Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn (AH) has seen sales of its organic products grow by 40% in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2000. The chain cited clear pricing and clever marketing as the reasons behind its success, with milk and its own label products driving sales.
AH introduced its own brands of organically produced milk in 1998, and since then the supermarket’s share of national organic food sales has risen from 19% to 45%. Plentiful point of sale material and a wide choice of products seems to have won over new consumers in the last year despite some goods, such as whole milk and yogurt, costing between 25% and 100% more than conventional products.
Total sales of organic dairy produce in the Netherlands in 2000 was 23 million Euros compared with a national dairy retail turnover of 918 million Euros. Organic milk sales increased by 23% countrywide in the first quarter of 2001 and, according to market research organisation GfK, at least 23% of the Dutch population tried organic this year with 13% consuming organic dairy regularly.