Organic food sales increase by 9% in September
The Soil Association said that sales of organic food increased by nearly 9% in September compared to August as a result of its Small Changes, Big Difference campaign.
The campaign to promote organic food, which the association runs in partnership with independent, online and national retailers, helped to lift sales by £7.9 million in the month. The increase equated to a 2% rise in sales on September 2012.
Rob Sexton, chief executive of Soil Association Certification said: “The campaign has been a great success this year, the sales figures speak for themselves. But that is only part of the picture, the Small Changes, Big Difference marketing theme has been adopted by some major brands this year which is something we want to build on in the future.”
This year’s campaign asked shoppers to make a personal ‘small change’, such as switching to organic milk or buying an organic beauty product, and highlighted the “big difference” to the environment or farming economy as a result.
Never Miss a Retail Update!As part of the campaign, the Soil Association distributed over 1,000 poster packs to independent retailers and organised theme events such as an Organic Beauty Weekend.
A recent Soil Association survey to evaluate the campaign confirmed that 95% of the independent shops that sell organic products were aware of the Small Changes campaign and that more than half were made aware through receiving the poster packs. The Soil Association said that the majority of respondents agreed that September achieved a similar uplift to last year with many reporting increases of between 5% and 15%.
Organic September was also supported by organic brand Seeds of Change. Gary Youren, brand manager for Seeds of Change said: “Seeds of Change worked closely with key retailers during Organic September – we know the power of “events” in retail, and Organic September is a key event which both brands and retailers can make the most of. While activity played a part in driving this, we also saw our base sales increase by 11% that month compared to the previous 12 months.”
