"Market share of pointed peppers has already reached 15%"

During the congress, attendees and speakers from across Europe analysed the market's development, shared experiences and proposed new collaboration strategies to help make the Sweet Palermo project grow.

Alberto Cuadrado Salmerón, Chain Manager at Rijk Zwaan Ibérica, gave the opening speech with a presentation of the results of a survey carried out among the guests prior to the start of the event. The main conclusion was that "the distinctive flavour of the Sweet Palermo is its most important strength" ahead of the future; a clear and encouraging response, in line with the general objective of promoting the pepper category with Sweet Palermo.

Anne Mansky, market research specialist at GfK Germany, gave an overview of German supermarkets. She mentioned the importance of quality in fresh produce. "It is important for the supermarket to display fruits and vegetables in an attractive manner, as this has a direct impact on the store's image." Within the vegetables segment, peppers are the second most valuable, after tomatoes. Also, consumer data reveal that pointed peppers are becoming trendy within the pepper category. Their market share has gone from 10% in 2013 to almost 15% at the end of 2017. "These data confirm the growth potential of Sweet Palermo in the German market."

Aurelio del Pino González, General Director of the Association of Spanish Supermarket Chains (ACES), echoed Anne's comments about the importance of fresh produce for retailers. "Supermarkets are paying more attention to the fresh fruit and vegetables category, as they have seen that this makes their consumers more loyal." He also spoke about the importance of differentiation within the pepper category. "The development of a brand is a key element. Pleasure, convenience and health are the axes of the brand's communication strategy." Sweet Palermo will organise a campaign to promote the brand in social media.

Heleen van Rijn-Wassenaar, Product Marketing Specialist at Rijk Zwaan, presented a study on the pepper market in the United Kingdom. Víctor Cegarra Sánchez, Chain Specialist at Rijk Zwaan Ibérica, informed the audience about the European expansion of Sweet Palermo. "In Eastern Europe, supermarkets support the use of brands in packaging, which offers a great opportunity for the positioning of Sweet Palermo on the shelves."

As for the more distant markets, Marianne van der Gragt, of New Green Overseas, shared her experience in the introduction of Sweet Palermo in Japan. "The key was to show the product's characteristics to the consumer to help them incorporate it into their daily eating habits," she explained: "To convince a consumer, you must create a moment of consumption." Once we did, the Japanese were convinced.

Cindy van Rijswick, of Rabobank Research Food and Agribusiness, expanded the business vision through online market development. "The online channel is growing very quickly; we expect this channel to take over 20% of the market share by 2029. Digitalisation is driving great changes for both large retailers and the Horeca channel. The appearance of new sales channels and new ways of interacting with customers will change the market, as well as the vegetables category," she said.

Finally, Florent Rezeau, Crop Coordinator at Rijk Zwaan, reported on new activities to improve the Sweet Palermo varieties. "We are expanding the range of Sweet Palermo varieties even further, and our focus is to introduce improvement on taste, shape, yield, post-harvest shelf life and new colours."

At the end of the event, Sweet Palermo project partners from all over Europe gained a new vision of the market and inspiration to continue working together with the common goal of promoting the brand and the pepper category.