Canada's Loblaw kicks off 'Grown Close to Home program
Canada's Loblaw kicks off 'Grown Close to Home program
Loblaw Cos. Ltd., one of the larger retailers in Canada, has kicked off a new program to promote locally grown Canadian produce.
Called "Grown Close to Home," the program, which was unveiled Aug. 14 and will run through the beginning of September, will be promoted on all Loblaw's outlets that sell produce -- at least 1,000 stores across the country, Mike Venton, the firm's new senior vice president of produce, told The Produce News Aug. 19.
"As a business, we've supported the local theme and growers pretty well over the past few years across Canada," Mr. Venton said. "We are beginning as an organization to really get into events and believe it's a big opportunity for our business, and this is the first event. We're supporting local, but doing it in a much more aggressive and dramatic way than we have in the past."
Mr. Venton said that "there's a real consumer belief that Loblaw doesn't support local and doesn't carry fresh local product, and factually that's not correct. We do have fresh product arriving in our stores daily, and we're trying to dispel that myth. We want our consumers to understand that we are a great place to buy local product."
There will be three weeks of intense television, radio and in-store promotions complete with special banners and displays, he said, noting that the retailer has even changed its merchandising to highlight local produce. "We've gone beyond what we've ever done in the past," he said.
The new campaign, which has been in the works for over 10 weeks, has about 500 Canadian growers supporting the effort. There are approximately 150-180 SKUs available in its Quebec and Ontario stores, which Mr. Venton said "have by far the most locally supplied" items. It also has a "good supply" in British Columbia, but there are "fewer items available that are actually grown locally" in the Prairie provinces, because that region is limited with the number of items that can be grown there.
While "Grown Close to Home" is currently a produce program only, Mr. Venton said that he "assumed it will cycle into other commodities and departments after we see the success of this, and so far it's been very successful."
To kick off the promotion, the firm built a large display of local peaches, nectarines, grapes and pears in baskets at its Brampton, ON, office to replicate the horseshoe-shaped displays that are being utilized in stores to showcase the best local products in those specific regions of Canada.
Donations were accepted for the items, and the proceeds raised (over $7,000) went to Loblaw's own President's Choice Children's Charity, which is dedicated to helping children who are physically or developmentally challenged. According to Loblaw's web site, the goal of the charity is to "remove some of the obstacles that make everyday living extremely difficult and to provide these young people with a renewed sense of dignity, independence and freedom by providing direct financial assistance for mobility equipment, environmental modification and physical therapy."
"The success in the store so far has been unbelievable," Mr. Venton said. "Our stores really believed that the local theme was something we could build an event around and our customers are responding with great comments about us doing this. At this point, we're exceeding our projections, and we're pretty aggressive about what we thought we'd do with this promotion."
Called "Grown Close to Home," the program, which was unveiled Aug. 14 and will run through the beginning of September, will be promoted on all Loblaw's outlets that sell produce -- at least 1,000 stores across the country, Mike Venton, the firm's new senior vice president of produce, told The Produce News Aug. 19.
"As a business, we've supported the local theme and growers pretty well over the past few years across Canada," Mr. Venton said. "We are beginning as an organization to really get into events and believe it's a big opportunity for our business, and this is the first event. We're supporting local, but doing it in a much more aggressive and dramatic way than we have in the past."
Mr. Venton said that "there's a real consumer belief that Loblaw doesn't support local and doesn't carry fresh local product, and factually that's not correct. We do have fresh product arriving in our stores daily, and we're trying to dispel that myth. We want our consumers to understand that we are a great place to buy local product."
There will be three weeks of intense television, radio and in-store promotions complete with special banners and displays, he said, noting that the retailer has even changed its merchandising to highlight local produce. "We've gone beyond what we've ever done in the past," he said.
The new campaign, which has been in the works for over 10 weeks, has about 500 Canadian growers supporting the effort. There are approximately 150-180 SKUs available in its Quebec and Ontario stores, which Mr. Venton said "have by far the most locally supplied" items. It also has a "good supply" in British Columbia, but there are "fewer items available that are actually grown locally" in the Prairie provinces, because that region is limited with the number of items that can be grown there.
While "Grown Close to Home" is currently a produce program only, Mr. Venton said that he "assumed it will cycle into other commodities and departments after we see the success of this, and so far it's been very successful."
To kick off the promotion, the firm built a large display of local peaches, nectarines, grapes and pears in baskets at its Brampton, ON, office to replicate the horseshoe-shaped displays that are being utilized in stores to showcase the best local products in those specific regions of Canada.
Donations were accepted for the items, and the proceeds raised (over $7,000) went to Loblaw's own President's Choice Children's Charity, which is dedicated to helping children who are physically or developmentally challenged. According to Loblaw's web site, the goal of the charity is to "remove some of the obstacles that make everyday living extremely difficult and to provide these young people with a renewed sense of dignity, independence and freedom by providing direct financial assistance for mobility equipment, environmental modification and physical therapy."
"The success in the store so far has been unbelievable," Mr. Venton said. "Our stores really believed that the local theme was something we could build an event around and our customers are responding with great comments about us doing this. At this point, we're exceeding our projections, and we're pretty aggressive about what we thought we'd do with this promotion."
