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“The deli has a number of benefits to shoppers, including a generally wider selection of products, competitive prices and the ability to purchase just the amount of product to meet a need to budget,” he said. “Retailers need to consider their deli offers and planograms to make the section more engaging. Improving consumer knowledge about the products, and engaging them during their shop are other aspects that retailers can focus on to drive category growth.” Mr Ramesh, however, believes it’s important to get the essentials right first, which includes the importance of having stock in, moving towards cashless offerings and continuing to work on growing the online business. “In the future, there’s potential to drive a more interactive and immersive shopper experience at the store level,” he said. “Descriptive deli counters/banners may help shoppers navigate better and also ideate and innovate with their meal planning. Cross purchases are another key aspect that is under-leveraged and can help drive the category growth.” Other challenges Beyond Covid-19 lies a range of other challenges for the smallgoods category. “A key challenge at the store level is the high cost to serve (electricity/labour) of deli counters,” Mr Ramesh said. “This can potentially be addressed through the introduction of a more elevated deli shopping experience.” The staff behind the counter, he adds, can be “leveraged to cater to nuanced shopper needs”, with meat type and cuts recommended for basic meals, “and in the process up-trading the shopper”. “Clearly defining roles between deli and packaged sections will be a challenge for retailers beyond Covid-19,” he said. As a further challenge for smallgoods, Mr Hopper notes that the category has proven to be a difficult place for new products to succeed. “This may be down to people choosing traditional favourites, but also larger value packs preventing trade-up,” he said. Salumi Australia Sales and Marketing Manager Michael Dlask says misleading information is another challenge for the category. “Stricter guidelines \\\\\\\[are needed\\\\\\\] to ensure full transparency of the product to the shopper,” he said. DELI & SMALLGOODS WOODFIRED RANGES REFLECT CROATIAN HERITAGE Based in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, Skara produces traditional smallgoods, working in partnership with its farmers and team. The company is led by Anthony Skara, who has been making artisan smallgoods for more than 30 years. Skara’s products are gluten free and “uniquely” flavoured, its recipes influenced by the Skara family’s Croatian heritage, with fresh meat smoked in traditional woodfire smokerooms. The company has developed two brands, Skara and Adelaide Hills Fine Foods, which produce more than 20 smallgoods products, with packs in bulk whole, bulk sliced and convenient retail formats. The Skara brand’s “flavoursome” selection of retail pre- packed premium smallgoods is “beautifully” packaged to compliment “the quality product”, with “stylish” shelf-ready cartons for “superior” supermarket presentation, but also designed for individual hangsell use. The Adelaide Hills Fine Foods brand presents two prepacked retail lines and a wide range of bulk- packed charcuterie for foodservice and outlets such as delicatessens and gourmet retailers. These products are designed to provide retailers with a “flavour-packed point of difference”. PRIMO PROGRAMMED FOR INNOVATION Primo continues to lead the smallgoods market, holding a value share of 33.5 per cent in the latest quarter (IRI Scan to 26/7/20, supplied by Primo). Looking to the future, Primo Foods Category Director Michael Herriot says the brand’s vision is to be the food company of choice, providing a great range of quality products in Australia. “With a heritage of being the market leaders in smallgoods and with emerging footprint in other food categories, Primo is determined to follow a consumer- centric approach and has paved a way for developing new innovative products,” he said. “It’s committed to provide high quality products even during challenging times. Also, aligning with its core mission and vision, Primo is developing more sustainable and environmentally friendly options across a range of products catering to the recent trends in shopping behaviour.” OCT, 2020 RETAIL WORLD 55