For almost 100 years, Britvic has been supplying and distributing soft drinks in the UK and is fully committed to one of its four key strategic priorities: ‘Healthier People, Healthier Planet’. Britvic wants to make a positive contribution to the people and the world around us, which means ensuring sustainable practices are embedded in every element of its business. When setting commercial strategies and plans, Healthier People, Healthier Planet goals are given the same priority as Britvic’s financial performance goals to support an overarching performance ambition, as well as its vision to be the most dynamic soft drinks company, creating a better tomorrow.
Britvic’s strategy is multi-threaded to build a resilient business through responsible use of natural resources, reducing its impact on the environment and transitioning to a low carbon environment. Success in its GB & Ireland business so far includes
Britvic has already made great steps in its manufacturing and distribution capabilities; it is now looking to reduce its impact within the grocery and convenience environment. Every year, millions of bottles of soft drinks are delivered and merchandised in store in single use cardboard FSDUs and merchandising units, generally for short-term, promotion-led activity. While the cardboard used is technically recyclable, the reality is that the unit build almost always includes some form of plastics which would contaminate a cardboard load, and the carbon footprint of these units in terms of manufacture, distribution and disposal is significant.
With several planned activation campaigns, Britvic was looking to trial a new, more sustainable solution in Co-op.
One of the 5 pillars of Logobrand’s strategic plan is ‘Invest Wisely, Operate Efficiently’. We partner with EcoVadis to collaborate on sustainability, and we are proud to have received an EcoVadis Sustainability Recognition Silver Medal. A globally recognized accolade, this medal acknowledges the meaningful efforts that Logobrand and our employees have undertaken to create a more sustainable world.
Having already partnered with Logobrand in grocery, convenience and discounters for over 10 years, Britvic knew that Logobrand is committed to its sustainability targets, including aiming to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions; this made Logobrand the perfect partner to get Britvic’s trial on track.
With the aim of reducing the amount of cardboard, Britvic designed a semi-permanent unit for 500 Co-op stores. The new design unit aims to reduce the amount of cardboard by replacing and reusing the side panels multiple times over a 12-month period. The units were initially sent into store using Co-op’s distribution channels, with the intention that Co-op colleagues would maintain the units at activation changeover.
Spot visits by Britvic colleagues uncovered some issues. Units could not be located, panels and stripping were missing or incorrect, stock was poorly maintained and, in some instances even, competitor stock was merchandised on the unit!
To assess the situation across the Co-op estate, and gauge how well its investment was performing, Logobrand completed an audit of the semi-permanent units whilst in already in store for other activity:
There clearly was a problem! The Logobrand team was able to get to work straightaway, locating 78% of the missing units in the warehouse and working with store colleagues to site them on the shop floor during the visit. This improved activation up to 87% of the stores having the unit on the shop floor on exit – an immediate win! Using all available stock, Logobrand then ensured that 93% of the sited units were fully merchandised with Britvic SKUs on exit. The team also identified that, far from the anticipation that POS would be retained for future use, much had already been disposed of – completely negating the intended benefits of reusable POS!
The audit demonstrated that the strategy of store colleagues maintaining the units was not working, and a new approach was needed.
Logobrand identified the issues and recommended deploying its experienced team of merchandisers to support the units to improve future outcomes. We know that POS compliance is always much better when walking in and siting but crucially, retaining the POS removed during the visits for future use would ensure the system was working as intended. A field team visiting the store would also provide the support Co-op’s stores so clearly needed.
Logobrand supported the stores in its first changeover to the Water Unite campaign. Logobrand delivered 95% compliance on exit.
The Logobrand team had walked in all the POS, and so replaced the side panels and stripping, retaining what was removed for future use.The team were now building relationships with the stores, enabling positive discussions to take place to influence stockholding, and bring out some of those units which remained in the warehouse due to stock issues.
Cycle 2 changeover was London Essence in partnership with Tanqeray gin, not only siting the POS but also boxes for Tanqeray. The Water Unite POS removed was stored for reuse in Cycle 3. Logobrand retained 95% compliance on exit. The in-store team worked with Logobrand’s head office account team to overcome the challenges in the stores in Scotland where alcohol is not permitted outside of the BWS aisle, which did mean some boxes could not be sited – however, merchandising with more available Britvic stock is always the answer!
Cycle 3 would be the first time Logobrand would need to re-use POS removed in the first cycle of visits. This time, 94% of the stores had the unit sited on entry, and the Logobrand team worked with their Co-op colleagues to improve this to 96% on exit – a massive 26% improvement since arriving for the audit visits!
Results are for the 3 cycles of activity completed to date as this project is ongoing.
