2005 – Year British Top Fruit Bounced Back?

Every September the British Fruit industry prepares itself for a new season of English Topfruit. This year however, there was an unprecedented level of excitement as the whole industry has embarked on a nationwide promotion of British Top Fruit. Producers, marketers and retailers are more determined than ever before to unify their efforts to market, supply, stock and sell a great British product.

2005 is the first time AMS has experienced the build up to the British Top fruit season as ASDA’s supplier, although only a few weeks into the job the AMS team are feeling very optimistic for the future, in fact its an optimism that seems  to be shared across the industry. Years of talking about support for the domestic product have paid off and are really impacting on marketing & procurement strategies. The industry and retailers are all for the first time standing together to promote the domestic product over imported cheaper alternatives. For the first time in a decade, there has been a generic large scale advertising & PR campaign on the benefits and availability of English Top fruit.

AMS have helped ASDA to extend their range, re design their packaging and improve the merchandising of product in stores. British apples and pears are displayed in a block with Union Jack tray liners and other point of sale material; British Top fruit has also been displayed in prime positions on end PODs.

This increased shelf space dedicated to domestic apples and pears, has increased the prominence of the product in the customers eye. AMS are also widening their local scheme to encompass Top fruit, the first are to benefit from this will be Kent (being supplied by Well Pict European County Local).

The focus hasn’t just been to increase the shelf space but to increase the choice available. This season ASDA is stocking a more extensive range of British grown Top fruit than ever before. This season customers can expect to see far more varieties than just the usual Cox and Gala on the shelves as the retailer diversifies into lesser-known varieties such as Laxton Fortune, Lord Lambourne and Charles Ross. These will be marketed as a “traditional British 4 pack”. Over the 05 / 06 season ASDA will be stocking 15 different varieties of British apples and pears. AMS believes these are great traditional apples with a fantastic taste; the hope is their popularity can be resurrected to ensure that they remain commercially viable crops into the future.

Where as the 2004 season experiences problems with shortages and availability, this season has seen renewed efforts and commitment from industry players to ensure that English apples and pears are in-stock and on-shelf in the maximum number of weeks possible, these efforts will help to satisfy the additional demand that the PR push and current advertising is creating.

November 2005

The availability of top fruits within the British season