Investing time and money in developing your product and its promotion is crucial to growing its sales, according to two industry experts speaking at FPJ Live yesterday (21 April).
During the conference’s Lessons From Abroad session, øyvind Briså, trading director of Norwegian fresh produce specialist Bama, and Bert Barmans, general manager Europe at Zespri Belgium, revealed that fruit and kiwifruit consumption trends in their native Norway and Belgium, respectively, far outstrip levels in the UK.
Belgium imports twice as many kiwifruit as the UK, despite having a much smaller population (11.2m v 65m). And Norway’s fresh produce consumption is rising, while Europe’s is declining, they revealed.
Both speakers said investing in great varieties, that are tasty and healthy, and in marketing them, were key to developing sales.
Having strong relationships with retailers is also vital to sales growth.
Briså said his company’s unique structure, with two competing Norwegian retailers as two of the three co-owners, was key to growing consumption in Norway.
“ Long-term thinking, developing ideas with growers, and having retailers dedicated to the same idea is a very powerful thing. We all use our energy in the same direction,” he told delegates at the two-day event at The Belfry in Warwickshire. “Bama’s strategies have helped boost national consumption.”
Briså revealed that returns to Bama’s Norwegian grower-suppliers had grown significantly since 2001, while volume remained roughly the same, thanks to the company’s investment in varietal research.
The 130-year-old family company sources a range of 88 different seasonal fruits and vegetables from 1,139 Norwegian growers, he added. Berries now rank as the company’s number one product in volume terms.
Zespri, meanwhile, represents 2,500 kiwifruit growers and manages 30 per cent of globally-traded kiwifruit, Barmans told delegates.
Zespri’s mission, he said, is to increase its share of the total global traded fruit basket (all fruits) from 0.65 per cent to 2 per cent.
“We had a turnover of NZ$1.56bn in 2015, and we intend to grow this,” he said.
Barmans explained that Zespri had overcome the PSA crisis in its Gold kiwifruit production thanks to its forward-planning and investment in alternative varieties, which meant a replacement, SunGold, the result of 15 years research, was waiting in the wings.
To launch a new product, you need good distribution channels and strong marketing, he said. “Marketing a product is always about mental availability and physical availability of your product,” Barmans said. “You have to have both or you can’t perform the way you should perform.
“Physical availability is retail presence. It’s also about the quality of product. All our studies tell us taste is the most important quality. This is a core driver of purchase and repurchase. If it’s not a tasty product, you can’t enter the market.
“You also need to be in the mind of the consumer. If the consumer doesn’t consider your product then even if in store, they won’t buy it,” he added.
“Know your consumer very well. The more you know them, the better you can target them. It allows you to pursue the most lucrative growth opportunities.
”Capture consumer attention, and make them aware of your product and what it stands for, advised Barmans.“The roadshow is one of the foundations of our marketing plan to increase our consumer base,” he said. “It increases depth of purchase, and strengthens our relationship with retailers.“A strong brand, distribution structure and integrated system from seed-to-spoon: this supports the product long-term.”
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