The decline in variety of fresh produce available in UK supermarkets appears to be in reverse, mainly due to consumer demand for new, interesting and tastier products. The competitive retail environment has led to supermarkets using variety as a point of differentiation between them and their competitors, meaning consumers have access to a raft of new or previously-unheard-of varieties, as Hugh Westbrook reports.
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If variety is the spice of life, it certainly hasn’t always been the spice of supermarket shopping. As supermarkets have grown to dominate our eating lives, many critics have said that rather than giving us more choice over what we eat, the buying decisions they make give us less choice.
In particular, they point to variety, and say that in the UK, for example, there are many varieties of some of our most basic crops – but because supermarkets only choose to sell a small selection of these, large numbers of varieties are ignored. Just-food examined this subject with relation to apples last year.
But consumer interest in food means that this situation is changing. No longer is it enough for major chains to simply sell white and red potatoes or one type of tomato – an increasing knowledge of food and a growing desire on the part of customers to try new things means that supermarkets need to introduce different varieties of fresh produce in order to compete with one another. Increasingly, an improvement in in-store variety can become a valuable marketing tool.
A shopper only needs to look at the selection of potatoes in the local superstore to see this change in action. Indeed Sainsbury’s has recently been emphasising this change of focus by using Jamie Oliver to advertise one particular variety of new potato, the Jersey Royal.
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By GlobalDataDesigner spuds
Sainsbury’s potato buyer John Maylam told just-food.com: “As a nation we are developing more and more sophisticated tastes, and this is even reflected in our choice of spud. Ten years ago we may have been perfectly content with a standard white potato for boiling, mashing, roasting and baking – but this is certainly no longer the case.
“The demise of the ‘common’ potato has been attributed to an evolution of our taste buds – over the years sophisticated palettes have increasingly demanded ever more exotic varieties of potato.”
Maylam pointed out that Sainsbury’s varieties include not only Jersey Royal but also Maris Piper, Charlotte, Desiree, King Edwards, Anya, Vivaldi, Pink Fur and Cyprus. Having such a range allows the store to market the individual qualities of each potato.
“Compared to sales of the white potato which have remained constant, sales of Sainsbury’s Designer Spuds have risen dramatically over the last year,” Maylam commented. “The Anya potato, known for its unusual nutty flavour, has seen sales growth of 220% between 2004 and 2005. The Vivaldi variety, known as the ‘butterless baker’ because it has such a creamy taste there is no need to add butter, has seen volume uplift of 150% between the same period of time.
“Organic Designer Spuds are enjoying equal levels of success, with sales of the salad potato, Pink Fur, up by 55% in the last year, whilst the eponymous Lady Balfour has grown by 52%,” Maylam said.
Organic potato varieties are likely to continue climbing – earlier this year researchers at Newcastle University identified ten varieties of potatoes which can be grown organically and are resistant to blight and which are now available across Europe. For more details, click here.
Those working in the potato industry are trying to showcase different varieties, and feel that the effort is paying off as consumers start to request different types of potato by name.
Marketing the difference
Kathryn Race of the British Potato Council told just-food.com: “Our consumer research tells us that consumers are interested in varieties.
“Four years ago consumers wanted more done to tell them about potato varieties and our industry responded to this – we have definitely started to make a difference here.
“It is all about adding value to the potato, steering away from it being the ‘old fashioned commodity product’ so there is mileage in promoting varieties. The potato industry has made a good start and I think consumers will continue to want to know more about them.”
Sainsbury’s is not alone in trying to attract customers in this way. Tesco told just-food that with healthy living becoming more important, increasing the range of fresh produce available has become vital. Sales have grown accordingly.
Gordon Fairbrother, Central Buyer for Fruit at Waitrose, told just-food.com that variety will be increasingly vital to the purchasing decisions made by consumers. He said: “The flavoural, textural and nutritional differences between varieties will become ever more important in determining what we purchase.
“The marketing of varietal difference is already well developed in some categories such as apples, tomatoes and potatoes but I think we will see it becoming more prevalent in other produce areas, possibly stone fruit and soft fruit.”
But choosing crops is not the only way to go about increasing the variety on offer. Creating new varieties is another way for companies to mark themselves out.
Strawberry tomato
The number of tomatoes on the shelves these days can be bewildering – Marks & Spencer told just-food.com that many of these are brand new varieties that have been developed by the company together with food technicians.
Strangeness is clearly no bar to a new variety. The company recently heralded its latest advance – the strawberry tomato. This will look like a strawberry and taste like a tomato. The company said it was being developed in response to consumer demand for more unusual varieties of tomato, and point to a sales increase of 25% in the last year in speciality tomatoes as proof that people are looking for ever more strange breeds.
Marks & Spencer tomato expert Peter Ireland said: “People are getting more adventurous and want to try different varieties of tomato. They want tomatoes which look unusual and exciting to put in the salad bowl.
“The strawberry tomato not only looks fantastic – it also has a great taste and can be eaten on its own or in a salad.”
The strawberry tomato, being created by experts at a secret location in Lancashire, will not be in stores for more than a year.
Consumer demand
Not content with strawberries, the company is also creating what it believes will be the best-tasting but least attractive tomato on the market, the ugly tomato. Mostly green and unevenly-shaped, it is being grown in southern Spain and will hit stores in November. Ireland said: “It tastes so nice that you’d eat it on its own in the same way that you’d eat an apple.”
All over the world, consumers are asking for different and unusual varieties of the basic products they have been eating for years. Ahold USA told just-food.com that customers shop by variety, with Vidalia onions, California Long White potatoes and Bink cherries featuring in shopping baskets.
Increasingly it seems that supermarkets cannot simply supply basic varieties of their fundamental products and hope to keep consumers happy. Shoppers are demanding a wider range of their most basic goods, and any supermarket group which does not keep up could easily see its competitors reaping the dividends.
