the CEE became aware of far lower staffing levels of a similar concept store in Western Europe. Concern emerged that Western European competition would be capable of market entry with potentially greater retail efficiencies and a resulting…