Toralf Richter, Gabriele Hempfling FiBL – Supermarket Study 2002: Organic Products in European Supermarkets ISBN: 3-906081-37-0 © 2003, Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau (FiBL) Research Institute for Organic Agriculture Ackerstrasse, 5070 Frick Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 62 865 72 72; Fax: + 41 (0) 62 865 72 73 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.fibl.ch FiBL Berlin e.V. Office Frankfurt Galvanistr. 28, 60486 Frankfurt am Main Germany Tel.: +49 (0) 69 713 76 99 –0; Fax: +49 (0) 69 713 76 99 – 9 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.fibl.de All rights reserved Printed by buysite ag, Basel, Switzerland Organic Products in European Supermarkets 2002 2 Organic Products in European Supermarkets 2002 Summary The study describes the current situation of the organic markets in 11 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK) and the main development paths of retail chains referring organic products. In special it should light up the role of the retail chains within the national organic markets. National case studies on the main retailing sellers of organic products point out the currently used marketing approaches and measures to sell organic products as well as the structure of marketing organisation for the organic product lines within the companies. The following retail chains are the most active (successful) ones in selling organic products in Europe: Tegut, Germany (1.300 organic items / 8.0% organic products market share), COOP Switzerland (1100 organic items / 7.0%) and COOP Sweden with their chain Konsum (approximately 1000 organic items / 7.5%). The results show, that the retail chains can be distinguished in Leader and Adapter referring their preferred strategy for the development of organic products lines. “Leader” are those enterprises which try to keep or to reach the national or at least regional market leadership in selling organic products and emphasise their organic product line in the company communication (mostly in a close relation to their strong environmental and social engagement). Often these retail chains also have been the pioneer role in marketing organic products in their countries. These companies are mostly very engaged, highly creative and strongly engaged in developing their organic assortments. For example COOP (Denmark), COOP (Switzerland), Tegut (Germany) or COOP (Sweden) follow a “Leader-Strategy”. Retail chains which orientate their offer of organic products according current trends in demand or just as a reaction to the strategy of main competitors can be named as “Adapter”. In fact they sell organic products, but without strong active engagement or effort. The organic assortment is no important part of the communication and organic products often are not clearly pointed out at the PoS. They are quite passive in the organic market development and adopt their marketing strategy to the market environment. For example, Metro (Germany), Dansk Supermarked (Denmark) or SOK (Finland) follow an “Adapter-Strategy”. As the current European recession constrains the growth of organic sales the retailers have found ways out of the crisis and react on the trend to discounts. Therefore the study also wants to show how successful marketing approaches for organic products are able to earn success also in periods of restricted economic preconditions which concerns whole Europe at the moment. In the following the factors for a successful marketing of organic products are listed. Visions, objectives or strategies referring organic products are defined and regularly controlled Active networking within the total national and international organic sector Independent team /persons for the development of the organic assortment exist Staff education referring organic products Conducting of market research referring organic products Offer of an attractive size of the organic assortment Good quality of organic products Outstanding role of the organic assortment within the communication Clear pointing out of organic products at the PoS Moderate price premiums 3 Organic Products in European Supermarkets 2002 Compared to the former FiBL supermarket study of 2000, the marketing and the organisation of organic products improved in the European retail sector. Especially the size of organic assortments were enlarged and the visibility of organic products in the stores were improved. The majority of retail chains uses customer guide systems or other marking elements for marking organic products today. In addition the communication outside the PoS increased. Nevertheless there are still some lacks in marketing organic products. Seldom the companies define visions, objectives for selling organic products or use a benchmarking system referring organic products. It leads to the conclusion that the organic assortment for many companies plays not a dominating strategic role. Another problem in marketing are the often too high price premiums or bad price images of organic products, which can be considered as the most important barrier for consumers not to buy organic items. 4 Organic Products in European Supermarkets 2002 1 Introduction..................................................................................................................... 13 1.1 Objective and studied Countries ............................................................................. 14 1.2 Methodologies and selected Retail Chains ............................................................. 15 2 Country Reports ............................................................................................................. 19 2.1 Austria ..................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.1 Development of the Organic Sector ................................................................. 19 2.1.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 21 2.1.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 23 2.2 Belgium ................................................................................................................... 27 2.2.1 The Development of the Organic Sector.......................................................... 27 2.2.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 27 2.2.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 30 2.3 Denmark.................................................................................................................. 37 2.3.1 Development of the Organic Sector ................................................................. 37 2.3.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 38 2.3.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 40 2.4 Finland..................................................................................................................... 48 2.4.1 Development of the Organic Sector ................................................................. 48 2.4.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 49 2.4.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 52 2.5 France ..................................................................................................................... 60 2.5.1 Development of the Organic Sector ................................................................. 60 2.5.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 61 2.5.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 64 2.6 Germany.................................................................................................................. 68 2.6.1 Development of the Organic Sector ................................................................. 68 2.6.2 The Market for Organic Products ..................................................................... 69 2.6.3 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 71 2.7 Italy.......................................................................................................................... 87 2.7.1 The Organic Market ......................................................................................... 87 2.7.2 Organic Products in Retail Chains ................................................................... 91 5 Organic Products in European Supermarkets 2002 2.8 The Netherlands .................................................................................................... 100 2.8.1 The Organic Market........................................................................................ 100 2.8.2 The Conventional Retail Trade....................................................................... 103 2.9 Sweden.................................................................................................................. 112 2.9.1 Development of the Organic Sector ............................................................... 112 2.9.2 The Market for Organic Products ................................................................... 113 2.9.3 Organic Products in