Ian Pate

#tesco continuing to dominate market sales growth, and #lidl yet again growing at double the rate of #aldi, are the headlines from Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar) UK market data for 12 weeks ending 7th September 2025 released this morning. 12-week sales grew by 4.7%, slightly up from 4.5% in the last period. In the last 4 weeks grocery inflation was 4.9%, a touch down from 5.0% the previous 4 weeks. The Tesco juggernaut continues to roll over the performance of most of the other retailers. Their sales are up £716m YoY, accounting for 45% of total market growth. This 7.7% increase is their highest rate of increase since December 2023. Their formula does not change – a laser focus on #promotions (through Clubcard prices), #EDLP (using Aldi Price Match), and strong #availability in-store has not waivered – putting them in a great position ahead of the “golden quarter” of supermarket retailing. #sainsburys have been growing ahead of the market every period since July 2023. Their 5.4% growth is strong, but they will be aware that Tesco have moved further ahead of them in terms of market share - by 0.7% pts compared to this time last year. #asda continue to struggle with sales down 2.7% vs. 2024 and market share down 2.0% compared to just two years’ ago. They have recently completed the roll-out of their new IT system “Project Future” following a 4-year deployment period that has significantly affected availability – maybe damaging customer confidence to the point of no return. Only time will tell. Confidence (and energy) seems to be higher at #morrisons. Whilst sales and share remain a challenge they have this week announced price cuts of more than 650 products and are launching over 500 new products with a huge focus on fresh food. Looking forward to seeing these in their stores that are being re-merchandised to show off the new ranges. Lidl, at +11.0%, are the fastest growing physical retailer yet again. Their growth rate has been over double that of Aldi’s for the last 2 periods. This week Aldi’s 2024 full year performance was announced – sales up by just 1.1% at £18.1bn with operating profit down 21% to £435m. This was against a strong 2023, and 2025 sales are improved. However, their 4.7% sales growth indicates flat volume growth, as Aldi have launched around 40 new stores over the last year, an increase of c.4%. They have plans to launch 1500 stores in the UK - but at around 40 per year it will be 2035 before this target is reached. #ownlabel sales now account for 51.2% of the market, up from 50.9% this time last year. They are growing at a rate of 5.9% whilst #brands are up 5.3%. #premium own label has been in double-digit growth for the past 6 months. Morrisons this week have announced a new “ultra-premium tier” called “The Best Signature Collection”. Certainly the focus of many retailers is to use premium private label to #differentiate from their #competitors and the brands – painting a rosy future for own label growth.

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NESTLE TO HIRE MORGAN STANLEY FOR STRATEGIC REVIEW OF VITAMIN BUSINESS Earlier this year, Nestle launched their own internal review after reporting disappointing first half '25 volume growth. Nestlé has 3 pillars they call out for their VMS business: 1) Healthy Longevity 2) GLP-1 Nutritional Support 3) Women's health Presumably, any brand that does not directly serve these objectives will be divested. There are some parallels with Nestle's existing portfolio and recent divestitures/shutdowns. Persona Nutrition looks alot like Care/of, which was shutdown by Bayer last year BOOST for Healthcare Professionals looks alot like Slimfast which was just sold off by Glanbia Nuun Hydration is in a scorching category, and seems like a stretch as 'GLP-1' support where Nestle currently buckets it - Nuun could be the high performing brand that gets sold off while Persona, Boost, and others get effectively scrapped

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What I’ve learned about handling last-minute media moments (without totally losing my cool) 😅 Behind every “we were on TV!” moment is a lot of quick thinking, teamwork and prep. When ITV News reached out at 10 AM on Monday, we were filming by 3 PM - so you need to be ready if you want to take advantage of these opportunities. I’ve pulled together a short playbook based on my learnings. Here’s what made the difference (and how you can prep for your next big moment) 👇 1️⃣ Have a Customer Success Queen (or King) 👑 Someone ready to jump on opportunities the moment they land. For us, that’s Tania Levenfiche - we couldn’t do it without her. 2️⃣ Make your office media-ready For us, that means green walls, logos everywhere and a kitchen-turned-studio that’s always camera-ready (with a few last-minute tweaks — thank you Cole Pearce, Romilly Bodington & Kornelia Kuczma!) 3️⃣ Have media-ready spokespeople I’m lucky to have Marisa Poster, Levi Levenfiche & Teddie Levenfiche - but prep is everything: 💚 Wear brand colours 💬 Align on key messages before the opportunity arises - do this now. 🎯 Know your spokesperson 4️⃣ Keep your press pack ready (and up to date) High-res photos, a short boilerplate, founder bios and a brand blurb - so you can send assets instantly and stay in control. 5️⃣ Always have products on hand For the camera operator, reporter and for guests to take hom,- it makes the moment memorable, and relationships are everything. 6️⃣ Be ready to capture & repurpose the moment Your content team should know when to roll 🎥 Cut clips, share BTS, tag the press — Kornelia Kuczma & Charlotte Dendy, you’re the best at this 👏 Last-minute PR moments are unpredictable - but when you’re ready, they’re the most rewarding (and adrenaline-filled 😅) parts of marketing 💪

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