The Goods UK – 25 April 2025
Welcome back to The Goods UK. This week we’re chatting egg-xtra packaging, AI’s aisle patrol and dancing in the daylight.
Stats of the week
- Britons consume around 123,000,000 chocolate eggs each Easter and create 8,000 tonnes of waste packaging – most of which they are confused on how to recycle (edie).
- LinkedIn turns 22 year’s old next month and now boasts more than 1 billion users (The Economist).
- Bath is the ‘best’ UK city for a night out, with 38 clubs per 10,000 people – 25 times the number of London (The Spirits Business).
What’s in: this week’s trends
- Teeth, tans and tourism: 1.2 million Brits visit Turkey for dental, hair or cosmetic surgery procedures each year and this number is reportedly set to grow. According to a recent Ipsos poll, almost 1 in 5 people who couldn’t get an NHS dental appointment decided to go abroad for treatment. Turkey’s tourism board has been advertising the country’s clinics, which also happen to be based in appealing coastal towns, meaning that in a single year their health tourism market generated an estimated £1.7bn in revenue (City AM).
- Crimewatch: Police recorded 516,971 shop lifting incidents in England and Wales last year, the highest level since current records began in 2003 (Retail Week). But hope is not lost as British retailers are fighting back. From Asda’s new live facial recognition technology to Tesco’s dalek-like nighttime bots, a slew of AI-powered solutions are being used to target these supermarket swipers (Daily Mail). Home Bargains is now the latest to step up its game by rolling out AI-enabled cameras capable of detecting items that pass a checkout without being scanned (The Grocer).
- You must be yolking: According to research conducted by DS Smith the typical British adult receives three choccie eggs each Easter, contributing 8,000 tonnes of packaging waste. What’s more, it seems roughly a third of us are confused about which parts of the packaging are actually recyclable. This news comes as the charity Christian Aid reports cocoa prices have risen 400% in recent years due to climate change triggering increased temperatures and erratic rainfall in key growing regions. The situation is so severe the charity has warned climate change has added six weeks’ worth of days above 32°C in 71% of cacao-producing areas across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria (edie ).
Cash or card: shopper behaviour
What’s in and out of our baskets right now? This week, we’re talking daytime discos, corner shops making a comeback and the subscription services stealing the spotlight.
- Dancing in the daylight: As today’s twenty-somethings are gradually turning away from the nightclub scene, dance events that end before midnight might make perfect sense for both Gen X and the night-time economy (Financial Times). For venues that have faced a 17.79% decline in London nightlife over the past three years (The Spirits Business), daytime clubbing seems to be a no-brainer, taking advantage of spacious buildings that would otherwise sit empty during the day with no FOMO and a full eight hours of sleep.
- Shelf-lessly devoted to you: The trusty corner shop continues to be an essential part of daily life in Britain with nearly a quarter of consumers favouring them over any other retailer. Research from Coca-Cola shows that corner shops are experiencing a post-pandemic revival, with consumers visiting their local stores an average of five times a month, and purchasing £864 million worth of soft drinks a year in the process. Local businesses have proven their resilience in a turbulent macro environment, and are continuing to stand the test of time as stalwarts of the community (Grocery Gazette).
- Signed, sealed, subscribed: Subscription services seem to be making a comeback as retailers increasingly look for ways to lock-in customers. Following Ryanair’s Prime subscription launch, which waived reserved seat fees (Metro), Pets at Home has introduced Easy Repeat, a service for regular orders of pet products with a best price guarantee (Retail Rewired). As customer loyalty becomes the new currency, retailers are racing to outshine each another with enticing rewards programmes.
Making moves: industry changes & innovation
ICYMI, industry icons are reinvigorating their brand through unique and creative ways. Here are some movers and shakers that you should know about:
- Cell-f checkout: Iceland has opened its first prison-based ‘supermarket’ at HMP Oakwood, offering inmates retail work experience as part of G4S’s “marketplace” trial. Branded and stocked by Iceland but run by selected prisoners, the store serves both as a morale booster and a training ground, potentially leading to jobs post-release via Iceland’s Second Chances Scheme. Executive director Richard Walker called it “common sense”, with talks already underway to expand the model into a sector-wide not-for-profit, helping reduce reoffending and ease prison overcrowding (The Grocer).
- Shore thing: Aldi is funding 125 UK beach cleans in 2025 through its ongoing partnership with the Marine Conservation Society, marking its 35th year in Britain. The initiative will help clear over 3,200kg of litter across 25km of coastline. As part of the ‘Beachwatch’ programme, Aldi staff will join the clean ups, collecting data to identify the origins of ocean pollution. The initiative adds to Aldi’s growing CSR efforts, including £11 million raised for Teenage Cancer Trust and over one million period products donated (Retail Gazette).
- Coming to a checkout near you: With a live-action Toys R Us movie now in the works, some have declared the line between shopping and cinema as officially non-existent (The Guardian). Riding Barbie’s pink plastic coattails, the toy retailer is hoping to revive its brand by capitalising on nostalgia, promising a Night at the Museum-style adventure bringing toys to life (Variety). Elsewhere, Sylvanian Families ‘The Movie’ drops this week, and even Hot Wheels are getting in on the action. Personally, we’re waiting for Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney the Dinosaur flick (Empire) – yes, that’s real.
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