Former Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King has rejected suggestions the current supermarket price war is simply a race to the bottom on price.
King, who was speaking at Food Matters Live this week, stressed that new product development is all about premium, added-value products, as well as convenience formats that inevitably carry a higher price point.
'There more growth in convenience than the discount and online channels combined,' he said. 'We have come to believe that price is playing a more important role [than it actually is], but premium ranges are the driver. Almost all current NPD is on premium. There is not a race to the bottom going on.
'So convenience is the big driving dynamic. I would argue that convenience creates more opportunity for new product development than almost anything that has happened in food in the 35 years or so that I've been involved.'
In a wide-ranging speech, King said he felt that educating consumers is a key function for business, citing Sainsbury's Active Kids project as a positive initiative that encouraged exercise. 'I'm fed up of the narrative of business complaining about how terrible the education system is. It's a disgrace that we churn 30 per cent of our 16 year olds out unable to properly read and write, but you can either wish that problem away or do something about it.
'Raging against the government would have got us nowhere. We embraced the opportunity and it made sense commercially. Embrace in the debate of educating consumers.'
He also came across as lukewarm towards collaboration when it comes to introducing new ideas and progressing the grocery industry, stating instead: 'I am a big fan of competition as opposed to collaboration. Collaboration can sometimes bring about change, but it usually isn't the right way to do that. There's nothing like compeition that will bring about change more radically.'
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