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Mapping the growth of UK's Electric Vehicle market

Electric vehicle (EV) leasing company, DriveElectric, predicts that registrations of new electric vehicles (EVs) will rise by over 74% in 2022.

The figure is based on DriveElectric’s own forecasts and represents an increase to more than 330,000, from around 190,000 in 2021, to represent around 16% of all sales this year.

The forecast considers background issues including vehicle shortages due to semiconductor supply issues that are expected to remain until around mid-2022 - demand continues to outstrip supply until then.

Mike Potter, managing director at DriveElectric, said: “EV registrations will continue to increase, however issues such as the semiconductor shortage will still have an impact on the availability of vehicles as we enter 2022.

“We see this challenge improving by mid-2022 and sales for the remainder of the year should offset the slow start, helped by yet more new EV models coming to market.”

New car registrations rose just 1% in 2021 as tougher trading arrangements, accelerating technology shifts and decimated supply stalled the sector’s recovery from COVID-19.

More new EVs were registered than over the previous five years combined, with around 190,000 joining UK roads alongside 115,000 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), meaning 18.5% of all new cars registered in 2021 can be plugged in.

DriveElectric predicts that EV production from many manufacturers’ new factories will start in 2022, including two new Tesla factories that will treble the volume for the brand. New models, including the Tesla Model Y, will also arrive in the UK, this year.

The company also forecasts an ‘accelerated expansion’ of the public charging network, including rapid chargers, with ongoing improved reliability.

The end of the home charger grant in March 2022 will not affect EV sales, said DriveElectric, but fewer people are likely to get chargers, and non-smart chargers will get used.

DriveElectric predicts there will be a continued increase in UK energy prices and UK businesses will move to reduce their corporate carbon footprint - leading to potential impact on sales of vehicles such as high-CO2 petrol SUVs.

The company predicts high numbers of EV sales from 2025 onwards, accounting for around 50% of registrations.

Registrations of petrol and diesel vehicles will decline ahead of the 2030 ban as a results of poor residual values, higher lease costs and as EV prices become competitive with prices of ICE vehicles, the company said.

DriveElectric said a key factor in EV adoption is that motorists prefer the driving experience of EVs in comparison to petrol and diesel cars and vans.

Recent research by EV charging app, Zap-Map, has revealed that EV drivers are ‘highly satisfied’ with their decision to purchase a zero emission car.

Half-price pizza? That's something to yodel about

Pizza chain Domino’s has launched the latest iteration of its ‘DOMIN-OH-HOO-HOO’ campaign in the UK, to promote a deal offering 50% off pizza when you spend £30 or more online.

The new 30-second hero film called ‘Betty-Hoo-Hoo’ spotlights Betty, who appeared in the first DOMIN-OH-HOO-HOO spot, after lots of consumer interest about her own pizza-eating habits following the first yodel campaign.

The commercial opens with Betty sitting in her armchair at home, putting the yodel call out to her friends asking who fancies a Domino’s. Two friends in the middle of a game of bingo respond, followed by others, and closing with a man, mid-chest wax, yodelling out that all delicious Domino’s pizza’s will be half price this January. The final scene shows Betty and her friends enjoying a Domino’s feast together and finishes with the voiceover declaring that Domino’s customers will receive 50 per cent off pizza when £30 or more is spent online.

Like the previous chapters, the campaign will continue to be audio-first and will also roll out across radio with a series of announcements to highlight the new deal. It will also run across TV, VOD, YouTube, digital, print, OOH, DOOH and in store. 6-second and 10-second cut downs of the TVC will be used in the digital space. Havas Media are responsible for the media planning and buying.

“We’re proud our pizza is the meal of choice for crowd-pleasing moments between family and friends,” said Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer, Sarah Barron. “We want to kick off 2022 in style whilst highlighting what our customers love about us – generous portions and fantastic value with market-leading prices and deals. Betty was the unexpected star of our first DOMIN-OH-HOO-HOO ad, and we’re delighted to bring her back to the centre stage where she belongs!”

Post IPO numbers soaring for cybersecurity firm Darktrace

Darktrace has reported a rapid increase in customer numbers and revenue.

In the first half-year results to be reported since the cybersecurity AI leader listed on the London Stock Exchange, it saw year-over-year growth of almost 40% in the number of customers, at least 45% in annual recurring revenue and at least 50% in revenue.

The group ended the first half of the financial year – the six months to December 31st – with 6,531 customers. It expects ARR at the end of that period of at least $426 million, with revenue of at least $190m. It said sales performance was better than expected.

The results have led to increased expectations for the 2022 financial year at the Cambridge-headquartered firm.

“I am very pleased that we have continued to deliver strong growth across our customer base, ARR and revenue in 1H FY 2022,” said Cathy Graham, CFO of Darktrace.

“We also achieved our aim of driving improvement in churn and net ARR retention rates over the past six months by leveraging our customer success team and focusing on upsell programmes.

“In December, we delivered the first module of our new Prevent product line to early adopters. This is the next logical step in fulfilling our vision of creating a Continuous AI Loop, a virtuous circle that equips customers with a suite of technologies that strengthen and reinforce each other.

“The power of our innovative underlying technology, Self-Learning AI, enables us to expand our ability to protect organisations from the cyber threats of today and tomorrow.”

Darktrace has more than 1,700 employees and more than 30 offices worldwide.

Analysing the growth of retail IPOs

The pandemic fuelled shopping boom has meant that there has been a rise in the number of retail IPOs on stock exchanges last year.

Around 10 retailers floated this year, including furniture retailer and greetings card company Moonpig, compared to only three in the past three years.

Eight out of the 10 firms were ecommerce companies according to research from law firm RPC.

Consumers have continued the trend of ordering online despite the reopening of the high street as Covid restrictions have started to lift.

A number of other retailers including Procook, Marks Electrical, Devolver Digital, MusicMagpie, CMO, Seraphine, Victorian Plumbing and Dr. Martens have all floated on the stock exchange over the past 12 months.

Despite the record number for the past three years, there are also a number of firms that have decided to delay plans for a listing as a result of some disastrous debuts of companies such as Deliveroo and THG on the London Stock Exchange.

“The unlocking of the IPO market in 2021 for retailers is great news. It dramatically increases the funding options for retailers with growth ambitions,” RPC co-head of retail Karen Hendy told CityAM.

“We are expecting to see more new retail concepts expand into the post-Covid landscape and having a wider choice of sources of capital will help that rollout.”

Wickes builds for the future with Retail Director appointment

Wickes has appointed a Retail Director as it embarks on its journey as a standalone business.

The home improvement retailer announced Carol Campbell as its newly created Retail Director, who will oversee all of the retail operations for Wickes’ 232 stores.

Campbell reports to chief operating officer, Fraser Longden.

Campbell has worked in retail for over 20 years, spending 12 years at Aldi in a range of store operations and corporate roles before travelling to Australia where she worked for grocery retailer, Woolworths for two years.

“It’s really important to me that I work for a company with an inclusive and diverse culture that values and takes care of its people and I can’t wait to join and meet the team,” she said.

Longden said: “Wickes has recently embarked on its journey as a standalone business and I’m delighted that Carol is joining us at this very exciting time.

“Carol’s wealth of experience across retail operations will provide the right level of support and focus at the heart of our business, helping our store colleagues to deliver the best possible experience for our customers so they can feel houseproud.”

New fitness style - Bouldering - looking for marketer

Indoor bouldering gym - The Climbing Lab in Leeds is looking for a motivated and creative Marketing Manager.

Tasked with growing the brand, tell the company’s story, and engage with its community, the ideal candidate will be responsible for creating and executing the full corporate marketing strategy.

The role demands full ownership of the marketing campaigns, evaluating marketing performance metrics, and collaboration with the team.

Indoor climbing (aka gym climbing) was born from climbing outdoors. Climbers wanted a way to train climbing-specific movements even during wet or wintry seasons. These days, many climbing gyms resemble Olympic training centers more than sheds. Indoor competition climbing has evolved into its own sport with its own World Cup circuit.

Bouldering (named for the boulders on which it originated) is climbing that stays relatively close to the ground.

Indoor bouldering walls range from around 8-15 feet tall. Bouldering takes place over thick padding that cushions the impact of a fall.

Bouldering routes are often referred to as “problems.” Because the walls are lower, bouldering problems tend to be shorter than routes on walls that require ropes.

Back to zero: Pernod Ricard revamps Ceder's for Dry January

Pernod Ricard is revamping its non-alcoholic spirits brand Ceder’s with a new look and marketing campaign to coincide with Dry January.

It has rolled out new packs for the brand, which was first launched in the UK in 2018 as a rival to Diageo-backed Seedlip, which Pernod said would “further define its position within the fast-growing low & no-alcohol category”.

The new packs have seen their front, back and neck labels “subtly enhanced” to “communicate stronger craft cues”, said the brand, with copper accents providing a “nod to the distillation process”. Meanwhile “the wreath which is central to the Ceder’s identity has been restyled with increased prominence”.

Visual instructions to create the brand’s optimal serve with tonic have also been added to back labels.

The brand has also unveiled a marketing push to run throughout Dry January, with which it wanted to “break the stereotype of how January is perceived and get everyone to ‘Live Free Spirit’ for the month and beyond”.

Throughout the campaign it will share a weekly Instagram challenge for followers “to bring to life what Live Free Spirit really means, by pushing people out of their regular routines and demonstrate that January is anything but dry” with bottles of the drink up for grabs.

After launching the South African Ceder’s in the UK in 2018 under an exclusive distirbution agreement, Pernod Ricard bought a majority stake in the brand in October 2020.

However this month’s flurry of activity comes after a mixed year in the supermarkets for Ceder’s: sales of its Pink Rose flavour grew by £500k to £670k, but sales of its Classic flavour were down £220k to £450k [NielsenIQ 52 w/e 11 September 2021].

Paddle picks up prestigious CMO

London FinTech Paddle has appointed a high-profile CMO following a milestone year.

The provider of payments infrastructure for Software-as-a-Service companies has turned to Andrew Davies as the company continues to build out its leadership team to pursue its global ambitions.

Davies brings significant experience of shaping fast-growing B2B tech businesses, having led and advised on marketing strategies at multiple startup and scaleup software businesses.

In 2021, the company’s total revenue processed exceeded $1 billion and the business more than doubled its revenue growth.

Davies joins Paddle from digital experience platform Optimizely where he served as VP corporate marketing and was responsible for leading the company’s global demand, digital and brand teams. Previously, he was CMO of Idio, the B2B personalisation platform he co-founded, which was acquired by Insight Partners in 2019.

Davies has also served as a non-executive director for innovation consultancy Ninety as well as advising, supporting and investing in early-stage startups, and teaching two marketing courses for the Sales Impact Academy.

“2021 was a fantastic year for Paddle as we continued our rapid expansion, reaching the milestone of $1bn total revenue processed through the platform, and exceeding 3,000 customers globally,” said Christian Owens, CEO and co-founder.

“However, we know there is so much more we can do. We have an enormous opportunity to deliver the payments infrastructure that SaaS businesses need to scale and fulfill their own growth potential. We are delighted to have Andrew join as another stellar hire for our leadership team as we look to achieve even more in 2022.”

Davies added: “I quickly fell in love with the team, ambition and proposition at Paddle, and am thrilled to be joining at this critical stage of growth.

“Having been a SaaS founder, I know the pain and distraction of compliance and reporting as you grow. Paddle solves so many complex payments infrastructure challenges in one platform, allowing startups and scale-ups to focus on their growth journey – from founding to IPO.

“This ability to assist and accelerate growth at thousands of software sellers gives us both enormous potential for scale and a fantastic story to tell. I can’t wait to get started.”

ShopTech disruptor Lollipop helping everyone shop better

Online meal planning and shopping platform Lollipop has tied up with leading grocer Sainsbury’s.

Lollipop was founded by the former chief operating officer of leading fintech bank Monzo Tom Foster-Carter and allows users to write weekly meal plans from thousands of recipes and automatically generates their shopping lists at major supermarkets.

The platform currently allows meal plans to be created based on dietary requirements and other user preferences, with ingredients ordered directly from Sainsbury’s online catalogue of products.

Lollipop users are also given the ability to select Sainsbury’s online delivery slots directly in-app.

The generated online plan can also be topped up manually with any other items that users wish to add.

Currently, only customers that signed up to a waiting list for the service able to use it, however there is expected to be a wider rollout soon.

Lollipop is free to use and does not mark up any of the products for its service but it did say it planned to introduce premium features for paying users however the core product will always be free of charge.

Those early adopters now using the platform have been promised free premium accounts “for life”.

The recipes offered on the app are a combination of unique recipes curated by the platform’s expert chefs and nutritionists meanwhile there will be others taken from BBC Good Food.

User-generated recipes will also soon feature to increase the social aspect of the app.

Lollipop has said it plans to introduce every major supermarket to its platform and give users the chance to pick their chosen supermarket up front whilst setting up the app.

From a retailer’s perspective, all orders go through their own ecommerce platforms with a full view of the customer, however Lollipop will handle the integration of the online propositions in the app, taking a “modest cut” on each order.

Talking point: Companies need to be creating 5G solutions

Accenture warns that companies could go bust if they don’t start implementing innovative new technologies.

Andrew Walker, the new senior managing director and global communications and media lead at Accenture, has been working with global clients to help them adapt to new technologies and remote working throughout the pandemic.

He talked of the evolution we will see over the upcoming months and years in technologies including 5G, AI and cloud technologies.

“AI and cloud enable telcos to use all the data at their disposal to become more customer-centric and customer-friendly,” said Walker.

“You can start to use that superfast connection to connect to the cloud and have the cloud monitoring every aspect of the production chain.

“AI and the cloud can be monitoring this because it’s all networked in, so you can improve things like worker safety, reduce your error rate, speed up the production line, and you end up with higher-quality, safer, more productive facilities.”

Walker estimates that only 15 to 20 per cent of companies are deploying these technologies, and those who haven’t risk being left behind.

This new technology will create an even bigger demand for fibre and 5G, which are already providing a key role in society.

Walker highlighted how fast broadband enables us to work from home and spend less time polluting the environment, and that 5G can shorten the digital divide if subsidies are put in place to ensure affordability.

He added that companies and telcos will be at a competitive disadvantage without 5G, AI and cloud, and need to set up an operating model that is open to “pulling in, testing and trying out different ideas.”

“They’re relying on themselves to figure it out, which I think worked in the 1980s,” said Walker. “But as technology gets more complex, you’re better off having an ecosystem that is focused on engagement and partnerships.

“Figuring out how that ecosystem can work becomes really important for comms companies and it’s an area where I think they can improve.”

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