Interview with Ed Belschner of Whole Foods Market UK
Ed started at Whole Foods US in 2005, and after 2 years moved to the UK to help them set up their first London store and has been a crucial part of their expansion in the UK. He is responsible for all produce, fruit & vegetable and flower related matters. Together with his team he is setting the standards and the vision for Whole Foods in this region.
What is your vision of the produce category and especially berries?
“Whole Foods’ vision for the UK is to be the number one fruit & vegetables retailer. We wish to give customers who visit our produce department the feeling that they can buy anything they want at a fair price and a high quality.
Despite the similarities between the US and the UK, some different approaches are needed, but the overall goal remains the same. Even though it already is the
number one category in the UK, we want to expand the berry category further. We plan to do this by sourcing more varieties and working more with local suppliers.
One of my personal challenges with this category is creating more buying power. As you know, we have a tough time competing with the larger chains, for many reasons, but I think volume is probably one of the bigger reasons. As we grow, we should be able to get more volume in our stores so that we can make it more beneficial to our customers.”
How do you get your stores to merchandise berries so well?
“Well, it is in what we do. We are not just putting something on the shop floor and hope the customer buys it. In fact we create the flair, the impulse. We get stores to
do different things, every one of our stores is different, every one has different merchandising and fixtures to merchandise in. The biggest key is front-centre berries, as the biggest category for us, front-centre in every store and then a secondary display as well.”
How do you tempt your customers to buy more berries?
“Actually, we put them right in front of them. We certainly show the brand and we don’t make it easy for a customer to walk by without noticing the berries. Our
stores vary significantly from one another, though our bigger stores usually have two to three displays.
For example, in one of our stores we have a big display on the ground floor, and then we also have a display downstairs in the produce department, which every
customer passes when shopping. Finally, we also have a display upstairs in the bakery area which creates impulse buying. This way, people will come in to have
something for breakfast or lunch and will grab a punnet of berries to go with it.
We also do a lot of cross-category sampling and merchandising of berries with breakfast items, and we have taste-testing stations, promotion ladies and things like
that. We try to get people to buy the product and relate different items to it, such as cereal and berries, I mean, there is not a better combination.”
What do consumers know about berries and what needs more attention in communication?
“In general, I think consumers know little about berries. We do get some customers that talk about ‘organically conventional’ and ‘which is better for you’ and so forth.
However, I think if we inform customers a little bit better about the sugars in berries, and help them understand the difference between a good berry and a bad berryinstead of focusing solely on price or origin.
We recently had an example of this when we were selling US berries off-season in the UK. Our customers queried why we were getting berries from the US. We just told them it was about quality, providing the best berry available and they responded by buying this product.”
How do you see the future of the berry category?
“I certainly see it growing even more. It would be nice to be able to see some differentiation between berry varieties. For example, offering two or three different strawberry varieties at once so the customers can pick and choose what they want when they want. Giving them the opportunity to buy a berry that suits their budget and expectations. Whether this is a little bit more money, or it is a little bit less money, at least they can choose what they want.
