On December 14, the Ecological Future Day was arranged for the tenth year in a row. The theme this time was How do we turn the eco-market around? A particular focus was on measures that can increase the sale of organic products in the grocery trade.

This time we had invited Michael Wilde from Bionext who keynote speaker to tell about the Dutch eco-market. Then followed two panel discussions where we started from ours 10-point program to increase organically in the grocery trade.

The first panel consisted of:

• Martin Moström, Retail House
• Anna Nilsson, Country Agriculture
• Ulf Mazur, Matpriskollen
• Christina Snöbohm, WWF Sweden/Sustainable food chain

The second panel consisted of:

• Jenny Lönn, ICA Sweden
• Anna Sommar Lonnemar, Hemköp Sweden
• Mattis Bergquist, Coop Sweden
• Anneli Bylund, Lidl Sweden

When the panelists had their say, Emma Rung summarized from KRAV and Erika Olsson from Ekologiska Lantbrukarna the day together with Anton and Charlotte from Organic Sweden.

Panelists and moderators during the Ecological Future Day:
Line 1: Charlotte Bladh André: Organic Sweden, Martin Moström: Retail House & Christina Snöbohm, WWF/Sustainable food chain
Line 2: Anton Järild, Organic Sweden, Anna Nilsson: Land Agriculture, Ulf Mazur: Food Price College
Line 3: Erika Olsson: Ekologiska Lantbrukarna, Jenny Lönn: ICA Sweden, Anna Sommar Lönnemar: Hemköp Sweden
Work 4: Emma Rung: KRAV, Anneli Bylund, Lidl Sweden, Mattis Bergquist, Coop Sweden

Insight into the organic food market in the Netherlands

Our keynote speaker for the day, Michaël Wilde, operations manager of our sister organization Bionext, talked about the development of organic in the Netherlands. We were told how the grocery chains Lidl, Albert Heijn and Plus Retail take different measures to increase sales of organic products. Lidl is working to raise the affordability of its organic range to attract the segment of conscious consumers who are trying to limit their food budget. Albert Heijns, on the other hand, takes a different approach. They offer their customers the opportunity to buy a "loyalty card" that gives them a discount on the entire organic range. Furthermore, Wilde talked about Plus Retail, which through its Replacement Strategy, works to replace conventional alternatives with organic ones among its private label products. Nowadays, they therefore only sell organic potatoes and onions under their own brands - and more products are to be changed to organic in the future.

In addition to the ambitious investments from the grocery trade, we gained insight into how politicians and decision-makers identified organic as an important tool in the transition to sustainable food systems. During the presentation, we were told that the Netherlands has allocated 50 million Euros to support organic production in various ways with the goal of reaching 15 percent organic agricultural land by 2030.

After Wilde's presentation, the panelists took over. Below follows a thematization of what the panelists said in connection with our 10-point program for how eco can increase in grocery retail.

Michaël Wilde from the Dutch Bionext

Incentives for the grocery trade

Ulf Mazur at Matpriskollen claimed that strong personal incentives are needed for buyers, category managers and store managers to increase eco-friendliness in grocery retailing.

Ulf said that bonuses for managers who manage to increase eco-sales are one way to go. Furthermore, he said that competitions between and within stores are something that is used to spur store employees. Such types of competitions are common to increase sales in prioritized categories and can equally well be applied to the eco segment, said Ulf. Christina Snöbohm at WWF/Sustainable food chain believed, however, that in-depth dialogue with DVH and food companies regarding sustainability is a more important factor for the industry to recognize the great responsibility they have for sustainability issues.

Christina Snöbohm also pointed out that the CEOs of all 15 companies within the Sustainable Food Chain signed its roadmap towards 2030. Ecological and KRAV-marked is included there among the foods that rank highest within Grow the top (see illustration below). Hopefully, the CEOs' signature within the Sustainable Food Chain can have snowball effects down to buyers and category managers, said Christina. Even Jenny Lönn at ICA Sweden had a similar reasoning.

Grow the top and lift the bottom. Illustration from Sustainable food chain

Overall, this theme can be linked to our point that Increase the range of sustainable products by rewarding buyers who invest in organic and KRAV-branded products.

Long term for farmers

Several panelists highlighted that conversion from conventional to organic takes time for the farmer. Much because of the conversion period of at least two years that the regulations require. Therefore, the grocery store needs to be long-term in its eco-strategies.

According to Martin Moström at Retail Hosue, the challenge lies in the fact that grocery stores are opportunists and offer what people want at the moment. Erika Olsson from Ekologiska Lantbrukarna, who summarized today's discussions, even said that it can take ten years before a farm that has been turned around really becomes profitable for being organic, and that long-termism in the grocery store's purchase of organic products is therefore the key to successful Swedish eco-agriculture.

This theme can be linked to all points in the 10-point programme.

Added value crucial

Jenny Lönn at ICA Sweden told us that many ICA dealers feel that consumers in stores appreciate the added value that eco stands for, for example animal welfare and cultivation without unnatural, chemical pesticides. The problem, however, is that many consumers then forget or miss that organic stands for precisely these added values. Therefore, ICA Sweden has developed new shop material that synchronously makes clear the added value that eco brings with it (see image below). Jenny also told us that the 30 sustainability coaches that ICA Sweden provides for the country's ICA stores are trained in various labels and that it is of the utmost importance that these can convey to the stores that eco has many included added values.

How ICA chooses to communicate ecological added value

Martin Moström at Retail House was on a similar track when he talked about the intention gap that exists with many consumers. He said that many surveys show that consumers say they want to buy more eco, but that they then buy significantly less eco once they are in the store. Stores that manage to bridge this intention gap with consumers get satisfied and loyal customers. A conclusion from this is that eco-messages therefore need to be present when the purchase decision is made in store. From Organic Swedens perspective, this is of course something that we try to take advantage of within the Nudging Organic project.

This theme can be linked to our points about Store communication for eco and that Educate customers about eco.

Pricing of eco

Anneli Bylund at Lidl Sweden told us that they try to work with Affordable Organic which she sees as a way to spread organically to new customer groups. Mattis Bergquist at Coop Sweden said that Änglamark is the own brand within Coop with the clearest eco-focus, but that Coop is also considering allowing organic to be part of the Coop Extra range.

The grocery trade panellists mentioned that inflation and price increases on food meant a shift towards more low-priced products in stores and that the average amount of customer receipts decreased.

Ulf Mazur at Matpriskollen believed that the stores could keep a lower price on eco if they worked more with kroner surcharges (yellow arrow in the picture below) instead of percentage surcharges. He gave an example of cucumber.

Example of how the price of cucumber in the store is affected by the kind of markup the store makes

According to Ulf, the bottom line is that the stores earn as much for each organic cucumber sold as for each conventional cucumber if they price based on a kroner mark-up instead of a percentage mark-up. However, in the case of a krone surcharge, the consumer price for cucumbers in stores will be lower. This, of course, has the potential to increase eco-sales.

Anna Sommar Lönnemar at Hemköp talked about Hemköp's investment in giving double points on all eco-goods in Hemköp's customer club. This creates loyal eco-customers while they receive a clear eco-discount that is easy to communicate.  

This theme can be linked to our points about that reduce the price gap for eco and to give customers extra bonus for eco.

In summary we see that organic is facing major challenges and that efforts are needed to reverse the negative trend. However, we see an increasing commitment to organic in the grocery trade - and that they are taking important steps forward to promote eco-sales. Several of the measures highlighted by both the grocery retail panel and the expert panel are in line with the measures in our 10-point program to increase eco in grocery retail. Download and read all 10 points here. Now we look forward to continuing to monitor market developments and to highlight in various ways initiatives, projects and measures that can make organic growth grow again.

Because we on Organic Sweden should be able to run communication campaigns towards consumers, and in order for us to be able to push the grocery trade to reach its eco-goals, we would like to get more members. Contact info@organicsweden.se if you are interested in becoming members.