While Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco still hold the largest value shares of UK organic food and drink (22.6%, 22.5% and 21.7% respectively), it is the discounters and The Co-Op who are growing sales fastest.
New data from Kantar Worldpanel unveiled at yesterday’s Soil Association Organic Trade Conference showed that Lidl achieved nearly 50% organic sales growth over the last 12 months, with Aldi and The Co-Op each delivering 27% growth over the same period.
By comparison, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose declined in organic, compared to conventional (-4.8%, -1.2, -8.7%, -3.5% respectively).
The strong performance by the discounters, and good growth from Asda and Morrisons, ensured that the overall organic retail market grew by 1.3% during the 52 weeks to 9 September.
“Lidl achieved nearly 50% organic sales growth over the last 12 months, with Aldi and The Co-Op each delivering 27% growth over the same period”
Kantar puts the value of organic food and drink sales in the UK at £1.01 billion (this excludes online and independent channels), made up from 470,000 units.
In ambient organic grocery, hot beverages, take home savouries and breakfast cereals are among categories showing strongest growth, while sales of biscuits, snacks and canned goods are declining. In the fresh and chilled sector, ready-meals, dairy products and fresh fish are performing best, while organic fresh meat and poultry are slightly down.
Kantar’s data shows that while 23.3 million UK shoppers buy organic, 18.9 million them spend less than £40 a year. This means that the remaining 4.4 million account for 78% of total organic spend.
“Your challenge is to get those four million shoppers to increase their organic spend, and to persuade the 23 million to become more regular organic users, Kantar business development manager Oliver Lowe (pictured) told the conference.
The Soil Association’s Organic Market Report values the UK organic market at £2.2 billion, after sales from the independent, online and box scheme trades and non-food categories like beauty are factored in. Reporting on this year’s Organic September promotion, Soil Association trade consultant Finn Cottle said that record levels of consumer engagement and media reach had been achieved. 135 article and 1.2 million video views produced a media reach of 541 million. Social media activity had a reach of 5.3 million people and 280,000 people engaged directly with Organic September content.
Cottle predicted sales growth of 5% for 2018, a slight slowing on recent years.
Elen Ormoson, brand manager at Waitrose, told delegates why the retailer is bringing health to the forefront of its organic promotions, especially its Duchy Originals range. ‘Health and less processed food’, she explained, was the top factor influencing Waitrose shopper’s reasons for choosing organic. Organic has been benefiting from the introduction this year of a ‘Good Health’ labelling initiative, which aims to help customers navigate to healthier products. The retailer is also working creatively to develop reduced impact packaging. And it had engaged extensively with this year’s Organic September campaign, both in-store and in its Weekend magazine, and by appearing at events like the Go! Organic Festival, where festival goers had been able to meet and talk with some of the organic farmers that Waitrose works with.