Specialist
Former SVP at Danone SA
Agenda
- EU plant-based dairy industry key developments, including coronavirus impacts
- Competitive landscape update – Danone (PAR: BN) and Alpro, Oatly, The Coconut Collaborative, plus emerging brands and private label
- Key innovation trends and retail dynamics including shelf space developments and cannibalisation of traditional dairy
- Mid-term structural growth and profitability outlook
Questions
1.
Could you map out the European plant-based dairy market? Could you give us a rough size split by segmentation, including milk, ice creams and yogurts.
2.
Who are the key players in the main plant-based dairy industry categories in Europe?
3.
What would you say are the consumer needs, the demand drivers? You spoke about the category developing initially because of lactose intolerance. What have been recent consumer drivers? I’m guessing health and wellness, and animal welfare concerns?
4.
What would be the penetration rates outside of Belgium, in markets such as Germany, France and the UK?
5.
You said prior to March and April, the category was growing roughly double digits but then growth accelerated with the onset of the coronavirus crisis. What was the reason behind that?
6.
Do you think the growth acceleration has been driven by new consumers entering the category, or increased penetration of the consumers?
7.
You mentioned the importance of e-commerce. Could you elaborate on that, because e-commerce has picked up significantly during this period? Why does plant-based benefit disproportionately from e- commerce?
8.
Who do you think would have benefited more in the supermarket channel, the branded players or private label?
9.
Do you think the pick-up in growth has been driven by fresh and ambient equally, or do you think it’s accelerated the growth of fresh? Do you think consumers wanted ambient’s long shelf-life when they were pantry loading?
10.
Do you think extending an existing dairy brand into a plant-based line, such as Activia, will bring incremental growth to the brand or will it cause cannibalisation of the traditional dairy offering?
11.
You mentioned that you think the pandemic will result in some structural shifts to plant-based dairy. What are those structural shifts and how do you think about the category growth rate for 2020 and the next few years, compared to that double-digit growth rate up till now?
12.
How does the price relationship between a plant-based product and a very similar traditional dairy product work? How do manufacturers think about that? How would you compare a branded plant-based product vs a private label product? How sustainable do you think pricing will be for plant-based products in Europe?
13.
Is profitability for the retailer an incentive for them to help develop the category? If we tie that into the growth coming from fresh vs ambient, is fresh a more profitable platform, rather than ambient?
14.
Do you think the retail trade will try to increase fresh shelf space, or it will come out from a less profitable loss for it?
15.
You’ve spoken about the importance of innovation and value-add to the plant-based category. What direction do you think innovation can take in plant-based dairy in Europe?
16.
How do you imagine the competitive landscape playing out over the next few years? You mentioned Alpro, number one, private label a strong number two, then there’s Oatly, then a very small tail. Are desserts going to be the same players or could there be new entrants? What are the barriers to entry?
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