Claire Phoenix reviews the National Convenience Show

The two-day National Convenience Show at the NEC had an eclectic mix of multiscreen advertising solutions (CSL) groceries and new foods and drinks.

Heineken marketing manager Nichola Cookland explained how recent market research reveals changing patterns in consumer spending, often due to straightened economic circumstances.

Instead of shopping for a month with the occasional top-up shop, consumers are now shopping far more frequently but with a much lower basket total. (Most are now averaging £6.62.) It was also noted that customers buying any alcohol almost always buy a snack to accompany.

Most customers have strong brand loyalty and will leave a shop if the brand they’re looking for is out of stock. Heineken is looking at moving into yet more formats to meet consumer needs for certain sizes. For instance, it seems that the 330ml plastic bottle of Strongbow cider can sometimes be too much for a single serve, so they’re looking at 275ml PET bottles here. Other factors encouraging purchase are price-marked packaging and the fact that most of us (90%) enjoy some form of drink every three hours.

What was new at the show? Well, six products stood out for me:

• The Bara – a cross between a wrap and a sandwich from Ginster’s the pasty people.
• Savera – a new range of Indian dairy products from Arla Foods that’s made to homemade recipes and includes lassi drinks, raita, dahi and paneer. This will be available from UK supermarkets and convenience stores from April 2011.
• MooCluck – a new brand of ice cream made using just four ingredients: milk, cream, free range egg yolks and fruit juices. With less than 100 calories per 100ml serving, each tub contains 250ml fruit juice.
• The Options Indulgence range of instant chocolate drinks in Chocolate Banoffee, Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Brownie and Chocolate Fudge variants.
• Fruity Pots from Caterers Choice Ltd – made for lunchboxes.
• Organic Therapeutic Fairtrade Chocolate in traditional dark, milk and secret plus the fantastic blend of grapefruit black pepper and ginger – yes, altogether!<
• The Flossbox – an ultra-thin mirror box containing dental floss so you could still smile after all that sampling.

I stopped off briefly at the seminar theatre to hear Barbara Cox, CEO of NutriChef, talk about nutritional food labelling and its impact on consumer health. She gave us just her ‘dirty dozen’ – the foods and additives she doesn’t want to see in any product.

Finally, a new part of the show – the farm shop and deli – was the busiest part of the whole event, indicating the move to local and natural foods.

Claire Phoenix is managing editor of Beverage Innovation magazine. Subscribe here.