Summary
The view from the top of business. Presented by Evan Davis, The Bottom Line cuts through confusion, statistics and spin to present a clearer view of the business world, through discussion with people running leading and emerging companies. The programme is broadcast first on BBC Radio 4 and later on BBC World Service Radio, BBC World News TV and BBC News Channel TV.
Evan and his executive guests discuss the evolution and hierarchy of brands. Who has the upper hand in the many battles being fought between big consumer brands and shops' own-labels? They also consider consumer tastes - do their own customers have good taste, or do they just buy what they're given?
Joining Evan in the studio are Justin King, chief executive of supermarket chain Sainsbury's; Cecile Bonnefond, chief executive of French champagne house Piper-Heidsieck; Geoff Cooper, chief executive of builders merchant Travis Perkins.
Producer: Ben Crighton Editor: Stephen Chilcott.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC. In this edition of the bottom line, |
| 0:04.9 | champagne, avocados and tape measures. Evan Davis and guests discuss the evolution and current |
| 0:10.9 | hierarchy of brands. Hello and welcome to the program. We'll talk about one of the great |
| 0:17.3 | long-running wars in business today, that between big consumer brands and |
| 0:22.8 | shops own labels. Who has the upper hand in the many battles being fought between the two? |
| 0:28.4 | We'll also have a very tasteful discussion about consumers. Do they have good taste, or do they |
| 0:33.6 | just buy what's on the shelf in front of them? But before any of that, let's spend a few minutes meeting each of my three guests. |
| 0:40.4 | And first up, returning to the programme, Justin King, Chief Executive of the supermarket chain, Sainsbury's. |
| 0:46.6 | And Justin, last time we talked about how Sainsbury's had been a leader for much of the 20th century, then overtaken by Tesco's. But actually the battle |
| 0:56.0 | between Tesco Sainsbury's has got a bit closer more recently. Well, in growth terms, certainly, |
| 1:01.0 | obviously Tesco are still much the bigger business, but we've been outgrowing them for a good |
| 1:05.9 | while now. The last year has been a year of great strength for us. We think it's because |
| 1:10.1 | we've been helping customers |
| 1:11.6 | with the challenges that they face better than our competition. Of course, Tesco are one of our |
| 1:15.4 | competition. So yeah, we've had a strong year for the last 12 months. All right. Well, also with us is |
| 1:20.3 | Cecile Bonfant, who's chief executive of Piper HeideSec, the centuries-old Champagne house, |
| 1:26.7 | I think allegedly favoured by Marianne Plainette and |
| 1:29.3 | Marilyn Monroe. So you're based in the champagne region in Rains? Absolutely, capital of champagne. Give us a |
| 1:35.4 | little bit of the history of Piper Hyde-Sk. Well, Piper Heidzeck is one of the very few 18th century |
| 1:41.4 | champagne houses, and it was created in 1785 by Mr. Heitzig. At the time when France was |
| 1:49.1 | still run by a king and a queen, that was to end up just seven years after with the revolution, |
| 1:56.4 | but we still had Marie Antoinette on the throne. And that's what we call a grand Maison de Champagne. |
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