“Strawberries will sell themselves,” says Asda fruit buyer, Lee Harper. But that does not mean the retailer is sitting back when it come to soft fruit, far from it in fact.
Asda is seeing significant increase in sales on berries, with the overall category experiencing growth of around 70 per cent.
There are a number of reasons for that outstanding performance, from clever formatting to quality and specialised sourcing, but probably the biggest factor in the retailer’s success has been its dedicated focus.
George Beach, assistant md of AMS, Asda’s category advisor for berries, says the fact his company is the sole supplier to Asda on soft fruit and deals with no other retailer has paid dividends.
“As AMS is only focused on Asda all our development is specifically for them. Asda is the first thing everyone here thinks of when they get up in the morning, and the last thing they think about before they go to bed. That really does make a difference,” says Beach.
A key win for Asda has been its focus on local sourcing and this year, the emphasis is greater than ever, with more and more UK strawberry producers delivering direct to their local store.
Harper says: “The biggest thing we want to highlight is our local offer on strawberries, it is something that we do that nobody else does and it’s growing and growing each year. If you want fresh strawberries, get to our stores, we’re the best at it.”
The retailer began stocking locally sourced strawberries three seasons ago, with product initially going into 12 stores, mainly down in Kent. The following year they had around 50 stores receiving direct deliveries, and this year they are hoping to hit between 60 and 70 stores in Kent, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Vale of Evesham, Yorkshire and Scotland.
And the period of supply is expanding as well, says Harper. “The fruit used to only be available in the peak of the season, just for the summer, but now we’ll have fruit still going into store in September. I think it’s something we should be shouting about.”
Mary Ling, local produce marketing manager, says the retailer is working hard with the growers, supplying them with all the right specifications and requirements to ensure the fruit meets the right standards.
“The farmers can carry out all the necessary tests and checks, as we would in a depot, but the fruit is then delivered locally, covering far less miles,” she says.
The fact the strawberries are local is clearly flagged up to consumers with special packaging featuring labels which state the area and, in some cases, even name the individual farmer.
Point of sale material is also used to flag up the offer, although Harper says some stores take things into their own hands: “Some of them go all out and put out flags and make a big fuss, and that’s great.”
And the fruit is proving popular with consumers as well. Beach says: “The uplift in sales on local produce has been very good, around 200 per cent when you compare the local lines to standard lines.”
It is not just local produce which is proving popular either. The introduction of an economy line to the sector, through Asda’s Smartprice brand, has been extremely successful, says Ling.
“A key driver for us is to lower the cost of produce for families and we’re doing that by introducing the Smartprice concept into the produce areas.”
She says the new line uses class II produce in appearance, but quality wise, the fruit is just as good.
“It’s purely cosmetic, it might be a slightly different shape, but the taste is the same high quality. It’s great for us, and it’s great for the farmers as we’re taking more of their crop.”
Beach says the fact the fruit might be misshapen is an advantage: “Most people seem to believe that if the fruit is misshapen then it’s slightly better for you. Customers aren’t worried about shapes and sizes, they’re more worried about where it’s from and how it’s grown. It’s often considered more natural if it is slightly misshapen.”
Pack sizes are also an area Asda is investigating, says Harper. “We’re looking at bigger size formats, we have 227g and 400g, but there’s a possibility to go to even bigger packs, but it also boils down to space on the fixture as well.”
He says having larger pack sizes will also allow Asda to be flexible when it comes to handling the vagaries of the season, allowing it to handle larger than expected crops.
Asda is also looking to get clever with its marketing, says Harper: “We’ve expanded the amount of space given over to berries, but we’re also looking at the other channels.
“Perhaps looking at getting the strawberries in with the cream, so at times when we know we’ve got a good crop flush we can put them in there and drive sales.”
Beach says AMS has also been working on developing new varieties: “We’ve got a number of new varieties out of our Iberian sources, much more durable varieties. And that’s giving customers much better quality product.”
While supplying 100 per cent of Asda’s soft fruit, the company is also a strong grower in its own right, with volume increasing all the time, says Beach. The company has also established a PO of which most of its grower suppliers are members.
“We also have our own farm in Portugal which is expanding and becoming a stronger part of our Iberian supply. That gives us full control of traceability and development as well as variety management.”
At the end of the day, Beach says AMS’s single-minded focus and dedication is the key to its success: “The evidence of our success is in the growth of sales in the category. Essentially, what we’re doing is increasing our range and packs on shelves and therefore increasing sales. Remember, we’re putting extremely high quality in and that has given us better buy back.”
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