Kerry Foods is taking its ’Building a Nation of Chilled Experts’ programme to the next level with the launch of a new digital platform to help retailers grow the £3.7 billion chilled food category to a possible £6 billion by 2018.

Kerry Foods launched its industry ‘blueprint’ in 2015 to help convenience store operators optimise their chilled food sales and its new website - www.chilledexperts.com - will now make it even easier for retailers to access the latest category advice, chilled food insights, planograms, competitions and information on Kerry Foods’ leading brands whenever they need it.

The new website will also provide a handy, easy-to-use tool to help retailers analyse their current level of chilled foods retailing expertise, and discover changes they can implement in order to advance their chilled foods offer to reach one of three levels of chilled sales excellence - Get Chilled Fit (Level 1), Build a Basket (Level 2), and Destination Chilled (Level 3).

Kerry Foods convenience sales controller Ian Garrett said: “We know that the opportunity for growth in the chilled market is huge and with products available for every shopper mission, including Food To Go, Top Up, or Meal for Tonight, Kerry Foods is well-placed to help retailers to drive incremental sales. Our ambition is to take retailers on a chilled retailing journey that could turn the number one food category in convenience2 into a £6 billion proposition by the end of 2018.

“We have seen that those retailers that have implemented the Building a Nation of Chilled Experts programme have already seen up to a 40% rise in basket spend, and our website should allow even more retailers to replicate this success for themselves,” adds Garrett.

Ramesh Shingadia, owner of Londis Southwater, has been trialing the new website. He said: “Kerry Foods’ new Building a Nation of Chilled Experts website will be a great resource for retailers looking to maximise the chilled food opportunity in their stores.

“Getting the chilled food offer right is essential in building basket spend throughout the store and the plan your chiller section of the website is a great way for retailers to get inspiration on chiller layout, while the insight section shows the true size of the opportunity.

“I would encourage all retailers to use the effective tools on offer to check what level of chilled expertise they have already achieved and work towards improving their chilled sales even further using the host of useful tips on offer.”