TRADE AND MARKETING examine the bag to see what you can do with it. With this knowledge, we’ve made a start with a possible potato shelf of the future. With clear information, we help the consumer make a choice at 3 metres distance. Take taste, for example. The consumer is directed to the potatoes and then sees, at 1 metre, that there are various options where the taste of the potatoes is concerned. Then, when right in front of the shelf, at 0 metre, he/she can make a choice. I won’t say that this design is the best, but there are three important things that take place in this sales model. Firstly, the consumer realises that the potato is a versatile product. Secondly, we make it easy for consumers to choose by giving them a simple ‘navigation tool’. Thirdly, we promote a tasting moment. When you have invited friends for dinner, we use a different potato than for a stew with the family. For the sample set-up here at the show, we’ve chosen the doors-principle, because that’s rather popular in modern supermarkets. That also gives us the opportunity of keeping the temperature of the potatoes at a maximum of 12 degrees Celsius and to soften the lights, so that we can limit any possible green discolouration.’ It’s rather wonderful that we can present this new sales model at a show. How does the public react to this? ‘We’ve made arrangements in principle with the Jumbo supermarket in Joure to test our new sales model in practice. Not only do we want to help the consumer navigate better, but also to make the potato a lot more inspiring. Compare our action with a product such as tea. It’s not even 15 years ago that we all had only one tin of tea at home. Today, most households have a box with different teas. It’s not that we should do exactly the same thing with potatoes. Suppose we, as the potato industry, were to succeed in selling all households two bags of potatoes – different varieties for different dishes – instead of only one, that would be real progress. It would be even nicer if we were able to sell two different potato varieties in one package. A duo-pack, so that the consumer would be much more aware of his/her purchase and its use. For such a duo-pack, you could think of combinations of cooking type, taste and colour. We’ve been busy talking to various potato packaging companies worldwide in recent months, and discussed the possibilities of such duo-packs and how to introduce them to the market.’ You are starting this activity as a trading company. Is this something you should be doing? ‘It is, of course, a challenge for the sector. But if we don’t do this now, consumption will drop even further. When our children have finished their studies in a few years’ time, how many potatoes will they still be eating? Besides the things I mentioned earlier on, I see great opportunities for tempting youngsters to start eating potatoes with the help of multimedia applications on computers, mobile phones and such like. You can even split up the 21-35 generation group further. There is a group that can’t cook at all, which we may want to teach the most basic cooking skills. The other group, which can cook, may wish to expand its horizons. We also see a challenge in how we approach cookery schools. Together with these schools, we could try to teach students to cook with potatoes and to change their current old-fashioned outlook on potatoes. We also see it as a big challenge for the collective potato chain to start thinking in the same direction. Together we could ensure that the consumption of potatoes goes up. In this context, I still think that we’ve missed the boat by not having been included in the 2+2 action of the Vegetable and Fruit Board.’ Has what you have just told us any influence on the sales of the Pommonde project? ‘We introduced the Pommonde project to the Dutch market three years ago, together with small-packing company Nedato as a consistent taste quality label. This means that the potato has the same guaranteed taste all day and every day. The Pommonde market increased, but not fast enough. We’re faced with two big challenges. The first challenge is that our Dutch buyer, Albert Heijn, has restricted our advertising in the shops. We have wonderful shop displays which, unfortunately we’re not allowed to use. The only thing we’re allowed to do occasionally is a special price offer. At such moments, you see the sales of Pommonde increase and that sales in general increase after such special offer. The second challenge is to make sure that Pommonde potatoes are being sold in all the Albert Heijn supermarkets. To achieve this, we’ve suggested also to sell 1 kg bags in addition to the 2.5 kg family bags already on the shelves. Besides the fact that this fits in well with the shelf plan of the local Albert Heijn shops, it also fits the idea of having the consumer vary their potatoes, or potato tastes, during the week. The fact that the Pommonde has been on the supermarket shelves for three years now, shows that there is a clear demand for varying potato varieties. New for Pommonde is that, together with the German small-packaging company Böhmer, we’re now supplying the Pommonde project to the German supermarket organisation REWE. We’ve been able to show the Pommonde shop displays here from the end of November onwards. What we see is that sales are still increasing and that the customer group is quite loyal. ● Jaap Delleman Potato World 2012 • number 2 5 Pagina 4
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