Florette UK has produced a set of first quarter results that turn traditional conceptions of the prepared salad sector’s sales patterns on their head.
The Staffordshire-based supplier this week announced exclusively to freshinfo growth of 27.5 per cent in the first three months of 2008, way ahead of a fast-maturing £451 million market that expanded at just 0.7 per cent.
The UK’s top-selling prepared salad brand - Florette - also grew year on year by 19.7 per cent. Sales across the company’s core range have risen, and new listings were achieved with supermarkets and major independents, as the supplier took up the challenge of promoting its products at a time when the salad category has traditionally been content to hold its fire.
The January promotional effort was a diversion from previous strategy, said Florette UK managing director Mark Newton. “We had a great finish to last year, and we sat down and asked ourselves how we could maintain that in the early part of 2008, he told freshinfo. The decision was to have a really big start to this year, and the results have been phenomenal.
“We hit the ground running in 2008 with a number of start-of-the-year promotions, including a £300,000 mass media newspaper campaign in The Sun and Daily Mail, and an on-pack nationwide promotion with Virgin Active Gym memberships. These activities have been reflected in brand performance, and we are also enjoying increased brand loyalty from consumers.”
Recent independent consumer research revealed that the Florette brand has 77 per cent prompted awareness amongst ABC1 women, and 72 per cent when the group is extended to all women.
“Maybe we have been guilty as a category of sitting on our laurels in the winter,” said Newton. “It’s easy to blame the weather, but we all know it’s going to be cold and it will rain in January and February. The weather does have an impact on salads, but only really in the summer months. We can either sit back and accept that winter sales are always going to be low, or stand up and provide consumers with a year-round reason to eat salad.
“Even though our promotional work was mostly carried out in January, when there is a natural health kick, the sales growth has carried on through February and March, and is continuing in April too,” said Newton. “You have to remind people that you are there. When they are shopping for ingredients for their soups and stews, it is important not to allow them to forget about salad.”
Florette, with the backing of French parent company Soléco, has forged ahead in the bagged salad category by backing itself with significant investment in consumer advertising and promotion over a number of years. It has also invested in trade promotion, and is the sponsor of the Re:fresh Awards, at the London Marriott on May 8.
“There are a number of brands out there in our category now, but they are not all pushed or promoted in the same way as Florette,” Newton said. “What we are seeing is a result of a long history of advertising and promoting a brand that represents freshness, convenience and consistency,” he added.
“There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into creating those brand values, but the consumer does not need to understand everything that we do to see that Florette is all about putting the freshest product in a bag.”
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