The 7th annual Kantar Worldpanel Client Day took place on Thursday the 17th of September in the Hogan Suite of Croke Park, just days before Dublin won the All-Ireland final. Kantar, however, weren’t talking about being successful in Gaelic games, they were more interested in advising their clients how best to maximise their sales by using critical junctures and adapting to an ever-changing consumer mind set.
The conference provided some well-structured and thought-provoking insight into the current situation and future developments in the retail and FMCG sectors.
Talks on the day came from David Berry, Commercial Director at Kantar Worldpanel; Georgiann Grant-Harrington, Consumer Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel; Paul Murphy, Director of Solutions at Kantar Worldpanel UK; Cliona Lynch, Client Manager at Kantar Worldpanel; Stephen Kelly; Service Quality and Development Director at Kantar Worldpanel, and Tara Clifford, Insights Manager for SuperValu and Centra at Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland.
Berry announced that Kantar is to expand its data pool by almost 70% over the next seven months to include 5,000 households by the end of Q1 2016. He believes that this will benefit Kantar’s clients in a number of ways. The increased number of households will lead to stronger shopper understanding, creative category insights, winning retailer relationships and granular brand growth opportunities.
Berry also celebrated the fact that the Irish grocery market has seen six months of consecutive growth, which is the first time that has happened since before the recession hit. He put this growth down to increased vouchering across the board; improving loyalty schemes, and the availability of more premium products, all of which result in bigger shopping trips. Proof of this lies in the fact that most (29%) of shopping baskets are now worth between €50 and €100. Last year, most baskets (28%) were worth under €25.
There were a number of interesting insights revealed throughout the morning that gave the attendees a better understanding of how the Irish retail landscape has changed in recent years and where it is going in the future. For example, Georgiann Grant-Harrington stressed the ever-increasing importance of online grocery shopping, the value of which has risen 16% since last year. Healthy eating is also on the up with Grant-Harrington noting that in 2014 fruit and yoghurt saw a growth in sales during the back to school period while crisps and nuts declined.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
