Sponsors & Supporters

Alaska Seafood is recognised as a world leader in sustainable fisheries management. This year, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is pleased to sponsor the seafood category of the 2011 Retailer of the Year Awards.

When the State of Alaska was established in 1959, the constitution stated that all fish should be maintained sustainably.  Thanks to careful management, this has remained the same for over 50 years, ensuring that Alaska’s wild seafood stocks are preserved for future generations.

Alaska is one of the last great wildernesses on earth with over 3 million lakes, 3,000 rivers and 34,000 miles of coastline and is home to seafood known for their abundance and variety – Alaska supplies around half of all US seafood.

No seafood from Alaska has ever been listed as endangered.

Booker is delighted to be sponsoring the Most Improved Store Award and are pleased to continue to support the prestigious Retail Industry Awards. This innovative award recognises the retailer who, through their dedication, commitment and hard work, has significantly improved their store. This could be through improving standards in merchandising, range, customer service, investment or community work, which has resulted in increased customer loyalty, footfall, availability or sales performance. Open to all independent stores, this category rewards the retailer who through their own originality, initiatives, and enthusiasm has made a real difference to their store, their shoppers and the community they serve.

Steve Fox, Director of Sales – Retail, Booker

Cadbury is delighted to be involved again with the prestigious Retail Industry Awards, by sponsoring the Independent Retailer of the Year category for the third year running. Independent retailers are extremely important to us and our business. We are delighted to support an award that acknowledges the hard work independent retailers put in to give their customers the best possible experience in-store, reinforcing their role at the heart of the community and showing true innovation with their displays. To achieve the best display results, it is important that retailers stock the right range of products and flag each category with leading brands to make them easily identifiable to consumers. In the confectionery category, for example, more than 50% of purchases are made on impulse. As such, it is crucial that each category, and the key brands within it, is clearly visible.

Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager, Cadbury

Dairy Crest is delighted to continue to sponsor the Convenience Retailer of the Year Award for 2011. The dairy category is vital to the future success of any retailer as it can deliver the highest sales value and drive more footfall than any other category for the convenience trade. However, the dairy category is complex to understand and get right. The solution is for Dairy Crest to help you deliver success through the Dairy For Life category programme. We offer advice on ranging, merchandising and implementation, all of which is designed to grow category value and hence retailer profits. We wish everyone in all the awards the best of luck and we look forward to another exciting and rewarding year together.

Tim Dummer, Customer Marketing Controller, Dairy Crest

Dole Fresh UK (DFUK) is involved in the sourcing, marketing and distribution of fresh produce throughout the UK. Our extensive customer base spans retailers, wholesalers, food service and government (through the Fruit for Schools initiative). DFUK operates across the entire fresh produce supply chain, from farm to end consumer. Through our sister companies, established affiliates and long-term grower relationships, our organisation is able to offer our customers both a breadth and depth of product, expertise and creative ideas to meet their needs in this challenging market. Coupled with our extensive grower base, we believe it is our people who make this business both different and unique in the market place.

Toni Direito, Retail Key Account Director, Dole Fresh UK

Once again, the Flower Council of Holland, on behalf of the Dutch growers and exporters, is delighted to sponsor the Fresh Flower Supermarket of the Year award. As with many non-core products, our category is fairly susceptible to changes in consumer behavior, which makes it all the more important that we are as effective as possible in attracting shoppers to stop, look at and buy flowers.

Jonathon Read, Flower Council of Holland

Following an incredibly successful year as sponsor of Drinks Retailer of the Year in 2010, Heineken UK are delighted to be renewing this sponsorship in 2011 to recognise and reward quality drinks retailing throughout the industry. In addition to the multiple and independent categories, we are also pleased to be supporting the beer and cider retailer award, which will allow entrants to really focus on showcasing the excellent standards they are delivering in-store. The awards are recognised by consumers as a sign of quality and credibility and Heineken UK are proud to be associated with this recognition of the UK’s most successful retailers. In this year’s winners, we will be looking for excellence in range and merchandising across the category with innovative and engaging promotions and initiatives for shoppers that drive sales and value for retailers. Let’s raise a bottle to another great year and we look forward to celebrating your success in September.

At JTI we aim to meet the particular needs of supermarkets and their shoppers to help them make the most of the tobacco category. Tobacco is an important source of revenue for the multiple sector and at JTI we have a dedicated team that provides merchandising advice, store clustering, customised planograms and information on changes and updates to tobacco legislation. JTI is once again delighted to be supporting the Supermarket of the Year award, in what we consider to be one of the most high-profile retail awards in the calendar. By supporting the Retail Industry Awards we look forward to highlighting and rewarding leading practice in what is a very competitive market place.

Andy Stevens, Trading Director, Key Multiple Grocers, JTI

Kerry Foods Direct To Store is delighted to join the list of prestigious Retail Industry Awards sponsors for the first time, by sponsoring the 2011 Store Manager of the Year category. Research shows that chilled is one of the two most important reasons for shoppers visiting a convenience store, with almost three-quarters of purchases containing chilled products (TNS Worldpanel 2009). Kerry Foods Direct To Store is the No.1 chilled distributor to the c-sector, offering an extensive range of chilled branded products six days a week. Retailers are the key to success for our chilled business and by supporting this award we look forward to highlighting and rewarding outstanding individual achievements in this sector. We wish every entrant the best of luck!

New products are essential to the wellbeing of the sector, Mace is supporting the product launch of the year which is voted for by convenience retailers whose businesses have benefited from the efforts and creativity shown by their supplier partners. Innovation is an excellent way for everyone’s business to benefit right now, so this award is a key one for the industry. 2010-11 saw many exciting new products hit our nation’s shelves and the most successful launches are rewarded in this category. Mace knows that stocking big name brands will really drive retailers profitability, and Palmer and Harvey is an unrivalled route to market in getting new products on shelf.  To ensure that retailers make the most from NPD, Mace ensures its retailers use planograms and promotions to drive sales.
Julia Maunder, Symbol Brand Manager, Mace / Palmer and Harvey 

Mars is delighted to be sponsoring the Retail Industry Awards for the eighth year running, continuing our strong association with the event. Last year saw some exceptional nominees and winners, who had performed outstandingly through a challenging year, and we are sure this year’s entrants will continue to raise the bar. As one of the UK’s leading chocolate manufacturers, we will continue to support our retailers in growing category sales and driving excellence in confectionery displays. The Retail Industry Awards are a fine example of how we should be celebrating the sector as a whole and recognising its shining stars.

Packaging News is delighted to sponsor this year’s Discount Retailer of the Year category, recognizing the very best performance in this ever more powerful and influential sector. With the economic difficulties of the past few years still affecting consumer confidence, discount retailers are among the vanguard in bringing affordable groceries and other products to customers. But they are also showing that discounting doesn’t mean lower quality. This is reflected not only in their products but also, increasingly, in their packaging, which is playing a key role in developing ever stronger brands for the discount retailers.
Josh Brooks, Editor, Packaging News

Parfetts Cash and Carry is delighted to be sponsoring the Independent Newsagent of the Year Award for the second successive year and to be involved with the prestigious awards programme that is the Retail Industry Awards. This award will acknowledge the hard work, commitment and passion that one outstanding retailer has for the news and magazines category and their desire to drive the category forward to help develop their overall business. Parfetts recognise that the independent retail sector can be challenging but that it is also a strong and vibrant sector to work in. We are delighted to be able to celebrate these achievements and honour those independent newsagents who work tirelessly within their local communities and deserve recognition on a national scale. We would like to wish all entrants the best of luck.

 

PepsiCo UK is delighted to be sponsoring the Most Sustainable Retailer of the Year category at the prestigious Retail Industry Awards. Retailers have both a responsibility and a commercial opportunity to be responsible for how they operate as a business. Implementing an environmental and sustainable approach needn’t be a costly exercise and, as store case studies have shown, retailers could also create savings long term. Store owners can introduce small but effective changes in store that can build and enhance their reputation, loyalty and relationships and with their customers. PepsiCo is dedicated to being a positive agent of change in the UK food and drink industry and is proud to be rewarding retailers who are building healthier, more sustainable businesses.

 

The convenience channel is one of the most important elements of the overall UK retail landscape. The last 12 months have seen retailers nationwide facing – and beating – challenges in many different areas of their business. P&G believes that by providing a compelling category management programme in ShelfHelp it is helping educate and inform retailers, whilst also saving them valuable time. ShelfHelp has adopted an in-depth cross-category approach to ensure that key convenience product lines are included, and best practice in merchandising, training and display is shared. Convenience retailers work hard at their businesses every day of the year, and at P&G we recognise that commitment through our support of the Retail Industry Awards. Good luck to every entrant and we look forward to celebrating the successes of the industry at the Retail Industry Awards later in 2011.

Paul Lettice, Trade Communications Manager, P&G