It is often claimed that the presence of powerful retailers acts as a deterrent to the development of new brands and products in the UK food and soft drinks market. Retailers used to stock a wide range of brands and pack sizes within a category as well as an own label version. For some time now, the commonly held view is that retailers are looking to minimize the number of brands they carry, whilst increasing the own label range with different offerings at different price points covering “good”, “better” and “best” variants. Given the ongoing and increasing pressure on shelf space, this proliferation of own label offerings has forced the retailers to cut their branded offerings significantly. There is normally space for the brand leader and possibly its nearest competitor, but the brands in third position or lower may be facing de-listing.

This has caused most of the principal FMCG manufacturers to focus more and more on their leading brands. Lesser brands are not being supported and are in a state of permanent decline. Even ten years ago, when discussing acquisition opportunities, the the major FMCG brand owners indicated that they were only willing to consider purchasing brands that were in the top three in their categories. Subsequently, their interest dwindled to brands in the top two in their categories. Today, the large firms are unlikely to be interested in acquiring a brand unless it is number one in its category or has the potential to be number one.

Given the above, it could be assumed that the prospects for launching a new brand in the UK must be awful. In a recent conversation, a brand consultant claimed that some 95% of new brand launches in the UK market fail. Visiting IFE last week reminded me just how many new brands have been launched in recent years and how well some of these new brands are doing.

In a recent discussion with the head of a large multinational business in the soft drinks industry, we agreed that the UK is awash with new brands and new concepts – many of which, though still modest in size, are growing at spectacular rates. We discussed brands such as Innocent, Belvoir Cordials, Bottlegreen, Johnsons, Firefly, Feel Good Drinks, Pomegreat, Big Tom, Fever Tree and Taut – to name but a few. Intriguingly, I was advised that such a wide selection of successful young brands does not exist anywhere else in continental Europe.

It is not just in the soft drinks categories. Recent successful young brands enjoying spectacular growth include Gu, Green & Blacks, The Food Doctor, Dorset Cereals, Fruit Bowl, Eat Natural and many others.

So what is it about the UK that produces such a relatively long list of new brands? And how do we reconcile the length of the list with the perception that powerful retailers act as a deterrent to new brands? Well a review of the list of brands already discussed provides the simple answer. They are innovative products rather than “me too” products. The teams behind these successful young brands have identified a gap in the market and have succeeded in filling that gap without producing a “new and improved” version of an existing product. How many of us were drinking smoothies before Innocent came along? How many of us were drinking elderflower before Belvoir and Bottlegreen commenced production? What a bore it was to make a spicy tomato juice before Big Tom came to the rescue. And how many of us consumed pomegranate juice before Pomegreat made it mainstream?

So far from being brand killers, the big retailers are able to support brand growth in instances where the products are genuinely innovative. And we, the consumers, are the ones to benefit from a broader choice of innovative products. Long may the spirit of entrepreneurialism last.