Kostet Nutella tatsächlich überall das Gleiche? Dass Lebensmittelpreise überall bis auf den Cent identisch sind, behauptete jedenfalls das Handelsblatt – unter Bezug einer fragwürdigen Studie.
Since 2020, food in Germany has become about a third more expensive. Shopping for everyday products in supermarkets has become significantly more costly. This is evidenced by an analysis of the Handelsblatt Research Institute, which evaluated the balance sheets of 70 medium-sized and large brand manufacturers as well as the leading retail corporations in Europe. It also became clear who benefits from higher prices – and who loses.
The Handelsblatt thoroughly examined the consequences of inflation on September 16, 2024. In 2023 alone, the prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 12.4 percent according to the Federal Statistical Office – significantly stronger than general inflation. The newspaper stated on the basis of its own analysis that not only the manufacturers, but also the retailers make profits. “Manufacturers and retailers have been accusing each other for years of driving up prices to increase their profits”, the newspaper writes. In fact, both benefited equally.
This applies primarily to corporations in terms of producers – globally active brand manufacturers such as Nestlé (Kitkat), Unilever (Dove) or AB Inbev (Beck’s) and Coca Cola. The large European retail chains, including Rewe and Metro from Germany, Tesco from the UK and Carrefour from France, made profits to a similar extent, according to the report.
The losers in this price increase, which set in around the start of the Corona pandemic, are the consumers who have to dig deeper into their pockets. Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof evaluates the development from the perspective of the pricing expert: “It is remarkable that both the manufacturers and the retailers were able to use the phase of stronger inflation equally to increase their profits. This can be seen as an indication that both sides master the process of pricing quite well – but at the expense of the consumer.”
In addition to consumers, however, another major loser comes into focus: medium-sized companies, producers with less than one billion euros in sales, for example Frosta and Weleda. This is also noticeable in the increasing number of insolvencies of consumer goods companies. According to the Handelsblatt report, they cannot afford to fight tough price wars with the large retail chains, especially not over a longer period of time. Many medium-sized consumer goods manufacturers would have a weaker position in negotiations with domestic trade because they often generate a large part of their revenues in Germany and are therefore more dependent on the four large supermarket chains Aldi, Lidl, Edeka and Rewe.
“The study by the Handelsblatt Research Institute makes it clear that medium-sized manufacturers lack market power on the one hand”, says Riekhof. “On the other hand, they probably also lack pricing competence. At least that’s what our own empirical studies show: medium-sized companies place less emphasis on the professionalization of pricing.”
If the market continues to consolidate, and that’s where it’s heading, corporations will become more powerful, a consumer goods manufacturer is quoted. And that’s not good news for retailers either. If the middle class bleeds out in the long run, the trade loses the versatility of its range.
At the invitation of Dr. Hans-Christian Riekhof, Professor of International Marketing at PFH Private University of Göttingen (PFH), Nico Stobinski gave a lecture at PFH on 16.11.2020 titled “ZENTIS: A family business with high business field diversification and joint marketing/sales strategy”. The PFH graduate is National Key Account Manager at Zentis.
Subsequently, Professor Riekhof conducted an interview with Nico Stobinski, which is reproduced below.
Professor Riekhof: Zentis has focused very strongly on the B2B market in the past; for some time now, Zentis has also been focusing on strategic growth in the B2C business. What are the main reasons for this new strategic orientation?
Nico Stobinski: Basically, we have always had a certain focus on both markets in a certain way. In the B2B sector, however, our customer orientation and expertise have enabled us to become Europe’s most successful fruit supplier. Of course, success always leads to a greater dependence and importance in terms of internal relevance.
However, this does not mean that the B2C sector was not also in focus, because this sector has been characterising our brand and our brand name for more than 125 years. However, as part of our new strategic orientation, we have been very successful in driving strategic growth and revitalising this market, which is very strongly characterised by competition, with innovations. In this way, we are able to secure existing important pillars of the company and at the same time build up other important pillars of the company sustainably in their success.
Professor Riekhof: Product innovations play a major role in Zentis’ B2C strategy. What are the most important innovations?
Nico Stobinski: I think we can’t break it down to the one or two most important innovations. It is basically our goal to develop innovative products and bring them to market maturity that offer our consumers added value. Consumer benefit is at the top of the agenda.
In addition, it is another goal to generate added value for our trading partners with our new products. Only in this combination do we succeed in defining and expanding our brand strength. An important part of our new orientation in the B2C sector is to develop innovative and trend-conscious product concepts that provide new buying impulses in the segment. At the same time, we are striving for a premium positioning in our core business. So far, we have been very successful with our innovations “50% Less Sugar” and our peanut butter!
In addition, the change in our working methods can also be seen as an innovation in the broader sense. Integration of and cooperation with start-ups, coupled with a young, dynamic working atmosphere in our new Fruit Campus at the headquarters, form the optimal basis for the successful development of our new strategic concepts.
Professor Riekhof: For the new products, Zentis is enforcing significantly higher prices in the market than before. What product features or value drivers justify these higher prices for the customer?
Nico Stobinski: They are usually added values that represent a clear consumer benefit. Topics and trends such as ‘Healthy Me’, ‘Healthy Planet’, ‘Snackification’, ‘Brand-Stretching’ and sustainability play a very big role here. To realise these added values, our strong product and product development expertise (both in the B2B and B2C sectors) helps us enormously. With the product “50% Less Sugar”, the strong sugar reduction of a tasty and stable product is the clear USP. From a product development perspective, it is not easy to develop a classic fruit spread with a 50 percent reduced sugar content. We have succeeded in doing this, and the topic of “sugar reduction” is still at the top of the agenda for many consumers.
Professor Riekhof: Zentis also expects growth impulses from new cooperations and licenses. How do you ensure that these brands can even tolerate the brand stretching into new product categories?
Nico Stobinski: Here again, the combination of our experiences and expertise from the B2B and B2C sectors helps us. On the one hand, we have a large network of partners, know various business fields and segments well and know how our markets work. However, it is also important that we only push actions and activities if we have a clear goal in mind and the path to it is also validly analysed. Here too, we rely on cooperation and exchange with market research institutes and other partners.
Sometimes, however, it also takes courage, dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit to tackle and dare things. Especially the point of entrepreneurial spirit is an important aspect that often finds the optimal basis in the company structures. I think we are very well positioned here!
Professor Riekhof: You are currently responsible for the Key Account ALDI, among others. Zentis is also represented there with – very successful – actions. What do you attribute these successes to?
Nico Stobinski: The brand business with our trading partner ALDI is still quite young. We really only started this year – 2020. We approached slowly, because the business is quite special, but very very interesting. We quickly realised that our products also perform very well in this cooperation. We are currently enjoying great success with our new products – 50% Less Sugar, Peanut Butter and the relaunches of our well-known core brands, e.g. Aachener Pflümli Plum Puree. And this was also the case in the first actions with ALDI.
At the same time, our entrepreneurial spirit also benefits us here. We have fast internal decision-making processes, coupled with efficient production and delivery processes. This enables us to implement short-term promotions with large quantities completely smoothly and to the fullest customer satisfaction.
It should be emphasized that the shopper at Aldi only comes into contact with our respective products during the promotion period. We virtually win the classic “Aldi shopper” for us, but at the same time manage to convince new shoppers of our products as a whole, thus stimulating demand across all our trading partners. It is important for us to highlight this point, because our goal is to bring growth into the entire category, not just into a product niche and not just in selected customer relationships.
Professor Riekhof: Compared to the large international FMCG corporations like Nestlé or Unilever, Zentis is rather a smaller player in the market. How can one assert oneself against these competitors? And how can an internationalization strategy be implemented?
Nico Stobinski: The global corporations you mentioned are not our benchmark. I can say with retrospective joy that I am glad to have got to know Nestlé and Mars, two very successful global corporations, it was a very nice and successful time.
However, I can also clearly see the advantages we have at Zentis compared to the international top corporations. And here we come back to the entrepreneurial spirit coupled with short decision-making and efficient work structures. This is exactly how we manage to establish new strategies and innovative products successfully within a very short time. We are agile and dynamic.
The FMCG market is currently undergoing a change process. 5-10 years ago, the shelves in the retail trade were almost exclusively stocked with products from the big players. Today we see a multitude of products from successful start-ups. The shopper and consumer want something new and dynamic. We bring – as of today – many good prerequisites for this. We have hit the core of the time and are now trying to convert this into concrete added value.
With regard to internationalization, it should be emphasized that we are already very internationally positioned as a company as a whole. In the B2B sector, we have subsidiaries in Eastern Europe and the USA and supply many countries around the world. We are therefore well acquainted with foreign markets and cultural differences, which helps us further.
Professor Riekhof: You mention in your lecture that Zentis is in the process of changing significantly as a company. What are the most important signals internally and externally to make these changes visible?
Nico Stobinski: Externally, it is certainly our appearance, which the shopper and consumer mostly perceive in the form of our products. With our new products, we appear young, fresh, dynamic. Naturalness and sustainability are at the center of our orientation. To make our topics and the progress already achieved even more public, we will certainly use 2021 strongly, now that we have successfully established our first new products and concepts.
Internally, we are extremely proud of the progress. I would also like to refer to the successful cooperation with start-ups, the establishment of our Zentis fruit campus at the headquarters in Aachen and a very mature corporate strategy, initially until 2025.
Professor Riekhof: Not all students at PFH are betting on the food industry as a possible career entry. You yourself did this very early on. What would you say: why should one consider this industry on the one hand, Zentis as a company on the other hand?
Nico Stobinski: Honestly, as a student I was shocked to find out how few young people actually think about the food industry when it comes to the topic of job entry and “Perfect Job Fit”. For me, it was clear quite early on, at the age of 16, that I was drawn towards the food industry, certainly also influenced by my parents’ house. A vocational training at Bahlsen before studying at PFH reinforced this thought.
What fascinates me about the industry is its size and diversity. We are talking about the third largest market in Germany with over 180 billion euros in annual sales. At the same time, the industry is enormously important worldwide and will never lose its importance, because as they say, people will always eat and drink. At the same time, there are a multitude of providers in the form of many interesting industrial and trading companies.
And there are even more demanders, in Germany about 80 million. That means, we are talking about a market in which we are all market participants. I have always found this fascinating. In addition, the market is currently more volatile than ever. Start-ups invigorate the market, very successful medium-sized companies, of which we have a lot in Germany, drive growth and innovation, and the big players are often excellent talent factories and train excellent young talent. I can only encourage everyone to at least include the food industry as a potential area in their mindset.
Regarding Zentis, I hope that this interview already makes the advantages of the company apparent. If you bring an entrepreneurial spirit, want to act on your own responsibility to generate successes, and do this in a family business that is very broadly positioned, then Zentis is just right for you.
Despite the rapid and dynamic success and progress, our cultural values of trust, openness and respect continue to be written large. We are proud of that!
More information about the company Zentis
www.zentis.de
Photos: Zentis GmbH & Co. KG, Nico Stobinski
