Anti-inflation basket, low prices, -10% at checkout… Promotions in organic stores are advancing by leaps and bounds. Contrary to their old habits, specialized brands are now multiplying promotional operations and advertising campaigns around sales and low prices. The objective: to convince the consumer that organic products are not inaccessible and that it is possible to buy without going bankrupt, while the inflationary context has significantly reduced crowding on the shelves of their stores.
La Vie Claire has launched “low organic prices” on a hundred everyday products. The same is true of Bio c’Bon and So.bio, within Carrefour, which recently announced the establishment of an “anti-inflation basket” with locked prices or baskets of fruits and vegetables at low prices.
Purist brand Biocoop also claims 500 references to “committed prices” with dedicated in-store signage, promising 15-30% cheaper products, i.e. the price difference typically seen with conventional products. Not to mention the multiple loyalty programs.
“Anti-inflationary Basket”
Strategies reminiscent of mass distribution. “Organic players have become more professional,” explains consultant Philippe Goetzmann, who points to the arrival of mass distribution professionals in the governance of organic brands. In very strong growth since the early 2000s, the organic world had no interest in promotions, “which would have been detrimental to the image and to the margins”, adds Philippe Goetzmann. With the market reversal, there is no choice but to review your positions and enter the price battle.
Very committed consumers, who consume exclusively organic, do not need to be convinced again: organic is neglected by the great mass of casual buyers, and it is they who must be seduced again, instilling the idea that buying organic is not necessarily a lot. more expensive. A party of consumers, who lost confidence in the green label, rejects passing to the caisse, ne voyant plus l’intérêt de payer plus cher pour des produits bio – d’où diffusion, in parallel, of campaigns publicitaires promote l ‘Organic farming.
Baguette at 85 cents
Price “will always be the main obstacle” to buying organic products, acknowledges Allon Zeitoun, general manager of Naturalia, owned by the Casino group. “But we have an advantage: inflation is less strong in organic than in conventional and, therefore, the gap is narrowing,” he says. In its new operation of 150 “low-priced” products, the brand is committed to day-to-day star products, such as the highly symbolic 85-cent baguette. Almost 20% of Naturalia’s turnover is now achieved through low prices and promotions, compared to 10% before.
Because the big retailers are not waiting to reduce organic prices, even more so in the inflationary context that has further exacerbated the price war. According to figures from the panelist NielsenIQ, 16.3% of the turnover of organic products in hypermarkets and conventional supermarkets was made in promotion in 2022, compared to 14% in 2019, an increase of 2.3 points in three years. Conventional products, for their part, went from 20.6% of turnover in 2019 to 21.9% in 2022, an increase of almost half (+1.3 points).
Source: BFM TV
