Supermarkets are ruling the roost!

Yesterday I had a meeting with my publishers regarding my new book. The book is nearly written – just the exercise section to complete – and I am pretty sure that when the book is published in January, it will be a best seller. I really don’t mean that to sound arrogant but this all-new diet has been tried and tested with better results than any of my previous 30 diet books and I know folk will want to buy it. But the key is not whether the customers will buy it, but will the supermarkets stock it?

When I first started writing books in the early 80’s, you could only buy books in a book store like W H Smiths or Dillons, or in the book section of a Department Store. Now, more books are sold in supermarkets than in bookshops and with that comes their ruthless buying power and conditions. Personally, I don’t mind who sells my books as long as they are on the shelves but now the supermarkets dictate the shape of the book, and if you want to produce a publication that is a bit of a different shape, say longer or taller, that’s a no-no. The book has to be the right shape to fit on the shelves or the supermarket won’t stock it. And it is as simple as that.

I’m fortunate because I have a good track record of producing books that sell so getting my books listed into shops isn’t too much of an issue – but it still has to be the right shape!

Don’t get me wrong, supermarkets do a great job and we have more choice than we’ve ever had and that has to be good. But they are incredibly powerful and I’m not surprised that farmers and suppliers get nervous and sometimes I think they push too hard to get the prices down.

Five years ago we launched a fantastic low fat Belgian Chocolate Mousse. It sold in a pack of two for £1.49 and each pot contained a massive 200g serving. It was an instant hit. Launched in Asda, in the first year we sold 3.5 million pots to very satisfied customers. But the suppliers were forced to put it on offer at 99p. They did this on several occasions but they could not sustain that price point. To accommodate the demands of the supermarket this year they re-packaged it in a smaller pot and, as I predicted, the sales fell. Of course they would. The whole point of this fantastic product was that it was a mega-eat! Dieters loved it because they couldn’t believe they could eat that big pot of scrumptious chocolate mousse for 122 calories and 2% fat! Needless to say, the mousse is being discontinued and has probably now sold out in all Asda stores. It’s a shame because it was a great product.

The only food product I now have in Asda is my Rosemary Conley's Mature Cheese with less than 5%fat, which is the best low fat cheese on the market. I’ve visited Wyke Farms who make it. I’ve met the cows who produce the milk. I use the cheese and it is incredible. You would not guess it is low fat. It deserves to be stocked in all the supermarkets but getting it in there is really difficult. So, in fact, I am grateful to Asda for stocking it and I hope it will establish itself as a must-have for any cheese-loving dieter. I just hope that we are able to sell enough to keep it stocked!