Tissue World Magazine
Alexandra Stuthridge, Technical Business Manager, BioProducts Institute (BPI)

Staying in, our EuroMonitor report on the Benelux countries tells us, is the new going out. What’s happening in the At-Home category offers up rich promise for tissue producers, at least for the time being. Consumers have less money to spend as the wider European economy struggles to move up a gear from its sluggish post- 2008 recovery. The word ‘doldrums’ is used… for those among you who are not ocean-going yachtsmen and women those are the low pressure areas around the equator which can result in days or weeks becalmed.

So a night out at the restaurant is less frequent. Instead, back home preparing the evening meal… Belgians with their filet Americain with croquettes, waffles and Duvel, and the Dutch with their Waterzooi stew and chipolata pudding with Grolsch (apologies if I’ve offended any national etiquette there) are trading up by using premium quality tissue products in the kitchen and for the dining table to create a more stylish ambiance for their evening meal.

Trading up to the extent that retail tissue posted 2% value growth at Euro 303m in Belgium and 5% at Euro 511m in The Netherlands. Luxury bathroom tissue confirms the trend, the Netherlands seeing 6% value growth. This is on top of valuefor- money brands remaining a price-conscious favourite as the strength of private label demonstrates.

Savvy marketing has capitalised on At-Home: six rolls plus two free, 32 rolls plus eight free, jumbo, mega and economy packs, premium paper with almond milk, wet toilet paper complete with a hanging mechanism for convenient storage.

Innovation costs, but it also inspires branch loyalty into the future.

TISSUE WORLD AMERICAS 2014 AND THE LAUNCH OF TRIF
Tissue World Americas 2014 was officially the most successful Tissue World Americas show ever. New records were broken in every respect: 1,931 participants, 173 exhibitors of which 51 were first time exhibitors, some 457 registered attendees at the conference, the launch of the Tissue Retailers and Distributors Insight Forum (TRIF). Participants came from 69 countries, including 1,069 from the USA, 78 from Brazil, 99 from Canada, 71 from China, 166 from Italy and 27 from Turkey.

All of which reflects the developments of the continually evolving and dynamic American tissue market.

Read our summary of the event and key conference themes in this issue. Talks covered the latest key trends in the global tissue industry, from evolving consumer and retail trends; private label versus brands; sustainability; Greenpeace and WWF viewpoints on the tissue industry; energy savings; how large retailers are meeting sustainability challenges through to the latest developments in NTT, ATMOS, ADT and TAD technology.

On the back of the launch of TRIF, TW magazine’s new Retail Special feature also takes a look at some of the key talks from the Miami trade show. Read what American Paper Converting, Nielsen, Mintel and WWF among many others had to say.