The ever-growing tomato category must have clearer segmentation, The Greenery told freshinfo.
Hein Bemelmans, marketing director at Dutch marketing giant The Greenery bv, said the range of tomatoes on sale had grown so large in the last decade that the whole supply chain needed to be more informed about market demand and availability.
To combat this concern, the Greenery has introduced a guide to tomato selection - “The Tomato Compass”, which is now available in English.
The guide classifies the company’s tomato portfolio into four sections: Classic, Gourmet, Snack and Mediterranean.
According to Bemelmans it was designed for two distinct functions. “On the one hand, we want to make it clear to our growers what we are growing because we are finding more and more that our growers are approaching us with very high-tasting tomatoes. But we need to ask whether it is better than something we have already,” he said.
Meanwhile, it is equally important that all European retailers know how many different kinds of tomatoes are available, and that they stock at least one from each section, he claimed.
Bemelmans said that although UK supermarkets are streets ahead of their European counterparts in this respect, The Greenery has some brand new varieties to offer, such as “San Mazzo”, an unusually elongated dark red type in the Mediterranean section.
Having an English version of the catalogue would also be essential in facilitating trade with the company’s Eastern European customers, he added.
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