Marks & Spencer has become the first major UK retailer to stock 100 per cent organic loose bananas.
The chain switched its entire loose offer to organic on Bank Holiday Monday - a move designed to make a significant dent in the targets set in Plan A, chief executive Stuart Rose’s commitment to make M&S socially, environmentally and corporately “fit for the future”.
Fruit buyer Richard Brown told freshinfo: “At M&S we overtrade significantly on pre-packed organic bananas, with a market share in excess of 10 per cent. The move to 100 per cent organic loose will more than double our organic banana sales.”
Plan A is looking for organic sales to treble.
Brown added that the organic commitment also differentiates the M&S banana offer in a mature category and suits his customer profile. “We have been assessing the option of converting our loose to organic for the last couple of years and now we have the consistent quality and volume availability to do it,” he said.
The fruit will be supplied from the Dominican Republic by Savid International, through M&S supplier JP Fresh. “This has always been one of our goals as an organic farmer,” said Savid president Jetta van den Berg. “For a supermarket chain to go fully organic for its loose bananas is fantastic news for all organic banana growers and hopefully it will encourage more growers to move into organic.
“If every retailer was to follow, there would not be enough bananas,” she added. Brown said: “Of course, there is an element of risk in what we’re doing. As soon as we stand behind the organic banner, we are open to the vagaries of hurricanes and other problems and the contingencies are far more limited on organic than on conventional banana supply.”
M&S is also increasing its Fairtrade offer - Brown forecasts that by the end of the summer the retailer’s banana sales will be split 50:50 between organic and Fairtrade, but there is no immediate plan to switch into Fairtrade organic. “Both Fairtrade and organic require a premium,” said Brown, “and I have to be realistic in terms of pricing for my customers.”
The loose organic fruit hit the shelves at 99p a kilo on Monday, after the last conventional loose product was cleared on Sunday. “While that is a premium over the rock-bottom high street prices for conventional bananas, they represent tremendous value for money for a nutritional snack,” Brown added, “and that is undoubtedly why the organic fruit sells so well. To put it in perspective, the retail price is cheaper than it was four to five years ago.”
Shelf barkers and new box designs have been communicating the new message very clearly to the consumer. Brown will not be drawn on predicting the effect on sales, however. “It is difficult to predict the impact this will have on sales,” Brown said. “There could be some cannibalisation from organic bags, but organic loose is something we want to be known for and it is a very strong brand message for our customers.”
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