The frozen vegetable sector is largely dominated by retail brands, and market leader, Bonduelle, has decided that with over an 80% penetration rate into French households, it is time to revive the sector. Emmanuelle Cousy, Marketing Director of Bonduelle Surgelé explains that “the distribution network has evolved since the arrival of frozen food on the market 45 years ago. Hard discount and home delivery has collapsed, specialised stores and large to medium stores are stable whilst click and collect is strongly growing”.
Frozen vegetables have no competition from fresh ones in click and collect as the consumers can’t touch the product. “Click and collect should hold 10% market share on volume of frozen vegetables within 3 years.”
To bring in more customers Bonduelle has developed a new marketing strategy in store - they have aimed to simplify and clarify the shelves. 100 stores are already set up and 500 more should be over the next 2 months. They have divided their clients into 2 groups : those used to ready to eat (29% volume of market share) and those who turn to raw products to be cooked (71% volume of market share). Ready to use products, synonymous with impulsion, are at the start of the aisle whilst raw products to be cooked are near the tills. With such a layout the group hopes to encourage a mixture of purchases and more circulation.
For the end of the year Bonduelle will release a new range of products : vegetables for soup. “There is a potential for this type of product. We offer sachets of vegetables cut into pieces and the consumer cooks and seasons them to their liking” explains Emmanuelle Cousy. This sector of frozen vegetables is on average 30% more profitable than the rest of the cold sector for the distributor.