Sampling demonstrations at over 100 Asda stores last month have boosted sales of Salanova, Rijk Zwaan’s one-cut ready lettuce.
The tastings saw sales of Salanova Butterhead Lettuce - launched into Asda in June - soar by 800 per cent on the demonstration day, and hold an increase of 30 per cent the following week.
According to Salanova supplier English Village Salads, which co-funded the demonstrations with grower Snaith Salads, research has shown many customers are reluctant to buy wholehead lettuce because of the preparation involved, which is time consuming and creates more waste than prepared salads.
“The Salanova lettuce range is truly innovative and alleviates some of the negatives associated with wholehead lettuce, said marketing manager, Kelly Colrein. “The average customer spends less than 15 seconds at the fixture so this was always going to be challenging to communicate.
“The “Show & Sell’ team at Asda did a great job. Lettuce is not the easiest of things to sample but the team managed to pull in a bit of a crowd.”
Werner Neuhoff, salad buyer at Asda said: “The lettuce category is such a traditional, long-established area that it's difficult to encourage customers to change their normal buying habits. By creating a bit of theatre in store we have now drawn attention to its key attributes, we are confident that this will create a pattern of sales that will continue right until the end of the summer.”
According to Rijk Zwaan, the lettuce - which separates into same-size, ready-to-eat leaves with one cut the base - has been “treated like a true star” by supermarkets all over the world, has gone down particularly well in the UK, with Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Co-op and Tesco all shelving the product. Rijk Zwaan’s Vincent van Wolferen said: “Supermarket chains and processors the world over vie for its flavours and develop various concepts with and for this unique product, and the UK is now the frontrunner in this.”
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