We made it easier for customers to shop our stores

We’re in the middle of a significant customer driven transformation, making it easier for customers to shop our stores and find value.

One way we’re delivering on this is through our customer driven category reviews, which use customer data and insights to help us understand customer needs and loyalty.

In FY23, there was significant momentum in our New World and 4 Square category reviews, with PAK’nSAVE getting started on theirs to.

 

·  We completed 28 category reviews during the year and stores started having these new ranges on shelf.

 

·  We worked with more than 500 suppliers through these category reviews. We are committed to working together with our supplier partners in a fair and transparent way to ensure we have the products on shelf that matter most across our customers shopping missions, at the right price.

 

·  We’re continuing with category reviews in FY24.

Insights zeroing in on products that matter most to customers

We’re using dunnhumby data and tools to find the products that matter most to customers. Here are some of our top highlights:

 

·  Three months ago, we launched our Customer Insights Academy to make customer insight learning and development more accessible to everyone across the co-op and our supplier partners. We’ve already run 21 courses for more than 500 people.

 

·  By using dunnhumby’s Promotions Analytics tool, our Category Managers have been better able to deliver promotions to New World customers that were most important to them. Customers can now find the best deals at New World without being distracted by promotions that don’t matter to them.

 

·  We started working closer with our suppliers through our new Supplier Partner Programme, which uses customer insights to give customers more of what they are looking for in a category.

Simplified pricing and promotions

We fully support the recommendations made by the Commerce Commission in its final report on the Market Study into the retail grocery sector. We’ve made significant progress in simplifying pricing and promotions across our brands, making them easier to understand for customers and a greater proportion of our products instore now show unit pricing.

We’re also working hard to ensure our loyalty programme and data collection and user practices are clear and transparent.

Throughout FY23 we regularly reported on the progress we’re making to implement the Commerce Commission’s recommendations via our Market Study dashboard.

Celebrated world class innovation in our supplier community

We acknowledged more than 500 suppliers from 170 businesses across New Zealand for the important role they play in making sure our customers get an awesome shopping experience at the Foodstuffs Partnership Awards.

Customer driven innovation from our supplier community also took centre stage at our biggest ever Foodstuffs Expo in Hamilton in March. More than 6,000 people experienced New Zealand’s biggest B2B trade show, with 350+ exhibits showcasing our supplier partners’ world class product concepts and innovations.

The Foodstuffs Expo is a valuable opportunity for brands to connect with representatives from locally owned and operated New World, PAK’nSAVE, 4 Square stores from across New Zealand – who can taste, test, and learn more about new products from passionate New Zealand and international suppliers.

Launched Precision Media, our very own retail media company

We’re on a journey to engage customers in new and innovative experiences and in October 2022 we launched a new retail media company called Precision Media.

Using dunnhumby insights, Precision Media gives customers relevant and personalised recommendations making it easier for them to find the brands and products they’re most interested in.

For our supplier partners, this now means they have a specialised, centralised marketing function at Foodstuffs, and a single point of contact for brand and media activation, across our New World and PAK’nSAVE stores nationwide.

By providing our customers with a more relevant and personalised experience, we’re making it easier and faster to find great value and inspiration every time they shop with us.

Fuelled an independent fleet for Leigh Fish

In October 2022, we secured a lifeline for the 45 independently owned and operated fishing boats that supply to Leigh Fish (Lee Fish Limited). We came to an agreement with marine fuel specialist Go Fuel and BP to offer substantial fuel savings and better access to help fishers continue to operate in the face of rising operating costs.

This was a great way to make a real difference to these small local kiwi businesses as they continue to source great quality, sustainably caught fresh fish for our customers. You can read more here.