Showing posts with label inflation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inflation. Show all posts

Tuesday 30 August 2016

Inflation, the next planning factor?

Given the post-Brexit fall in the pound, it follows that imported ingredients will cost more…
Add the recent BOE reduction in interest rates (0.5% to 0.25%!!), means the pound is even less attractive vs. other currencies.

Stir in the fact that UK food manufacturing costs are rising by around 10%, and you have a recipe for increased inflation, causing prices to rise in line with demand…

Except for UK retail

Already on reduced margins, major multiples cannot afford to absorb any cost increases.  Equally suppliers, having stripped out any ‘excess' costs, are unable to take any more pain... Meanwhile, the price war/s make it unlikely that shelf prices will bear any significant upward movement without loss of share.

All of this means increasing pressure on the mults, loss of market share and the growing importance of alternative routes to consumer.

For suppliers it means re-balancing their customer portfolios to reflect the new realities, secure in the knowledge that at least some of the competition will await a return to normal before being forced to change…