About a month and a half ago, the food giant Unilever announced that it would raise the prices of all its products starting November 1, while the price of one of the most popular products, the Karambo, went up already at the beginning of this month.
Unilever’s announcement came after a summer marked by price increases, during which other companies announced increases, while the major food chains announced they were against it. The CofaceBdi company conducted a survey among about 130 containers and supermarkets throughout the country – not including the large chains – in order to estimate the expected impact of the move on the activity in the food industry.
The supermarket managers were asked a variety of questions, including how they would deal with Unilever’s price increase, whether they would absorb a portion of the price increases, whether pressure on the concern would result in a reduction in prices, and the sales of which products would be affected the most.
About 40% of respondents indicated that they would take Unilever products off the shelves. CofaceBdi notes that among large supermarkets employing 50 or more employees, about 70% of the managers indicated that they would take Unilever products off the shelves. Among those who decided not to take Unilever products off the shelves and continue to market them as usual, 83% said that they intend to pass the price increase on to consumers in full.
The big hit: Cornflakes
Among the survey participants, 82% believe that additional food importers and producers will soon announce price increases. However, about 70% believe that public and consumer pressure will influence and lead to the cancellation, postponement or reduction of the price increase.
According to the survey, the product whose sales are expected to be affected the most as a result of the price increase is cornflakes (61% of respondents). In addition, 79% of the respondents stated that today it is one of the best-selling products among the Unilever products marketed by them.
“Wise consumerism would have caused most consumers to stop purchasing products whose prices have increased, and to switch to purchasing replacement products at more attractive prices, with or without too great a compromise in terms of the quality of the product,” says Tahila Yanai, co-CEO of CofaceBDi.
“Of course, such conduct will make suppliers think twice before they decide on a move to raise prices, but from past experience we know that not all the public in the Israeli economy behaves this way. At the moment, it seems that Unilever’s move, perceived among the major marketing chains as unilateral (uncoordinated), led to the struggle between the parties, the results of which will become clear soon.”
Securethings raises $21 million
Security cameras are already an integral part of the protection measures of many businesses, but they do not always work properly at the moment of truth.
The start-up SecuriThings has developed a technology that tries to solve this problem by automatically managing the security devices according to standards from the side of the regulation or from the side of the organization, thus significantly reducing the amount of manual work required of the security teams. Now SecuriThings is raising $21 million.
SecuriThings / Photo: David Grub
The investment in the company was led by the USVP fund with the participation of the Swisscom Ventures fund, and the round was also joined by the existing investors, including the Elef fund, whose founders include Michael Eisenberg and Aden Shochat. The total investments in the company since its establishment is 39 million dollars.
Securithings was founded in 2016 by Roi Dagan, who serves as CEO, and Raan Liji, who serves as VP of Technology, and currently employs 70 people. According to Dagan, “Most organizations have hundreds to thousands of physical security devices designed to protect people or property, and the scope and complexity of managing all these devices is an extraordinarily challenging task.
“Our IoTOps platform changes the rules of the game, enabling operations and physical security teams in various industries to set IT standards for all these devices.”
the golden parachute
CPA Shushi Sonband-Tamari, 53, was appointed CEO of Afka College, the academic college of engineering in Tel Aviv. Before that, she served as VP of Finance and Human Resources at the college.
Shushi Zonband Tamri / Photo: Yeh’ach Afka
Advocate Michal Racholsky Joins the tax office Binyamin & Co. as a partner and head of the litigation and indirect taxes department. Before that, she served in the fiscal department at the Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office.
Michal Rychulski / Photo: Yeh’ach
Amir Yagoda Yom Tov48, was appointed Vice President of Business Development at the Bureau of Engineers, Architects and Academics in the Technological Professions in Israel.
Gil RosenCEO of vision.bi, will serve as VP of Product for the startup Datarails, which develops a platform for financial analysis and planning.
good news
The Achievement Fund, established by Jerry Schwartz and Heather Raisman from Canada to support lone soldiers, will award approximately 230 scholarships with a total value of approximately NIS 9.5 million. The foundation, which was established in 2005 and is headed by Aviv Bushinsky, annually awards hundreds of scholarships to individual soldiers for the benefit of full funding of studies and a holistic and financial envelope for their living needs. The board members include, among others, Shabti Shavit, Elazar Shakdi and Ofra Strauss.