Once a year, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers (PwC) invites partners and directors from around the world, who specialise in retail and consumer goods, to attend a two-day business school to discuss the big issues of the day with leading industry guests.

This year’s event took place in Toronto last week. One of the key themes was the impact of global trends on local markets, be they sector-wide developments, such as wellness and sustainability, or corporate activities, such as cross-border expansion.

One example of a Canadian company relevant on both counts is the small, fast-growing Lululemon Athletica. This yoga-inspired clothing retailer was founded in Vancouver in 1998 by Chip Wilson, a California-loving entrepreneur, with the mission “to provide men and women with components to live longer, healthier and more fun lives”.

Backed by private equity investors since December 2005, Lululemon is set to double its domestic portfolio to 80 stores in five years, while aiming to have 250 in the US.

Big US chains account for seven of the top 20 retailers in Canada, but few major Canadian retail groups have enjoyed reciprocal success. Lululemon could well buck the trend.

In Retailing 2015 (a PwC/TNS Retail Forward report) one of the conclusions is that “aggregation of small will be the new big”. Consumer-driven niche concepts that sit aboard the wellness bandwagon are well-placed to endorse this conclusion and score top marks on the “planet, people, profit” triple bottom line, at home as well as abroad.

Another, rather larger, Canadian company present at the PwC business school, McCain Foods, also views wellness as key. But it’s a tough challenge, not least in the UK, where obesity has become a highly charged issue.

Fast food – and thus French fries – stands squarely in the dock. A far cry from yoga-inspired activewear it seems, but just as Lululemon can point to “healthier components” so too, in fact, can McCain.

The potato, per se, is healthy and nutritious, it’s the frying that gives it a bad name. But fries are on the hit list for celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and others who want to get us all eating healthily. This serves up quite a challenge to McCain and its peers.

Jamie, of course, is the “good for you” face of Sainsbury’s, whose credentials, along with its rivals, get greener by the day. However, this is only at home, because Sainsbury’s, like Marks & Spencer, divested its US food retail interests many years ago.

Asda went wholly the other way. Now Tesco is poised to make its move. Will Fresh & Easy show that “aggregation of small” really is “the new big”? The chips are down. Let play commence.

Michael Poynor, chief retail adviser, PricewaterhouseCoopers

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