The WABEL Chilled and Dairy Summit took place in Paris last week, gathering in one place the largest European retailers, such as Auchan, Rewe, Carrefour, Tesco, Maxima, Cora, Intermarché and many others.
The two days of highly efficient sourcing, organised by WABEL, were rich with opportunities for both buyers and suppliers. Feedback received from the participants of the pre-scheduled B2B meetings between PL suppliers and retailers shows that between 50 and 70 per cent of the contacts made at the summit are leading to future business opportunities.
"Wabel Chilled and Dairy Summit is really more interesting than a traditional trade fair. Without running from one corner of a fair to another, buyers find themselves surrounded by a variety of products that they are interested in," commented Julie Poujade, ?European development director for private-label chilled and frozen food at Carrefour.
The conferences held during the summit showed that the future is in the hands of the producers of innovative products, powered with competitive logistical solutions.
According to Mintel, consumers are looking for products featuring functional health benefits and diversified flavour innovations. Logistical issues were also an important concern for many buyers and suppliers, with many coming from distant parts of Europe.
Poujade added, “What interests us is to push the boundaries of our traditional sourcing above the national level, to reach out to the European suppliers. In chilled categories, we wish to know more foreign suppliers even if we are often constrained logistically."
To address this issue, WABEL partner STG & Nagel Logistique held a conference on transportation solutions, optimised for the chilled and dairy categories. In a nutshell, the first edition of the WABEL Chilled and Dairy Summit showed that private label in Europe has all it takes to regain its market share in these categories.
Next step: discover innovations and business opportunities in the frozen-food sector during the third edition of the WABEL Frozen Summit, taking place in March 2015. Find out more about WABEL and WABEL summits at www.wabel.com.
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