RETAIL: Coop Trading the entry door to 4,300 Nordic stores

Fructidor chief-editor Pierre Esocdo interviewed with Anders Lind, Nordic Sourcing Group Manager of Coop Trading, the buying organisation of +4300 Nordic supermarkets. Coop Trading is the buying organisation or “entry door” to more than 4.300 shops in Nordic countries, with 3-5 different formats in each country. “With access to 27 million of consumers, we make a better every day through leading Nordic private brands, having our private brands and fruit and vegetables on every third table in Nordic households.

PE: Are Club varieties taking a large of the sales in the Nordic stores?

AL: “The club varieties we source are mainly mandarins like Nadorcott, Tango and Orri, steady growth throughout the years being now 50% of the total volume. Talking about stone fruit we source very little amount of club varieties.”

PE: How is assortment changing with the main vegetable categories?

AL: “Assortment in tomatoes and lettuce is similar to other years, we see a trend were consumer also focus more on tasty products and not only standard assortment.”

PE: Please remind what are the main retail brands at Coop Norden?

“Änglamark” is “the choice of the future” with more sustainable commitment, “Coop” our clever choice and “Xtra” our discount brand, still with principles.

PE: How about organics and other healthy choices advised to the Nordic consumers?

With reference to imported fruit and vegetables the organics represents 1 out of 5 euros spent, being Denmark the largest consumers of organics in Europe. Our main objective is to offer the Nordic consumers with tasty, sustainable, and affordable products 12 months a year. In our sector and we as retailer have an important task still to do for increasing the consumption level of fresh fruit and vegetables up to the 800 grams per day as recommended by Nordic Council.