"NL: "The discounters are becoming leaders in quality"

"The discounters are becoming leaders in quality. For instance, Aldi is becoming more willing to pay more for quality. The consumer will soon be able to buy especially good fruit and vegetables from this discounter, and from Lidl, for great prices. Service supermarkets should start to worry." This was said by Hans List, the new commercial manager of Zon Fruit and Vegetables to Dutch retail news site, Levensmiddelenkrant.

According to List Jan Linders and C1000 are formulas, that look very closely how they can supply the best quality to their customer. "Quality is becoming important again, but in my experience quality always wins. Not always in the short term, but definitely long term."

The cooperation is taking steps in the right direction under the guidance of List. In 2012 ZON wants to start a pilot with retailers to optimise the operational excellence. "It's about supplying the ultimate quality product", according to List. "There are still a lot of unknown areas in this sector, that can supply learning and testing moments. For monitoring the consumer we need the retail, a partnership we'd love to start. If we're right, this will be a win-win situation: for the consumer, for the retailer and for us as a supplier."

Source: Levensmiddelenkrant