Grocery and convenience retail data giant Kantar Worldpanel has stepped up its commitment to the Scottish retail market with the appointment of a new senior lead for Scotland. SLR caught up with Lesley Ann Gray to find out why data-led insight is set to be more important than ever.
by Antony Begley
The name Kantar Worldpanel will be familiar to most local retailers in Scotland, if only because of the number of times the company is referenced as the source for many of the market stats bandied about by the big suppliers in magazines like SLR.
The appointment of a new senior lead to the Kantar Scotland team, however, is set to make retailers much more familiar with the global consumer and retail research giant and, specifically, its work in Scotland.
Lesley Ann Gray was recently named as the company’s new Strategic Insight Director for Scotland, joining from Border Biscuits where she was Brand and Innovation Director.
“I spent three and a half years with Border Biscuits but my career in the Scottish food and drink industry stretches back about 27 years, I’m afraid to say,” says Gray with a laugh. “Over that time I’ve worked in various sectors in food and drink for a number of different companies including Findlay Foods, Bells Bakers and Scobie & Junor. That experience has given me a pretty good overview of the industry.”
The experience Gray refers to encompassed roles in marketing, category management, new product development and in commercial positions for branded, licensed and own-label businesses.
And it’s that broad depth of experience that led Kantar to bring her on board to develop its Scottish presence. Tim Kidd, Managing Director at Kantar Worldpanel UK, Ireland and US, says: “Lesley Ann’s keen understanding of the interplay between brands and consumers in the Scottish food and drink industry, and her knowledge of Scotland’s retail landscape, gives her and us unparalleled insight into what is most important to our clients. She is ideally positioned to advise businesses on product development using Kantar Worldpanel’s cutting edge data-led insight.”
Kantar Worldpanel operates nine demographically representative panels to track the shopping habits of consumers across the country, recording how people shop and why. Several of these panels are directly relevant to the Scottish local retailing sector:
- Take Home Grocery 30,000 households – scanning everything they buy
- Out of Home Food & Drink 7,500 individuals – scanning everything they buy when eating out
- Food & Drink Consumption 11,000 individuals – keeping a detailed diary of how they use the products they have bought
- Worldpanel Plus 50,000 individuals – scanning receipts of all their purchases
To be fair to Gray, she’d only been in the role 10 weeks when she spoke to SLR, but she was already getting to grips with the new role in what can only be called challenging times.
“The Scottish retail landscape is in a state of flux,” she says. “With the implications of Brexit still unknown, it’s more important than ever for retailers and brands to understand their customers and ensure they are capitalising on opportunities and gaps in the market. Kantar Worldpanel is a leader in its field and I’m excited to begin helping Scottish brands and retailers adapt their offering to improve customer engagement and make informed decisions about their future.”
But what will that mean in practical terms for Gray and her work in Scotland as the face of Kantar north of the border? She explains: “My job is to be the bridge between Scotland and our team of analysts in London. Through our various Panels [see boxout], we have access to vast amounts of very granular and powerful data and it’s my job to help those working in the Scottish food and drink industry to leverage that data and put a Scottish lens on it, so they can make more informed decisions.”
These panels involve households or individuals tracking and logging everything they buy in terms of food and drink in retail and foodservice, as well as what they do with the products they buy. Kantar claims the data generated is “the most accurate read of the British and Scottish grocery markets” and is instrumental in how the company’s clients inform the actions they take.
The company counts dozens of household names among its clients including all the major multiples and discounters, as well as many of the world’s largest suppliers. The company also works with several public bodies in Scotland including the Scottish Government and Scotland Food & Drink.
“The next 12 months could be hugely transitional for the Scottish local retailing sector,” concludes Gray. “With the growth of the discounters, MUP, DRS, the Soft Drinks Levy, plastics, own- label and online sales expansion there’s so much for local retailers to contend with – so it’s vitally important that the important decisions they take are based on solid, robust data. That’s what we’re here for and I look forward to helping the sector flourish in the future.”
