Portuguese retailers are investing more and more in their organic product ranges, meeting consumer demand for healthy, sustainable products, a study has found.
A Marktest TGI study found that around 47.7% of Portuguese consumers are regular purchasers of organic products, with the typical organic consumer identified as female and aged over 45 years.
Although most consumers of organic products prefer to shop at local markets and buy directly from producers, the study found, the retail offer is is constantly improving.
Major Players
The biggest player in the organic segment is Sonae group, which operates organic supermarket chains Amor Bio, Brio, and Go Natural, which between them boast ten stores.
Last year, Sonae purchased 51% of Go Natural, which operates 22 restaurants, 6 supermarkets and 6 Grab & Go concessions. Around 80% of the assortment is organic, divided across 40 categories – including fresh, bottled, bakery, grocery as well as personal hygiene and household items.
In 2017, Sonae also acquired Brio, an organic supermarket chain consisting of six stores in Lisbon, which has since been renamed to Go Natural.
Industry Response
However, the competition is equally attentive to new market trends and consumer preferences and is constantly expanding the product offer.
Pingo Doce, part of Jerónimo Martins Group, recently launched a new, exclusive brand of certified organic products called Go Bio, which includes items such as olive oil, rice, tomato purée, coconut oil and crackers.
According to the chain, all products are certified, "ensuring that they are not the target of any pesticides or genetically modified organisms".
Elsewhere, Lidl Portugal is now making organic eggs available in all its 250 stores, and is using only free-range eggs in the preparation of its private label brand meals.
The retailer claims that, to date, about 50 of its private label ready-to-eat and pre-frozen meals have already made the transition to more ethical egg sources.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
