Smooth mangoes are emerging as the way forward for Sainsbury’s, as the retailer looks for new ways to drive growth in the category.
Leo Muid, the retailer’s exotic fruits buyer, said Sainsbury’s is looking to move away from the more fibrous mainstay Tommy Atkins variety to focus more on the larger, and smoother fleshed, Kent and Keitt mangoes.
He said Sainsbury’s is also looking to sell the fruit differently to consumers: “We want to sell mangoes on their attributes, according to their variety, rather than just as a mango.”
He said the move away from Tommy Atkins was in tune with consumers needs: “Consumers prefer smoother flesh mangoes, so we’re looking to programme more of those. Most retailers are starting to move down this path, although we need to be careful we don’t lose out on price and promotion.”
Muid added Sainsbury’s has recently seen sales shoot up on medium sized mangoes, with growth of around 30 per cent over the last few weeks, mainly driven by promotion.
However he said the general mango market is beginning to suffer from promotion fatigue: “The level of promotion has deflated the market and we’ve seen a slight drop in value from last year.”
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