Page 27 - SHS Inform (V25) NEW_Neat

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Update Update
Update
Update
A key development that has increased our Online sales continue to be a growth area
nut roasting capacity by >170% is the invest- for the brand. Sales on Meridian’s Direct to ROCKS
ment in a new roasting oven for peanuts. The Customer (D2C) site increased by 108% last
acquisition and installation of this specialist year. This is our second consecutive year Rocks has performed exceedingly
piece of equipment presented numerous doubling the business online. We also launched well in April with sales 26% higher
challenges. A massive thank-you to everyone our own storefront on Amazon with 4 SKUs than during the same period last year.
who gave up their weekends and worked to drive Meridian’s online presence as This is promising as we approach the
additional hours to ensure the project was E-commerce continues to grow. summer season which is traditionally
successfully delivered. . our busiest time.

Good news on our
MERIDIAN sustainability
A key strategy for Meridian in the major mults pledge! We have
has been to regain share on Almond and other successfully
nut butters. In Q4 of 2020, in line with some replaced our 454g
key customer’s strategies, we trialled EDLP plastic pots with
(or GPED, LPED or Price Lock!) on Almond 470g glass jars
and Cashew. The result was phenomenal! In and secured major
Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda we increased listings in Tesco,
our combined volume YTD by 20% YOY. Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Ocado and Booths.
Iceland is also adding the 470g Smooth and
Crunchy Peanut Butters to their range in 120
Food Warehouse sites.

With the support of SHS Drinks, Rocks
Meridian has also achieved a personal best As part of our ongoing support to International secured the listing of 2 new 750ml
RTD SKUs, Sparkling Strawberry &
in terms of the number of items produced in Animal Rescue, we launched a special charity Blackcurrant and Sparkling Raspberry
any one week. Historically, our highest ever edition Gingernut Butter, donating 25p from & Lime, in Sainsbury’s in December
output was 492k, but in February 2021, each jar sold. This, alongside our Rainforest 2020. The variants are now available
we had two weeks where over 500k In addition to new glass jars and following Run and partnership donations, will help IAR in 163 stores across the country.
packs were produced which meant the rebrand of our nut and seed butters restore 10.6K trees across community forests
that a total of two last year, we started work on re-designing in West Borneo as part of a replanting scheme, Rocks has also seen its
million packs were the rest of the Meridian range. The new enabling orangutans to move from one forest highest ever sales week in
produced in the look which has retained the same nature fragment to another in order to survive. Tesco this month. Two Rocks
month. inspired design but features a new To further support IAR, we launched our promotions have also been
rainbow colour was revealed on social #ProtectPongo campaign which achieved planned this August for
media in May. tremendous coverage. The campaign featured the three squash drinks in
across 18 media outlets (with a total monthly Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
reach of 298.5M) including ITV, The Telegraph We are looking forward to
and The Times. In addition, Managing Director seeing the impact of these
Paul Fraser appeared on Sky News Live with promotions!
Ian King.

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