Pukka Herbs has added its support to a campaign to stop Facebook advertising in a bid to protest against hate speech and racism.
Pukka joins other brands including Innocent Drinks and COOK, to support the Stop Hate For Profit campaign by pausing paid advertising on Facebook platforms and persuading more brands to join them.
The brands join a growing list of thousands of companies around the world actively removing advertising on Facebook and Instagram in July in protest against hate speech and racism on the social media platforms.
With a combined Facebook and Instagram following of more than 900,000, Facebook helps these household names advertise and reach potential customers. In the absence of advertising on Facebook, by the end of July, the brands will have missed out on a combined reach of over 11m people.
Beyond standing in solidarity with the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, these brands say they are united by their shared passion for using business as a force for good as a Certified B Corporation.
Instead of investing in social media during July, Innocent drinks, Pukka Herbs and COOK are using this time to rally additional support for Stop Hate For Profit from the rest of the B Corp community, which also rely on Facebook and Instagram as an acquisition tool.
Neil Fox, Marketing Director at Pukka Herbs, commented: “We are proud to support the Stop Hate for Profit campaign. As a B Corp, we believe we have a responsibility to use our influence to drive positive change. We are talking to other B Corps too to build our collective voice to inspire the necessary change we hope will come. And we hope other businesses outside of the B Corp community are inspired to put purpose before profit and join this campaign.”
Planet Organic has announced it has achieved Covid-19 safe status to allow it to reopen all of its 15 locations.
The retail chain has revealed that in light of restructuring its offer overnight to meet an increase in demand for its organic food, supplements and vitamins both in-store and online, Planet Organic called on the support of Food Alert to provide food hygiene and health and safety advice.
Following a rigorous site-by-site virtual auditing process by Food Alert, Planet Organic and its recently acquired As Nature Intended sites are now COVID-19 Standard Certified.
Planet Organic’s Food Services Director, Caroline Ottoy, commented: “Like everyone else in retail, our business was turned upside down overnight. Demand for our healthy products rocketed and we had to make sure that we were well positioned to cope and look after the health and safety of our teams and customers.
“The certification scheme has been well received, not only by our 450 employees who know we have done everything we can to make their workplace as safe as possible, but also by our customers who are confident that we are delivering the highest standards possible.”
To gain Food Alert’s COVID-19 safe standard, Planet Organic undertook a detailed risk assessment that covered all the touchpoints that need to be cleaned to the type of sanitiser to use, managing deliveries of stock safely and a staff sign-in questionnaire.
Ottoy continued: “What I found surprising was that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was not the most important control, but all the steps that we should take in terms of deep cleaning, physical distancing and task checklists to keep people safe, with PPE being the final link in the chain. We have invested heavily in inserting bespoke till screens and floor vinyls with face masks worn where physical distancing isn’t possible.”
Summer brings with it a distinct shift in terms of the type of beauty products people buy. But with little in the way of summer holidays, and a potential tightening on spending, how can natural and organic retailers adapt to meet current needs?
For every negative news story about the economy, we see a positive. On the one hand, we are likely to see a tightening on spending as the UK approaches recession, yet within the natural and organic market, we are seeing positives.
By way of example, the British Retail Consortium has reported that total UK sales have decreased in comparison to last year, due to continued shop closures caused by the UK’s lockdown; over the three months leading up to May, non-food in-store sales dropped by some 50.3 per cent in total. However, according to the BRC, despite the amount of goods sold in Great Britain falling by 5.9 per cent overall, food sales saw a large increase by 8.7 per cent like-for-like with online sales and supermarket spending also saw some pick-up. Within our market, we have also seen reports that sales of organic food and drink have shown a rise during the Coronavirus lockdown, and according to recent research, the pandemic is also raising demand for natural ingredients from the personal care industry; according to Ecovia Intelligence, the use of ingredients such as tea tree oil, lemon myrtle and aloe vera in cosmetic and personal care products is increasing, whilst consumers are buying natural and organic products to improve their personal immunity. Ecovia Intelligence also noted that demand is expected to remain buoyant after the current crisis.
So, where does this leave the natural and organic beauty sector? There’s no doubt summer spending habits will be altered this year with the dearth of summer holidays, but are there still opportunities to grow your sales in this area?
Organic & Natural Business magazine