Among all PL categories, frozen food has the largest market share and is the most resistant to competition from the side of national brands – exploiting this potential, Wabel Frozen Summit 2015 gathered the leaders of the European frozen food market to reflect on how frozen food can further enhance PL growth.

As demonstrated by European experts from IRi, Mintel, British Frozen Food Federation (UK), Federation des Glaces et Surgles (FR) and Deutsches Tiefkhulinstitut (DE) during the Summit, the success in PL frozen food sector depends on the right choice of distribution channels and marketing claims.

The market research presented by IRi states that e-commerce and the drive format in particular have the biggest potential for private label frozen food growth. According to 2014 results, only drive and hypermarkets demonstrated the turnover growth in frozen categories (+26.5% and +0.4% respectively).

Alison Rhodes, head of Own Brand at Ocado

As for marketing claims, Mintel suggests that convenience and ethics are standing out in terms of attracting and retaining customers. Innovation in packaging, ingredients and production process aiming at reducing the negative environmental effect of the frozen food industry are the essential steps to be taken by suppliers aiming to stay ahead of competition – the most successful products meeting these criteria were showcased at the Mintel Innovation Store.

The case of OCADO, a leading online grocery retailer seeking to develop its private label range demonstrates the efficiency of e-commerce channel and ethical marketing claims. With private label sales of £100m per annum, Ocado is the pioneer in delivering environmentally friendly frozen food solutions.

The “Ocado way” includes comprehensive energy efficiency and packaging innovation research – resulting in 15% growth in 2014 over performing all offline retailers in the UK except for Aldi.

Ocado, Iceland, Kaufland, Superunie, EMD presented their exclusive retailer insights and along with 30 other leading European retailers, took the unique opportunity to benefit from the tailor made sourcing solution provided by Wabel. As 600 prescheduled individual 30 minute business meetings took place between buyers and suppliers during the 2 days of the Summit, the FMCG world should expect new frozen food launches in offand online supermarkets in the next 6 months. “We’ll be able to do business with at least 5 of the companies we’ve met today” – said Alison Rhodes, head of Own Brand at Ocado.

The Wabel Frozen Awards Ceremony awarded the most innovative frozen food suppliers. Powered with innovation and quality, their products will no doubt increase PL market share.

Wabel Smart Meetings: Private Label Made Easy >>

We have witnessed the unprecedented shift in the way successful businesses function: Amazon, Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Linkedin, Google… have changed the way we search for books, taxis, music, flats, relationships, information and so much more.

Similarly, WABEL has developed its new Smart Meetings solution for Private Label in Food & Non Food. They all feed people’s need to search, connect and meet in a very short period of time!

Changing the way Private Label buyers and suppliers meet each other is the purpose of Wabel Smart Meetings, a tool allowing buyers and suppliers to focus on what they do best – buying and selling.

Wabel does the “dirty job” for both suppliers and buyers: identifying who is doing what and where, finding out mutual PL needs and offers in real time, connecting relevant partners, exchanging specific product information, pre-arranging the face to face appointments and even organizing all travel details.

After the buyers and suppliers have identified and approved mutual interest online, Wabel brings them together at Wabel Summits, organizing over 700 face-to-face, pre-scheduled, private Smart Meetings per Summit.

Nigel Broadhurst

This “fantastic dating game” (a term coined by Nigel Broadhurst, managing director at Iceland, UK) generates immediate business outcomes as 70% of meetings lead to further contacts, and some retailers confirm signing new contracts with up to four new suppliers within just 6 months.

2015 events are Wabel Household & Personal Care Summit (October 14- 15, 2015) and Wabel Grocery Summit (October 28-29, 2015) taking place in Paris, France.

Other Wabel Summits to come in 2016: Wabel Frozen Summit (March 8-10) and Wabel Chilled & Dairy Summit (April 13-14). Content provided by Wabel

More information on Wabel and Wabel Summits: www.wabel.com
Contact: Maria Moskvina [email protected]
Phone: +33 (0) 9 70 24 06 32