In 2016, we made one of our toughest calls - to stop producing our food range. Though we sold over 754,000 cases of food and got the range stocked in supermarkets and convenience outlets; the competitive nature of the category and our offering not quite cutting through, ultimately meant we were unable to make the range a market leader, so were forever fighting to stay on shelf. We were faced with a choice - we could either invest again into the range, or invest more into our water, personal care and baby ranges that were market leading or showing early signs of heading in that direction. We chose the latter.
We heard through the grapevine that some of our competitors threw a party when we left the category. We were celebrating too, but for a different reason. Though we retired the range, we’re really proud of the projects we funded in Kenya, Cambodia and Australia. In three years, the food range helped fund 28.7 million days’ access to food aid, provide over 130,000 people with access to immediate and long-term food aid and 60,000 meals locally through the Salvation Army’s Hamodava Cafe - a place were homeless and disadvantaged people can go to feel safe and have a table-service meal while getting access to rehabilitation services.
We’re not sure if we’ll enter the food category again, but we do know that when we do it will be game-changing, not game joining.
You can read more about our decision to retire the food range in our FY17 Year in Review titled Better Before Bigger.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.