Kip Winter-Cox, head of marketing at Bakkavor, has urged the prepared salads market to look at whether salad bags are really delivering consumers best value for money.
Speaking at the British Leafy Salads Association conference, Winter-Cox outlined the conflicting needs of growers, packers and retailers but told delegates the focus needed to stay on what the consumer wants in prepared salads. Fresh produce, convenience, health, quality and good choice - both in pack size and price, were all important, she said, but top of the list was value for money.
“They want value for money - not just the lowest possible price,” she said. “Sometimes they want the cheapest, sometimes they want to spend more for something special.”
A survey of UK adults showed that 15 per cent bought fresh-cut salads in the previous but year but not the current year.
Winter-Cox said some had bought salad bags in the previous year because wholehead iceberg lettuce prices were at an all-time high for 18 weeks. But more important was quality, freshness and good value.
If you reduce the benefits, the costs - such as price, or guilt over excess packaging - grow in relative size until they outweigh the positives and products offer less value for money. “And that’s what’s happened for some people,” she said.
“The challenge for all of us is to get back to what consumers want - a real choice of products that are clearly fresh and healthy, grown in sunshine and washed and stored in best possible condition.”
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