Three dozen retailers from 17 countries have been named winners of PLMA’s 2021 International Salute to Excellence Awards in recognition of innovation and quality of their own-brand food and non-food products.
Nearly 600 products introduced in the past year were submitted by 62 retailers from 23 countries for consideration in the world’s largest competition dedicated exclusively to own brands, according to the association.
The winning food and non-food products were selected by several panels of judges that included industry professionals such as former retailers, chefs, academics, nutritionists, journalists, and private label adepts.
Of the 101 awards bestowed by PLMA this year, 54 went to retailers in Germany, Ireland, and The Netherlands with, respectively, 23, 17 and 14. The others were divided among chains from southern Europe, Scandinavia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Central Eastern Europe. Twelve awards, the most any retailer has won in a single year since the program’s inception in 2014, were handed to Germany’s drugstore Dirk Rossmann. Musgrave Retail Partners from Ireland came away with ten and South African retailer Woolworths received seven. Jumbo Supermarkten in the Netherlands won six while both Dunnes Stores from Ireland and El Corte Inglés from Spain received five.
Other winning retailers were Aldi Stores (Ireland), Asda Stores (United Kingdom), Axfood (Sweden), Action (Netherlands), Carrefour (France), Colruyt (Belgium), Coop Jednota (Slovakia), Coop Trading (Denmark), Dagrofa (Denmark), Delhaize (Belgium), Despar (Italy), Eroski (Spain), Etos (Netherlands), Eva (Ukraine), Globus Sb-Warenhaus (Germany), Hema (Netherlands), Kaufland (Germany), Kesko (Finland), Kruidvat (Netherlands), Marks And Spencer (United Kingdom), Md (Italy), Metro (Germany), Migros Ticaret (Turkey), Migross (Italy), Monoprix (France), Penny-Markt (Germany), Rewe (Germany), Salling Group (Denmark), Sonae Mc (Portugal) and Sopharma (Bulgaria).
“Clearly evident this year in the quality of all the submissions and especially the winners, is a heightened focus on innovation and new product development,” said Peggy Davies, PLMA president. “These private label products demonstrate that all those involved in their development, testing and marketing have their finger on the pulse of important consumer trends.”
In food, winning products include Aldi Ireland’s Specially Selected Halloween Barmbrack, Rossmann’s enerBiO Immunsaft B12 with Shiitake Mushroom extract, Jumbo’s On the Go Lettuce Sushi Wrap with Smoked Salmon, Monoprix’ Brioche with Cereals and Seeds and Musgrave’s Sustainably Hydroponically Grown Italian Salad Mix as well as El Corte Ingles Fuet Snack, and Delhaize’s Veggie Vegan Apero Wings.