Brands in Europe have suffered something of a slow death over the past 20 years, their virtual extinction a result of the inexorable rise of the big supermarkets. Their private labels have all but eliminated fresh produce brands from the point of sale, rendering them almost invisible to the European shopper. And yet, Lazarus-like, brands seem to be coming back from the dead, gaining a new lease of life. How come?
The hegemony of fresh produce brands lasted for as a long as the wholesale trade was able to command a significant share of sales. It allowed the leading branded suppliers effectively to market their fresh produce at every level, namely wholesale, food retail and direct to consumer. Trade brands might continue at wholesale level, but they’re having to rethink things when it comes to finding a position at food retail or among consumers.
Naturally, the capture of fresh fruit and vegetable sales by the retailers has seen these traditional fresh produce brands replaced by private label. The supermarkets’ marketing departments now call the shots. In Europe, supermarkets have spent much time and effort developing their own brand portfolios – such as Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Edeka’s Rio Grande and Coop Italia’s Prodotto con Amore – which they believe reflect better their own customers’ demands, whether for fresh produce with better flavour, clearer provenance or guaranteed safety and sustainability.
That means brand marketers in the fresh produce business have seen their point of difference whittled away. Their trademarks have diminished on produce labels as PLU numbers or varietal names have taken over, while funding in-store branded campaigns has become ever more expensive for any one company acting on its own. Even the banana companies, perhaps Europe’s last redoubt of the traditional fresh produce brand, have seen their position eroded to a point where they are fast disappearing from supermarket shelves.
So it is that the surviving brand names have switched their consumer campaigns away from the retail store to a mix of above-the-line promotions that link the brand to the sponsorship of cultural or sporting events. Branded fresh fruit and vegetable promotions have become all about healthy living, with the message transmitted to shoppers as effectively as possible. But, as history teaches us, a counter-revolution comes hard on the heels of a revolution or, as the German philosopher Hegel has it, a thesis produces an antithesis and results in a synthesis. This seems to be the period we’re entering, one in which fresh produce brands have changed and are now reaching a new accommodation with private label.
Indeed, brand names have begun to reappear on supermarket shelves; labels which offer their own back-story of promise and possibility are gaining a prominent place in stores. Shoppers now buy up organic or Fairtrade produce because they’re confident of buying into an ethical way of life; you’re also seeing the emergence of varietal branding – club apple varieties such as Cameo, Kiku or Tentation – which suggests that some shoppers are still prepared to pay more for products that hit the spot every time; and, of course, supermarkets are happy to push regional or national brands, whether it’s Belgian-grown chicory or English asparagus sporting their national colours, or South African plums or ‘Blueberries from the South’ that are backed by significant in-store or television tie-ins.
At the same time, producer groups with enough muscle and money have succeeded in positioning their brands in the European marketplace. But the success stories of brand marketers such as Zespri or Melinda are now few and far between.
In fact, it’s clear that not all of this activity is generated by the supermarket chains themselves. In fact, increasingly these same supermarkets are buying into promotional programmes which are designed and delivered by the trade, offering it an opportunity to talk direct to end-consumers in a way that we haven’t seen for many years. And at the same time, information about purchasing habits and preference mapping that is gathered at the point of sale is helping to develop new varieties that better reflect consumer demand.
Of course, this is not new for any of us, but it shows brands haven’t gone away; they’ve simply had to change the way they operate. Their ability to work with the major supermarkets, which understand that such alliances can result in higher sales, provides a lesson to anyone keen to find their share of shelf space. After all, in Europe at least, that’s where all the action can be found.
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