In Issue 6 - 2017 of ESM: European Supermarket Magazine, we presented our annual report on the state of the fruit and vegetable market in 2018, which featured insight from research analysts IRI, an interview with Philippe Binard, director general of Freshfel, the European organisation for the fresh-fruit and -veg industry, and much more.
In addition, to support the feature, we asked several fresh-produce buyers across Europe for their prognosis on the key trends that have emerged over the past year, and areas in which retailers could work harder to make their fresh offering more appealing.
Ondina Afonso, President of Continente Producers’ Club (Portugal)
What consumer trends have you noticed in the fruit and vegetable sector over the past year?
In general, Portuguese consumers are sensitive to national production, looking for the positive impacts to buy Portuguese fresh food, helping and boosting national economy. Above that, there is a demand for regional varieties of fruits, where quality and sustainability are the driving force for consumer choice. Moreover, there is a specific segment of consumers that is looking for more convenience and ready-prepared products, like fruit snacks, salads and vegetable soups.
In what ways could retailers develop their fresh-produce offering to be more in tune with the needs of today’s consumer?
Nowadays, consumers want to have a different and a nice buying experience, offline or online. For online clients, time, product freshness and a surprise factor are the most important factors. On the other hand, in the stores, consumers want to taste products and to ‘get to know’ the producer, in order to have the guarantee of excellent taste and flavour.
Sarah Leonard, Product Technical Manager, Tesco (Ireland)
What consumer trends have you noticed in the fruit and vegetable sector over the past year?
With the slight upturn in discretionary spend in the market, customers are less time rich, so we’re seeing a tendency towards more frequent purchases of prepared fruit and vegetables. Equally, we’re seeing a consistent interest in our produce provenance. At Tesco, we work with over 480 small and medium suppliers and over 65 Irish growers in our Irish business alone.
Do you think more could be done to market fresh produce more effectively?
Generally, I think we can help consumers understand and have a greater appreciation of the care and attention that goes into Irish-grown fresh produce. These qualities can sometimes be taken for granted, without people realising the efforts that farm families and growers give to their livelihoods, all the while being subject to the weather conditions. It’s an all-year-round process that requires a real vocation.
Daniel Månsson, Category Area Manager, Fruit and Vegetables, Axfood (Sweden)
What consumer trends have you noticed in the fruit and vegetable sector over the past year?
The big trends we have seen the past year are organic, convenience, local products and berries. For the coming year, I believe that convenience and locally grown products and vegetables that can be a substitute for carbohydrates will continue to grow.
In what ways could retailers develop their fresh-produce offering to be more in tune with the needs of today’s consumer?
We could be better in informing consumers on how much our products affect the environment. I also think that we can communicate more about taste and how the product should be used.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
