Lots of ‘Co-op’erating with Eat Atlantic
Fri, Sep 4, 2009
It’s everywhere! “Eat Local” endeavours are touching the country from coast to coast. The ministers of agriculture and aquaculture for the Atlantic provinces just endorsed a rather interesting campaign.
How about a completely vertically integrated large-scale food system as part of the equation? There’s a company that sells the agricultural inputs, even the fuel, then buys the finished product, processes it, and sells it in its own consumer stores. Sound like corporate agriculture, or a grand social experiment? Well, yes. Perhaps a little of each.
“Co-ops are unique in the market, in that we work with producer by supplying the feed, seed and other products they need to grow their products, and we then buy the end result to sell through our stores. Promoting Atlantic products is core to our marketing strategy.” says Mark Higgins, Communications Specialist for Co-op Atlantic.
It’s a pride issue. Higgins suggests, “Co-op is the only chain I am aware of that identifies food from the region in our stores.” With a direct Taste of Place Labeling campaign, it’s straightforward for consumers to identify and choose local product. Their recent marketing strategy, “Eat Atlantic” was celebrated by Ministers of Agriculture John MacDonell of Nova Scotia, Ronald Ouellette of New Brunswick, George Webster of PEI, and Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Quoting Minister Ouellette, “Consumers are increasingly interested in where their food comes from, and the practice of eating food produced close to home is gaining popularity each day. Many people are beginning to understand and embrace the wide range of healthy and delicious food that is available across our region.” A friendly rivalry is in place, and as individuals pledge their support online, a running tally is calculated to measure participation.
When asked how success will be gauged with this endeavour, Mark Higgins replied, “We will be measuring sales at our stores during the three weeks leading to September 4 to gauge whether the publicity from the Challenge increases our sales of Atlantic products. However, this is a long-term initiative that will take several years to come to fruition.”
Other retailers across the country have their own “Eat Local” plans in the works. What strategies would you suggest to Canadian food retailers to enhance sales of local product?
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Posted by Amy Proulx
Photo courtesy of Mark Higgins, Co-op Atlantic
Tags: eat local
I’m already feeling like there is a bit of green-washing going on with the local in retailers movement. While it is never a bad thing to promote local products, it is getting a bit much lately. Just Canadian is local?
To make a true effort retailers should be clear about their labeling, profile the products, and replace products with local ones where available. Not just add another to the mix. Yes, it is wonderful that we consumers have a choice, but we all know that grocery stores are designed to get us to buy certain things. So if the stores are really committed they would direct our choices, rather than just offer yet another choice.
Thanks for your comment Cheryl. I agree that there is a huge shift by retailers towards “local marketing” campaigns, including some of the largest retailers in Canada. And there is no perfect retail strategy to meet every food consumer’s needs, and influence their purchase.
Point-of-Purchase labeling is just one strategy in a myriad of different strategies. I believe that Co-op’s intent was to label the products which they had identified as part of their vertical integration strategy. In this case, purchasing product for further processing from Atlantic province producers, who likely purchased their farm inputs from Co-op.
For the hard core local food buyer, a point of purchase label in a commercial retail outlet likely won’t influence sales. But in the general population, a myriad of other factors tend to influence purchase, primarily price. Many stakeholders in the food value chain, including retailers, are part of the general shift of consumer awareness towards local foods.
Mark Higgins has let me know that he will give us an update how the labeling strategy affects sales.
If you know of an innovative Canadian food marketing strategy which is worth sharing, or worth a feature article, please contact the editor, and we will follow up.