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EDITOR’S LETTER 4 CONVENIENCE WORLD JAN/FEB, 2021 EDITOR’S WLETTER elcome back! Here’s our first issue of Convenience World for 2021. With the vaccine for Covid-19 available to frontline workers in the months to come, offering relief to Australians, what can we expect from the year ahead? While a complex climate remains, and with government stimulus measures scheduled to conclude in March, we’ll continue to adapt daily to changes and challenges. Guided by no real rule book, retail and its supply chain will keep forging ahead through innovation, adaptability and agility, to keep the market ticking. Grocery shopping and the way shoppers make purchase decisions have changed significantly in the past year. Shopper Intelligence highlights the key priorities for retailers and suppliers to focus on in 2021, among them re-evaluating value, aligning pre- and in-store investment to the shopper, and dialling up Australian made and health across all categories. The Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association reminds retailers to review 2020 trade and performance and refresh their business, consider automation to streamline and save, diversify their offering to cater to the market, and optimise e-commerce and online presence. The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has released the Insurance Inquiry final report, which found widespread market failure relating to the availability and affordability of essential small-business insurance products, and has recommended ways of making these products more accessible. ACAPMA highlights five important factors likely to define the business and economic environment and continues to represent the industry and address timely information from governments. Resounding trends that we’ll see more of as this new landscape shifts into 2021 and beyond include sovereign manufacturing capability and local provenance and synergies associated with growing and developing our local markets, convenience redefined and enhanced, capitalising on more occasions at home, the focus on hygiene and healthy lifestyles, improved digital and e-commerce strategies, and sustainability efforts and responsibility, to name just a few. As we gear up for the year ahead, we look forward to working with industry to deliver news, trends and insights to keep businesses informed and on top of the latest developments and opportunities. Lorna Gloria Lorna Gloria Guest Editor