Tesco has employed an organic brand manager as part of theretailer’s pledge to get organic produce back on the shelves, it wasannounced at Tuesday’s Organic Trade Board (OTB) meeting, Go for Growth.
AndreaMulqueen, head of Tesco’s organic fresh produce team, told delegatesthat in hindsight Tesco had made mistakes in removing certain organicfruit and vegetables from the shelves when the recession hit.
Mulqueensaid: “We did reduce the organic offer last year because of the creditcrunch and the impact that had on customer spending. It was a time whenconsumers were trying to reduce their monthly outgoings and reduce debtand `the organic line reduction` was done for the right reasons.Shoppers did stop buying organic produce and it went into decline.
“Soin October `2008`, Tesco introduced a new buying team for fruit, saladsand vegetables for organic. We also talked to the supply base andcustomers. Now we are nearly all the way back to how it was. We need tosupport the industry.”
Tesco is taking a store-by-store approach with its four-point plan to get organic produce sales up.
Mulqueensaid the plan looks at the range, price, quality and communication andwhich approach suits each particular store’s demographic and area. “Itis about the right range in the right store and getting those customersback,” she continued. “We now have a top-10 list of organic fruit andvegetables that must be available in any one store, like blueberries,leeks and lemons, that are really important to the organic customer.”
Tesco’sorganic sales are now outperforming in the market and more than aquarter of the retailer’s fresh produce customers buy organic, whichequates to 3.6 million Clubcard holders.
The organic brandmanager is due to start today and will promote and organise events fororganic food in Tesco stores nationally.
