All articles by Jacqui Parr
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Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: big votes, Gold shortlists and the own-label surge
This week’s issue includes the latest on Southern Co-op’s merger, insight into the government’s support (or lack of) for the food industry and analysis of the growth of own label
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Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: Southern Co-op merger latest, whisky tariffs, election promises
In the latest chapter of grocery’s very own soap opera, Southern Co-op has rejected an approach from the UK’s largest independent co-operative society, OurCoop, which appeared to offer an alternative to its proposed merger with the Co-op Group
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NewsGroceryAid Day 2026 aims to close the awareness gap
GroceryAid urges industry to close awareness gap as just 4% of workers know charity exists
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Comment & OpinionIs this finally the start of the UK’s packaging revolution?
As Wrap’s new 10-year UK Packaging Pact launches, the industry’s focus must now go beyond making tweaks to driving system-wide change
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NewsFull-scale reuse model coming ‘within a year’ in new Packaging Pact
The successor to the Plastics Pact, which launched in 2018, aims to revolutionise the way consumers interact with packaging
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NewsAsda hires new head of ambient to bolster leadership team
Asda has appointed a new head of ambient to replace outgoing boss Duncan Cross as part of the latest shake-up of its senior commercial team
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Comment & OpinionFamous farmers, plant-based wins and food waste challenges
One of the most successful rebrands in recent years has been the almost unanimous industry move from ’vegan’ to ’plant-based
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Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: The ceasefire, retail crime, and the Co-op merger
Keeping up with the latest developments on the Iran war feels like a job in its own right, and how much relief the 14-day ceasefire will actually bring to UK consumers and grocery businesses remains uncertain at best
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Comment & OpinionWill the Iran-US ceasefire help to bring down soaring prices?
The jury is out on what the ceasefire will mean for global fuel, oil, and food & drink prices”
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Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: Asda results, Co-op CEO exit, Huel, and Ocado calling the cops
Asda’s eternally optimistic chairman Allan Leighton has continued to insist the supermarket is ‘edging forward’, despite today’s annual results revealing a very different story.
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NewsTesco invests £200m in above‑inflation hourly pay rise
Tesco has invested over £200m in its latest pay rise, with an above-inflation increase of 5.1% for hourly-paid colleagues
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Comment & OpinionCollaboration, not cupcakes, should define International Women’s Day
When women support women, the whole industry wins
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InterviewsAldi’s Julie Ashfield: grocery doesn’t need more ‘alpha females’
Julie Ashfield joined Aldi at 21 on the promise of £27k and a company car. Twenty-five years later, she talks confidence, culture change and ceiling tiles
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Comment & OpinionAsda’s leadership lessons (and other takeaways from Retail Week x The Grocer LIVE 2026)
Discussions at Retail Week x The Grocer LIVE 2026 have included Asda’s turnaround, the role of AI, retail media and the business of building hype
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Comment & OpinionNeed anything from Tesco? Why every little (still) helps
Tesco’s new brand platform already rolls off the tongue more easily – and is far more likely to gain traction on social media – than its predecessors
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Comment & OpinionEditor’s picks: accessibility, value ranges and GLP-1 drugs
This week marked a first in the history of the Grocer 33: our inaugural blind or partially sighted (BPS) mystery shop. And for some retailers, the results were nothing short of damning
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Analysis & FeaturesHow GroceryAid is reinventing itself
GroceryAid’s Kieran Hemsworth and Rami Baitiéh are on a mission to raise awareness of the financial and emotional support on offer for grocery workers
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Analysis & FeaturesHow fmcg brands are turning TikTok buzz into business
Smart brands have formed communities on the platform, where volume and speed trumps polished content
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Comment & OpinionThe Grocer’s 2025 in review: deck the halls and dig in
From soaring cocoa prices to seismic retail shifts, we’ve delivered over 7,000 stories, deep-dive analysis and celebrated the leaders shaping the future of food and drink
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Analysis & FeaturesThe best of the blogs 2025: Joe Wicks, M&S mushrooms and TikTok Shop
We’ve dug into the detail of why Unilever ditched its CEO, launched a scathing attack on animal welfare in the meat supply chain, and asked if Joe Wicks’ UPF-laden ‘Killer Bar’ really was nothing more than a load of shit…