This week The Grocer is launching two important new initiatives.

The first is an exciting improvement to The Grocer 33, which was the first and is still the only independent survey to compare prices across the big four together with Waitrose giving us unparalleled access to grocery price trends stretching back 10 years.

From this week we have increased the number of products we collect to 1,000 items, which will not only make it easier to track pricing trends across major categories, but also to mine micro-trends in sub-categories such as value and premium own-label, ethical and green.

The Grocer 33 will also capture the promotional landscape in all its complexity demonstrating, for example, how a product can go on promotion and increase in price in the same week, as has happened this week while reflecting for the first time the full range of promotional mechanics.

But this is just the start. In the run-up to announcing the winners of The Grocer 33 mystery shopping competition at The Grocer Gold Awards on 16 June, we will roll out with the help of BrandView.co.uk new online tools that will enable users to analyse promotions and prices in great detail on our website.

We will also be unveiling enhancements to our analysis and coverage of customer service and availability.

That's not all. On page 39 we reveal the results of a poll of independent retailers.

We regularly provide health checks on the state of the indies, and there are trading trackers for larger operators, but until now no-one has polled independents on trade, the economy, NPD and more.

We expect this to become a useful business barometer in the same tradition as the CBI Distributive Trades Survey and other surveys of its ilk.

From the smallest independent to the big four, The Grocer is passionately interested in all the business of grocery, and is determined to keep improving its coverage for all.