Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has supported the Rudd Government’s announcement of its $10.4 billion Economic Security Strategy including handouts and tax rebates for pensioners and other consumers to boost Christmas spend.ARA Executive Director Richard Evans said after successive months of stagnant and declining growth, Australia’s retail sector would welcome any stimulus boosting consumer confidence for a successful Christmas trading season. “Retailers... ...Read more »
New findings suggest that many customers concerned with the environment are not following through by purchasing environmentally friendly products. Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), a leading global provider of consumer, shopper, and market insights for consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, has revealed new findings from a study based on TNS’ Shades of Green Segmentation, which highlight distinct variations in buying behaviors even among those consumers who claim... ...Read more »
New research has established a number of methods to assist CPG companies prosper in spite of rising economic pressure and falling consumer demand, with important lessons for companies of all sizes. Top performers in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry achieved 3.6 per cent sales growth over and above category average while decreasing their sales costs as a percent of sales by 6.1 per cent over two years, according to the 2008 Customer and Channel Management Survey: Doing More with Less: Winning... ...Read more »
A leading academic and legal expert on food believes there is a growing body of evidence to indicate that the concept of “food miles” is badly flawed and might well breach Australia’s free trade obligations if ever it was introduced as a mandatory labelling requirement nationwide. Joe Lederman, Managing Principal of FoodLegal and Adjunct Professor of Food Law at Deakin University, advised that a growing number of supermarkets and restaurants in the UK were promoting the... ...Read more »
Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has hit out at the decision of new WA Premier Colin Barnett to reject full deregulation of the state’s trading laws. ARA Executive Director Richard Evans said while the WA economy is in boom time, the thriving local retail precincts in West Australia go dead every Sunday due to ‘draconian and archaic’ retail trading laws. “If Premier Barnett thinks that deregulating trading hours and allowing Sunday... ...Read more »
The annual Food and Health Survey, commissioned by the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC), has identified current American consumer attitudes toward food, health and nutrition. Health/Diet Perception of health being “excellent” or “very good” has risen amongst consumers to 39 per cent from 33 per cent in 2006, while satisfaction with health has remained constant at around 59 per cent. Despite the increase in health satisfaction, consumers are more concerned... ...Read more »
Checkpoint Systems and Sealed Air Cryovac have reportedly created the first integrated and automated anti-theft tagging system for direct contact with fresh food products. The combination of Checkpoint’s Food-Safe EAS labels, certified for direct contact with food, and Sealed Air Cryovac Smartpak vacuum shrink bags, is also anticipated to allow retailers to reduce inventory shrinkage of cheese and fresh products. According to Checkpoint Systems, the idea came from concerns about increasing... ...Read more »
The current economic climate has been blamed for rising shoplifting figures. Theft from Australian stores has risen from 1.5% of revenue up to 2% since November according to the Australian Retail Association (ARA), costing retailers approximately $5.8 billion annually according to ARA CEO Richard Evans. With two rate rises since November, coupled with rising food, petrol and rental prices, the financial pressure on Australians has intensified and Evans views economic hardship as the key... ...Read more »