ONS has updated its Opinions and Lifestyle survey through to mid-February. As fears of the Omicron variant continue to subside, households’ concerns are becoming focused on the rising cost of living. 43% of adults reported that they were worried about the effect of COVID-19 on their lives, a fall of 11% since the previous reporting period in early February. The falling concern is havi...

Spot prices for Brent crude oil have reached a seven-year high with prices nearly topping US$100 a barrel as commodity markets respond to Russian intervention in Eastern Ukraine. Oil prices hit lows of US$20 a barrel in April 2020, as a result of the initial outbreak of COVID-19. As the global economy has recovered, so have oil prices, surging to levels not seen since 2014. ...

Are you looking to build your awareness of the hot topics within the food and consumer goods industry? In this video, we tackle the topic of how stores will look in the future, breaking it down into five key themes that will help you get up to speed quickly. Watch this short video to see: What the world will look like in 2030 and how that will shape the role of stores IGD’s simple ...

In October, new regulations around high fat, salt, or sugar (HFSS) products will come into force in England and Wales, impacting how and where these products are sold both in-store and online. In January 2023, there are likely to be additional regulations regarding how HFSS products are advertised online. While industry waits for more details to be confirmed, Retail Analysis from IGD has publi...

So you’ve received your AGS results… You may now be wondering what-now? Or so-what? How do we get ourselves back into the top percentile of performers in our category? This is a common question we get asked at IGD at this time of the year. So why is it so difficult to improve? In my previous operational roles working with supply chain and commercial functions, we have responded to poor A...

Retailers and suppliers continually look to enhance shopper experience in store through new store concepts, features, technology, and category innovation. Whilst this will remain, innovative grocery stores and food service outlets continue to emerge, competing for shopper attention and share of wallet. Retailers and suppliers more than ever need to capture shopper engagement. Visit the most ad...

The ONS has released its latest inflation data up to January 2022. Overall, this is the highest year-on-year inflation level for 30 years, recording 5.5% on the CPI index and 4.9% on the CPIH index. As a comparison on the old RPI measure inflation reached 7.8% up from 7.5% to December 2021. Inflationary pressure continues to be broad-based with most sectors showing growth. As shown ...

Food delivery in less than one hour – quick commerce – has accelerated in the last 12 months. Its growth has been driven by new start-up companies and expansion of established players such as Deliveroo in Europe, Instacart in USA, Gojek in Asia and Rappi in Latin America. With varied new disrupters in the market, with different operational models (aggregator, pure player, retailer), there are ...

Your overview of economic and policy news with a focus on the food and consumer goods industry, featuring the latest developments and guidance on COVID-19, the rising cost of living, labour shortages and adapting to a new relationship with the EU. Rising cost of living UK inflation has reached its highest point for 30 years recording 5.5% on the CPI index and 7.8% on the old RPI i...

The UK labour market maintained its trajectory over December 2021 with unemployment falling and vacancies rising. Paradoxically, however, there was also a fall in “real” wages for many workers. The latest information released by ONS shows the unemployment rate continuing to trend down, decreasing by 0.2% over the quarter to 4.1%. This remains the lowest level since March 2020, the begi...