Elsevier Food International

Market Vision
This year Spar International celebrates its 75th anniversary. Spar retail formats are franchised in 33 countries worldwide. In this special version of Elsevier Food International’s interview section, three Spar executives from different regions will comment on Spar globally and speak about their challenges with Spar locally.

'If Spar fails, we fail.'

R & D
Fishing no longer offers a perpetual source of cheap protein. On the contrary, fish protein is to become increasingly scarce in next decades. Not only will the world population increase by over two billion people, fish consumption per capita will also rise by approximately 1.5 kilograms. Sustainable solutions are therefore badly needed.

Fishing from a sustainable pool

Store Profile
American organic retailing champion Whole Foods Market launched its first European store in the affluent Kensington area in London. The United Kingdom is seen by Whole Foods Market as its European allotment. Next step stones for the organic giant might be the other booming organic-minded markets, such as France and Germany.

Whole Foods Market Kensington, London

Industry Profile
Guido Barilla, chairman of the Barilla Holding, took the moral high ground in his speech during the ECR Europe Forum & Marketplace in Milan. He called on the community of the international food industry to become truly sustainable by prioritising people over profit. But how credible is this moral appeal from Barilla Holding?

Barilla's Mission

EFI Special
Wal-Mart is proof that even the big can get bigger, with sales greater than the GDP of some countries. The unrelenting American retailer ended 2006 with a world market share in excess of six per cent share of the global market, broadly equivalent to its four largest competitors put together. There were ' No surprises at the top' of the 2006 Retail Top 100 list.

Retail 100: No surprises at the top

Country Profile
EU accession has sped up developments in Bulgaria and Romania where consumer habits are changing those with disposable incomes become more demanding. In Bulgaria, the supermarket remains the main store of choice. In Romania, it is the hypermarket that is exceeding all sales expectations. However, despite the potential and enthusiasm that both countries offer retailers, there are several weaknesses.

New EU members Romania and Bulgaria: A mixed bag of hope and scepticism

ECR
The value chain is an ongoing effort of companies to efficiently adapt to constantly changing consumer behaviour. To improve the success rate of this effort, upstream links between manufacturers and their suppliers of packaging materials and ingredients, GCI developed a special platform for industry partners upstream in the value chain. This platform is dubbed GUSI, which stands for ‘Global Upstream Supply Initiative’.

Wrapping up the upstream value chain

Food Marketing
The gift card is rapidly expanding from the US into Europe with growth in the UK at the forefront. The advantages for retailers are great, not only does the scheme attract new customers who generally spend 40% more than the face value of the card, at the same time the retailers are taking cash in advance of these 'tickets to consume' being redeemed.

A ticket to consume

Consumer Trends
Consumer demands are likely to grow in the coming 10 years as shoppers look for more than just the basics. In many categories, they will want complete solutions and an emotional experience, where additional services and/or information are included, or an environment is created, as well as the product itself.

Future consumer: How shopper needs and behaviour will impact tomorrow’s value chain

Instore
Shrinkage is often blamed on organised theft and on outsiders. Nonetheless, internal theft remains a much bigger problem and not every instance of shrink is down to theft but down to administrative mistakes. A focus on loss prevention techniques such as data mining may hold the key to significant reductions.

Shrinking Shrink

Health & Wellness
Governments are directly guiding retailer marketing, especially when it comes to health and wellness products. Although national 'recommended nutrition' research may be flawed or, at best, inaccurate, retailers promote it and consumers, well, eat it up.

Big Brother is watching...your diet

Fresh Foods
Tomatoes are one of the world’s most popular fruit, with over one billion tonnes sold in 2006. While Mediterranean countries continue to have the highest per capita consumption, the popularity of the tomato is increasing across the world, particularly in Asia Pacific

Tomato heads east