Fuitella Drink Launch

 Drinks supplier Manchester Drinks Co is to launch a five-strong range of Fruitella branded drinks. Pouches in Orange, Strawberry, Blackcurrant & Apple, Summer Fruits and Cherry are to roll into 670 B&M stores from 29 April (rsp: 89p/300ml). The HFSS compliant ready-to-drink pouches contain less than 17 kcals per serving. Manchester Drinks Co was “thrilled to be working with such an iconic sweet brand as Fruittella”, said co-founder Richard Benjamin. “We believe the brand lends itself perfectly to a fruit juice drink,” he said. “All the lovers of the sweets can now refresh themselves with our range of RTD juice drinks.” The fruit juice pouches would “provide consumers with a convenient, delicious, and affordable way to enjoy their favourite fruit flavours”, according to Carla Fernández-Moreno, F&B manager at Fruitella brand owner Perfetti Van Melle.

Fruitella

The Robot Warehouse

Shoppers probably don't think much about what happens next when they place an online grocery order. But it sets-off an intricate dance of software, artificial intelligence, robots, vans and workers. At an Ocado warehouse just outside Luton, I'm in the middle of such a dance. As far as I can see, hundreds of robots whizz around a grid, fetching items for online orders. They move with dizzying speed and precision. In the early days of online shopping, when you placed an order, humans would dash around a warehouse or a store collecting your items. But for years now, Ocado has been using robots to collect and distribute products, bringing them to staff, who pack them into boxes for delivery. And Ocado is not the only firm investing in such automation. In its warehouses, Asda uses a system from Swiss automation firm Swisslog and Norway's AutoStore. In the US, Walmart has been automating parts of its supply chain using robotics from an American company called Symbotic. At Ocado around 100 engineers have spent years training the artificial intelligence (AI) to take on that task. The Luton warehouse has 44 robotic arms, which at the moment account for 15% of the products that flow through the facility, that's about 400,000 items a week. The rest are handled by staff at picking stations. The staff handle items that robots are not ready for yet, like wine bottles which are heavy and have curved surfaces, making them difficult to grasp. But the system is ramping up. The company is developing different attachments for the robot arms that will allow them to handle a wider variety of items. In two or three years Ocado expects the robots will account for 70% of the products. This inevitably means fewer human staff, but the Luton warehouse still has 1,400 staff, and many of those will still be needed in the future.

Robot Warehouse

Back To The Shops

Sainsbury's says shoppers are returning to its stores as the surge in online shopping seen during the Covid pandemic continues to unwind. The UK's second largest supermarket said online sales had been above 20% at the height of the pandemic, but are now back to about 13%. Its comments came as it reported strong food sales after spending heavily on keeping prices low to attract shoppers. However, other areas were weaker, with sales of clothing and fuel falling. The UK's second largest supermarket said its food business was "firing on all cylinders", with grocery sales growing by 9.4% over the past year. Chief executive Simon Roberts said that more than 87% of all food sold was done so "in a physical store". Supermarkets have been fighting hard for customers, with shoppers still feeling the effects of steep price rises over the past two years, which have ratcheted up the cost of living. Sainsbury's response has been to focus heavily on its food, which accounts for about three-quarters of its business, and it said it has spent £780m over the past three years on keeping prices low, including promotions such as Nectar prices and price-matching budget chain Aldi.

Back To The Shops

MPs Back Smoking Ban

MPs have backed a plan to ban anyone born after 2009 from buying cigarettes, effectively ensuring it will become law. The measures, championed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, survived despite opposition from several leading Tory figures - including two ex-PMs. Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told MPs "there is no liberty in addiction" as she defended the plans. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill passed by 383 votes to 67. If they become law, the UK's smoking laws will be among the strictest in the world. The UK's approach is thought to have been inspired by a similar law in New Zealand, which was later repealed after a change in government. Tobacco use is the UK's single biggest preventable cause of death, killing two-thirds of long-term users and causing 80,000 deaths every year. The bill also aims to make vapes less appealing to children, with new restrictions on flavours and packaging. Trading standards officers would also get new powers to issue on-the-spot £100 fines to shops selling tobacco or vapes to children, with all the money raised going towards further enforcement.

Smoking Ban

Netflix Profits Increase

 

Netflix says its profits have soared in the first three months of this year, partly thanks to a crackdown on password sharing. The streaming giant said it added 9.3 million customers in the first quarter, bringing its total number of subscribers to almost 270 million. The company also said its profits in the first quarter jumped to more than $2.3bn (£1.85bn). But the firm will stop reporting key subscriber numbers from next year. It added that today, subscriber numbers have become "just one component of our growth", asking investors to focus on its profits and revenue. Its revenue for the first quarter rose by nearly 15% year-on-year to $9.37bn. The firm also credited a "drumbeat" of hits, such as crime drama Griselda. Some investors saw its unexpected decision to stop reporting subscriber numbers as a sign that Netflix's wave of customer growth may be coming to an end. The former Netflix man said the company wanted to "people to move away from fixating on the subscriber numbers". The firm is also pushing into areas such as sports and video games, while continuing to license material from rival media firms looking for ways to boost profits.

Netflix Profits

Sacked For Stealing Bags

 

An employee who had worked for Sainsbury's for almost 20 years has been sacked for taking some "bags for life" without paying for them. Niamke Doffou worked at the Romford Sainsbury's store as a night shift assistant. He did some personal shopping in the early morning after his night shift and clicked the "zero bags used" option on the till when he had in fact used multiple carrier bags. At an employment tribunal Mr Doffou claimed that he was unfairly dismissed, but his appeal was unsuccessful.He said he was tired and was unaware that he had clicked the "no bags used" button on the till, unintentionally not paying for the carrier bags. Disciplinary action was taken by Sainsbury's and Mr Doffou was sacked for the offence. The case later went to an employment tribunal and a judge ruled that Sainsbury's were within their right to sack Mr Doffou finding that he had "acted dishonestly" and "committed theft".

Sainsburys Bags

Xiaomi Enters EV Market

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has launched its first electric vehicle (EV) and started taking orders. At the event the technology giant's chief executive Lei Jun said the standard SU7 model would be priced at 215,900 yuan ($29,872; £23,663) and the Max version would cost 299,900 yuan. The firm says it got over 50,000 orders within the first 27 minutes of sales. Xiaomi's entry into the electric car market comes as sales growth has slowed globally, triggering a price war. The move sees the technology giant taking on EV rivals including Tesla and BYD. The starting price in China for Tesla's Model 3 is 245,900 yuan. Mr Lei also said the SU7 would have a minimum range of 700km (435 miles), beating the Tesla Model 3's 567km. The firm is hoping that the SU7's shared operating system with its phones, laptops and other devices will appeal to existing customers. Xiaomi is the third-largest seller of smartphones worldwide with a market share of about 12%, according to research firm Counterpoint. In an indication of the challenges facing technology firms who want to make electric cars, iPhone maker Apple last month reportedly cancelled its plans to build an EV. Screen grabs on Chinese social media show the firm advising buyers it could take 27 weeks to deliver the SU7 Max. The company previously said pre-orders had hit 88,898 within 24 hours of it starting to take orders on Thursday.

Xiaomi Car

Papa Johns Shrinking

Pizza chain Papa Johns has said it will close nearly a tenth of its UK restaurants - all of which it says are "underperforming". The closures follow a review of the business which identified sites that were "no longer financially viable". The chain, which has 450 restaurants plus others in service stations and holiday parks, will close 43 sites but has not said how many jobs will be hit. Separately, Revolution Bars has said it could sell "all or part of the group". Its announcement followed reports that said Revolution could shut about 20 bars, or a roughly a quarter of its outlets. While other sectors of the hospitality industry have faced serious problems in recent years, takeaway outlets in general are booming, according to consultancy PwC. Papa Johns had previously said it planned "strategic closures" in order to free up money for investment and improving profitability at its remaining UK sites. It plans to expand further into non-traditional sites like holiday parks and the chain said it would "announce other large retail partners in the coming months". So far this year, the Body Shop and night club chain Pryzm have already run into difficulties, announcing the closure of sites.

Papa Johns

Japan Nappy Maker Targets Adults

A Japanese nappy maker has announced that it will stop producing diapers for babies in the country and, instead, focus on the market for adults. Oji Holdings is the latest firm to make such a shift in a rapidly ageing Japan, where birth rates are at a record low. Sales of adult nappies outpaced those for infants in the country for more than a decade. The number of babies born in Japan in 2023 - 758,631 - was down by 5.1% from the previous year. It was also the lowest number of births on record in Japan since the 19th Century. In the 1970s, that figure stood at more than two million. Meanwhile, the adult diaper market has been growing and is estimated to be worth more than $2bn (£1.6bn). Japan now has one of the world's oldest populations, with almost 30% of them aged 65 or older. Last year, the proportion of those aged above 80 surpassed 10% for the first time. A shrinking population, the result of both ageing and plummeting birth rates, has become a crisis for Japan, one of the world's largest economies. 

Adult Nappies