“We’re making produce the hero category in Somerfield,” says Dominic Edwards, the award-winning retailer’s head of fresh produce. And that strategy is beginning to show real results.
Having taken the title of Foods from Spain Multiple Retailer of the Year at Re:fresh 2005, the UK’s fifth largest supermarket group has continued to punch way above its weight when it comes to fruit and veg.
“Produce is the largest participating category in the whole company,” says Edwards. “It’s seen fantastic growth in the last year.”
According to data from ACNeilsen Scantrack, for the 12 weeks ending June 11, 2005, total fresh produce sales were up 8.6 per cent, however Somerfield has seen its sales for the same period climb a massive 37.7 per cent, considerably outperforming the rest of the market.
“That really demonstrates our impressive growth in this category, and I think we’re getting the fresh message across to our customers,” adds Edwards.
He says a key factor in the retailer’s success has been down to its superior range and quality, which, in its area, is second to none.
“We’re the UK’s leading high street supermarket. We have stores in easy and convenient locations, we’re not a big out-of-town operator. That helps to put us in a strong position with our fresh produce offer, which is equally backed up by the rest of our range throughout our stores.
“Fresh is often something that is seen as a weak area in smaller stores, but I think what we’ve been doing is helping to turn that view around.
“We have a totally different offer to the big retailers, we’re a local neighbourhood retailer, we’re not Asda and we’re not Tesco. We offer a really professional approach to neighbourhood retailing.”
A key factor in this has been Somerfield’s focus on local sourcing. “Our approach to local sourcing is also giving us some excellent feedback from customers.
“They want local produce and that has been backed up by the fact that we’ve had an absolutely brilliant summer on strawberries.”
Edwards says that while total market strawberry sales were up by around 20 per cent this summer, Somerfield’s sales have grown by 80 per cent. “That’s down to the fact that our customers have been going into the stores and they’re not just getting UK strawberries, they’re getting local fruit from their area. That’s really helped the category grow.”
He says the success on local sourcing is down to the technical team. “We have a fantastic technical team, and they’re out there, speaking to suppliers. We’re getting other suppliers referring us to people and we’re getting approached by suppliers wanting to work with us.
“A lot of retailers are rationalising their supply chain, but this year, we’ve actually taken on two new strawberry growers. And we’re always looking for new suppliers.”
Somerfield’s relationship with its supply base is another factor he says which is important in ensuring it delivers the best fresh produce to its customers.
“On our core lines, there isn’t one supplier that has been with us for less than 10 years. We are working closely with them - we’re talking about developing UK tomatoes in winter and that involves time, money and commitment - companies are investing and growing with us.”
There’s been some significant innovation within the company as well, says Edwards.
“We’ve had a restructure internally, brought in a new development team and a creative solutions director to improve the food culture within the stores.
“We need to get the food culture right in stores. So we’ve launched Taste, Tell and Sell.”
Under this scheme, the stores get a flyer with information and a sample of the produce, starting with tomatoes.
“They’re told all about it and where it’s from and then given the chance to taste it. That’s gone down fantastically well and we’re going to be sending some apples and peppers next.
“You’re dealing with a lot of people in the stores and they don’t all understand the products, so it’s really interesting. Hopefully that will then help them to sell the produce as well.”
In keeping with its ambition to make fresh produce the “hero category” has been the launch of the Market Fresh concept. The retailer is in the process of rebranding a number of its stores to the new style format and Edwards says it will have at least 40 stores converted by the end of the year.
“That’s fantastic news,” he says. “The key behind the concept is to offer a modern, trendy and inspiring store with high quality fresh foods and excellent staff. It’s providing local convenience with a superior offer of fresh foods.”
The format places the emphasis firmly on fresh produce with displays positioned for maximum effect when entering the stores. “Fresh produce is sold from low-level fixtures at the front of the store and we have full floor to ceiling windows, which work with the fixtures and lighting to highlight the section. This is further supported by the use of black boards and slate tile flooring.” All of which adds up to an impressive atmosphere.
The rest of the estate is also being invested in, he says: “We’re also refitting all our essential format stores as well. There’s a huge investment programme to refit all our stores.”
The group has certainly seen expansion as well, having taken on 114 stores in Scotland from Safeway, and sales are looking good says Edwards. “We’ve seen significant increases in sales in Scotland, and the stores there were delighted with the win at Re:fresh. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback.”
When it comes to convenience, ranging and availability are key for a retailer like Somerfield, and in response to this, the company has launched SUCCoR, which stands for Store Unique Centrally Controlled Range. This basically boils down to getting the right product, in the right store, at the right time.
“It’s a ranging system which allows us to range specifically for each store, according to the shopper demographics,” says Edwards. “If it’s a convenience style store, we can decide whether to put one or two loose apple varieties in, and whether we need to have more organics or premium products.”
The system is key to helping improve availability. “One of the biggest challenges ahead is availability in store,” he says. “SUCCoR does help with that. If we get the range right then availability increases.
“We’re working on various things to get on shelf availability right. There’s a real focus on making sure customers’ expectations are met. Especially when you’re in the convenience sector, you have to get availability right.”
The increasing focus on healthy eating is also something Somerfield is addressing when it comes to fresh produce. “There’s a real challenge and opportunity ahead. The healthy eating and 5-a-day messages are not being fully recognised. Public awareness is still low.”
Edwards and his team are addressing that in a number of ways, by raising the profile of the 5-a-day message both instore and in the Somerfield magazine. A new logo has also been recently launched to boost the initiative.
The retailer’s magazine is also taking a renewed focus on fruit and veg and healthy eating. “We’re making it much more foody, with around a quarter of the publication dedicated to fresh produce,” says Edwards. “We’re looking to feature local growers on the back page, until the end of the year, promoting their produce.
“We recently did a double page spread to back up the healthy eating message - a spread of coupons for our customers, which offered them £5 towards their 5 a day.”
High profile offers and point-of-sale material is also used throughout stores to highlight produce. “Customer education is vital,” he says. “We have to educate the customers. We have the 5-a-day logo and we’ve redesigned our labels to carry more information on the products. We’re encouraging our staff to go for it on produce, build really big and good displays.”
All of which demonstrates why the company took the title of Multiple Retailer of the Year - something it has not been slow to shout about, announcing the win heavily in stores with point-of-sale material, posters and giant banners. It also took a series of adverts in national newspapers to proclaim its success.
Winning the title was unexpected, says Edwards: “You can’t be too confident when you’re up against Tesco and Waitrose, as they’re both fiercely competitive, but to win was absolutely fantastic, to get that recognition for all the hard work put in by both the staff and our suppliers.”
No comments yet