The nutritional centre advises eating at least 250g of vegetables per day, but despite this advice, the vegetable consumption in the Netherlands isn't rising. By making vegetables easier and tastier, consumers are aided in the attempt to raise their vegetable consumption. Albert Heijn is investing in this with the category Easy Veg. "We like to help," says category manager Cristina Calceanu.
3 flavours of blended soup by Albert Heijn
Innovations and challenges
The Easy Veg category is growing year by year, says Cristina. "Consumers have less and less time to cook and are looking for solutions that make it easier to put a healthy meal on the table. Our cut vegetables offer a solution for this busy lifestyle and we see it in the results. We achieve this growth by on the one hand placing strong innovations on the shelf, like fresh pureed soups or pasta and rice made from vegetables, but also by growing the existing assortment. By placing a high rotation assortment on the shelves we are also able to optimally use our space. There are also challenges, of course: plastic packaging and the appearance of the chiller. There are also still misconceptions about the assortment, like 'something' was done to the vegetables to extend the shelf life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our vegetables are freshly washed in ice cold drinking water, cut with sharp knives and then packaged. We know what the best balance between Co2 and oxygen is per product. This is called 'packaging without a protective atmosphere'. And with this expertise we are able to keep our products fresh and tasty."
Expanding and deepening
The Easy Veg category is also growing in size. "We are trying to both expand and deepen the assortment. Expanding by expanding product groups, like the Fresh Puree soups within soup vegetables. But we have more choice within the product groups, such as snacking vegetables. This is in new variants, but also new sizes (small packaging, offer packaging)." The customer is always the starting point in the composition of the assortment and innovations. "We, for instance, look at how the customer does their weekly menu, how they shop, how they look at our assortment and what needs they have.
We translate these insights into solutions that go further than just a new variety of vegetable. We learned that a lot of consumers like to eat soup because it is an easy and tasty way to eat a lot of vegetables. Consumers often have a lack of time and inspiration to make their own soup. This is why we created the successful concept Fresh Puree soups for which we recently received the annual award for good food. Of course we keep an eye on the developments within loose sales when developing our products. We try to process new vegetables into our products in an attractive manner and for vegetables with high sales within loose sales we find solutions that offer more ease, not just by cutting them, but also by offering them in relevant amounts or in tasty combinations. Consumers want to vary and be surprised. This also goes for the consumer that buys from the Easy Veg shelf. Playing into trends, like different colour vegetables, is of great importance to this. To remain ahead in the market, we closely collaborate with our partners in the chain. Seed breeders are an important part of this."
Snacking vegetables in small packaging for on the go
Playing with sizes
By playing with sizes and content, Albert Heijn is able to appeal to many different audiences within the category. "With our small packaging we are making our assortment more relevant for the smaller households (1 person) and with the offer packaging for households with children. We also offer products for consumers with a different spending pattern. Our nasi/bami and macaroni/spaghetti packages speak to the budget buyer, whilst our Excellent wok vegetables are more popular among customers with a bigger budget. Finally, there are consumers who cook traditionally and consumers who experiment in the kitchen. By providing more exciting products as well as the well known vegetable combination, we appeal to different target audiences. A good example of this is our wok and stir fry assortment. The lover of red pasta sauce soon ends up with the AH Italian courgette and red pepper stir fry with cavolo nero and chestnut mushrooms."
Eating more vegetables
In general the average Dutch person doesn't eat enough fruit or vegetables. Is Albert Heijn trying to influence this? "Absolutely. We are not just trying to make it easier to eat vegetables with our assortment, but also tastier and more fun. More fun by offering surprising and relevant solutions, and tastier because we find tasty combinations with good preparation advice. To be able to put this into action we work with chefs. Because we wash and package the vegetables, they are easier to use. This makes it easier for the consumer to eat vegetables outside of the evening meal. We have various snacking vegetables, packaged in bags of 100-150g, that can easily be taken on the go. One of the front runners are the grated carrots, a good sign that the Netherlands is snacking more healthily. There is also lettuce, rocket, spinach, kale, green beans, endives and of course various stir fry mixes. We will be announcing more innovation in a couple of weeks, which will further stimulate the consumption of vegetables."