Opportunities in produce for brands

Chris Cowan, Consumer Insight Director at Kantar Worldpanel spoke at Fruit Logistica’s Fresh Produce Forum event looking at brands in produce on 8 February 2017.

The session looked at how the retail sector is increasingly using branded products as a marketing tool, even among discount retailers. And while “own” or no-name brands are still important, they are not the current focus of attention.

The discussion covered the logic behind this trend, what is the potential for branding in fresh produce. Chris gave a general update on the grocery market, and looked at the top line trends within brands and own label.

He discussed the impact these wider trends have had on produce and how the market in Britain has evolved through the last five years. At just under £12bn, produce represents about 10% of the grocery market and is only second in size to the alcohol category.

In recent years there has been a number of retailer-led innovations in the market, especially through the clear private label tiering to help differentiate varieties and types of produce. However, there are still opportunities for suppliers to help develop their categories further.

Chris went on to demonstrate, using a category case study, that even in an entirely private label market, shopping and consumption habits can be shifted fundamentally to help treble value over 5 years.