The late Mr. Dave Nichols who revolutionized branding launched Canadian retailers’ first private-label brand in the late 1980’s. Setting out to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie and to outdo Christie’s then-best-selling Chips Ahoy, he personally approved the President’s Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie. Having set the gold standard for the private-label brand, some 25 […]
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The Canadian grocery branding strategy has never been more critical, as the sector faces ongoing turmoil—further complicated by anticipated tariff wars. For the 52-week period ending December 28, 2024, the Canadian grocery sector achieved a mere 1% unit growth, with 49.7% of all sales happening on promotion.[1] Coresight Research in the United States projects only […]
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Consumers tend to classify mushrooms as plants. After all, the fresh ones are sold in the retail produce department. They have long served as utility players across kitchens. The earliest recorded appearance of mushrooms in a recipe is from an 1824 cookbook, “The Virginia Housewife”. The now-famous Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup debuted in the […]
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Living a healthier lifestyle has become a theme for most consumers. January 2024, McKinsey and Company reported that 82% of consumers now consider wellness a top or important priority in their lives. The global wellness market was forecasted to hit $1.8T this past year. The US wellness market was valued at $480B in 2024, growing […]
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The grocery sector has evolved, and will continue to evolve. I grew up in a small town: Streetsville, Ontario, 1 hour west of Toronto. When my parents went grocery shopping, they had 2 options, Dominion, and a franchisee owned IGA. Those two banners have subsequently been purchased by Metro and Sobeys respectively. Today, I have […]
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The pandemic has brought turbulent times to the global grocery industry. Not one country has been exempt from the food inflationary wars. This is despite what was reported by the Canadian media and MPs who have made it sound as if food inflation has been a “Made in Canada” problem only. The average $100 basket […]
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The Canadian grocery sector is a tough market to conduct business. With consumers concerned over their weekly trips to the grocery store, brands must be on the customers’ shopping list, be competitively priced, offer sustainable product ingredients / product packaging, and the benefits consumers seek. Take toothpaste as an example, a common household product. The […]
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Canada’s grocery sector has been in a state of flux since the beginning of the pandemic, and the inflationary wars that have emerged. During this period the media have referenced the term “Greed Flation” without acknowledging that since 2015, though the cost of food has increased 32.3%, the price per litre of gasoline has increased […]
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June 1974 represented a historic day in the grocery sector. In a Marsh’s supermarket in the US, on the package of a Wrigley’s gum, the UPC code made its first commercial appearance. The UPC code was a response to a business need first identified by the US grocery sector in the early 1970’s. Canada represented […]
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Nearly 4 years into a pandemic-induced hangover, the Canadian grocery industry continues to undergo enormous shake-ups, evolution, and corrections. Since 2020, the food sector has experienced a history of negative unit growth due to food inflationary wars. Taking the 3% increase in Canada’s population in 2023 into consideration, the Canadian grocery sector achieved a -1% […]
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