Well, the latest IGD grocery market update doesn’t come as a great surprise. “Challenging environment” I feel like we’ve been talking about that for a few years now and the tumultuous retail landscape doesn’t show signs of settling anytime soon.

In the latest 12 weeks to 1st December 2019, all 4 of the major mults show negative YoY sales growth with Morrisons losing out more than their nearest competitors with a worrying -2.9%. Amazon – are you following? It really is a time of change for traditional retail and whilst the retailers are all scrambling to find the ‘magic formula’, one thing is for sure, online continues its meteoric rise. Ocado posted 13.7% sales growth, far surpassing the ever steady discounters. It’s either a very well executed plan or a complete stroke of luck (isn’t growth often the combination of the two anyway?) that is seeing Ocado strike up some very lucrative deals and expanding at a commendable rate.

The Ocado exec team must be feeling pretty smug right now.

Whether it’s a plus or a minus, all I see is an opportunity for the challenger brands driving growth in this industry. The major mults looking to differentiate and repair the damage, online as a strategic route to market opportunity, the rise of the one hour grocery delivery, and the somewhat untouched world of discounters. What happens when the discounters growth slows? Aldi launching a toy shop is a sign of a diversifying strategy.

My opinion hasn’t changed – Challenger brands are the future of food. It’s all there for the taking.