- Tell us about Nisa’s Heritage brand.
Nisa has its Heritage own-label range spanning over 1,300 products, incorporating Heritage Pantry, Heritage and Heritage Gourmet. The Pantry tier includes the products every household turns to every day which are excellent value for money; the Heritage range is one that we are especially proud of, as it offers the same quality that you expect from your favourite brand; and, finally, Gourmet is the range which is a select chosen food offering that delivers high on quality, originality and flavour. In the fresh and chilled section, Nisa is seeing the biggest growth in produce, ready meals, milk, pies and pastries, sausage and poultry.
- How did the range come about?
We are constantly growing the category by improving the quality of produce – something which was born completely out of consumer research. This was done by assessing the market and observing the trends and influences affecting shopper behaviour, such as people being increasingly time poor, the trend towards scratch cooking, ‘eating in’ being the new ‘eating out’, and the fact we have an aging population who tend to shop locally. Nisa has used this information to create a brand that has good, honest food and compares favourably against our competitors.
What are your plans to grow the Heritage range?
We have revamped our packaging, which is one factor as to why our sales have increased, as the new designs are more eye-catching and stand out on the shelf, as well as making it easier for consumers to read labels clearly. We have also rebranded and enhanced the entire 500 lines of Heritage chill and we are now moving onto ambient in order to produce the best own label brand possible. On top of the planned rebrand and reformulation of the entire Heritage range, which is already under way, Nisa will be focusing on increasing the number of lines in its Gourmet range, as customers seek a bit of luxury at home, as well as developing seasonal products for Christmas and Easter to capitalise on the increase in consumer spend around these occasions.
- How is the Heritage brand performing?
The Heritage brand is thriving, as sales are up by an impressive 52.6 per cent since it was relaunched earlier this year, and the business is on track to transform the range to be worth £500m. Nisa’s emphasis on quality is already delivering, with the Heritage Steak Pie winning the Wholesale Q Awards this year, thanks to the high quality of product. This was a result of rigorous tasting and testing, and improvements of ingredients and the recipe.
What is the long-term strategy?
Our long-term strategy is based on driving engagement with Nisa members even more, in order to increase distribution sales. As the Nisa business becomes even more consumer focused, so will the Heritage brand, as we plan to roll out an even wider offering in every category.
- How many fruit and veg lines does Nisa stock?
Heritage produce has approximately 179 SKUs, and such an extensive range is necessary due to Nisa catering for a wide array of members, from supermarkets to small convenience stores.
- Is Nisa doing any particular initiatives to encourage 5 A DAY consumption?
Nisa continually supports the healthy eating initiative and encourages its members to proactively participate in this important campaign. For example, the Nisa Local in Grains Park, Shrewsbury, encouraged children to adopt a healthier diet and choose fresh fruit as a nutritional snack over chocolate and sweets, by offering nearby schoolchildren five free pieces of fruit and five bottles of Robinsons Fruit Shoot Low Sugar through participation in a voucher scheme.
- Could locally-produced fruit and veg become a factor in convenience shopping?
As shoppers are becoming more and more aware of where their food comes from, especially fresh produce, locally-sourced fruit and veg will certainly be a strong factor in convenience shopping. Shoppers feel it is especially important to support local suppliers. In fact, it’s so important to us, it is in our plan for 2015 where we aim to engage with local suppliers in order to have another USP for our convenience sector.
- What’s Nisa's advice to growers for how to supply this sector?
They are the experts in this field, don’t mind the pun, but Nisa works with them closely, step-by-step, in order to build a strong working relationship. So, in turn, the local products are at the highest of standards and meet the Heritage brand proposition across the three tiers – Pantry, Heritage and Gourmet.
- How does Nisa make sure it has the freshest produce?
We undertake weekly, stringent checks with suppliers to ensure that we supply members with the freshest produce possible. We also have the ‘best in class’ temperature-controlled chilled distribution division operating at 98 per cent service level. The temperature-controlled warehouse operates stockless, ensuring that all product is made to order and is of the maximum freshness. Again, to ensure top quality and a quick delivery service, members can take advantage of daily timed windows up to six days a week via the Premier Service.
Once in store, we also have a number of field-based fresh food development managers across the UK, dedicated to visiting member stores and advising on fresh food merchandising, stocking and ranging to make the maximum impact to their customers.
Nisa background:
Nisa is a £1.6 billion turnover business which represents almost 1,200 registered shareholders operating over 2,500 stores. It enables these retailers to trade under their own fascia, to join the ever-expanding Nisa symbol group, or to choose the new alternative fascia, Loco. The company is run purely for the benefit of its members; as such, any profit is usually reinvested in the business to create greater efficiency and benefit, or redistributed so retailers can invest in their own businesses. Nick Read, formerly of Tesco and Aldi, takes over as CEO in February 2015.
Nisa factfile:
- Fruit and vegetable sales have shot up by 17 per cent since the latest roll-out of Nisa’s Heritage produce range
- Sales of the brand’s Gala apples were up by nearly 200 per cent between the roll-out in June and November
- Among the Heritage vegetable products to experience growth were closed cup mushrooms, Maris Piper potatoes, and salad tomatoes.
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