Easter is a key time for the allium market. It is a great opportunity to showcase French production in stores. "We started putting on the displays at the beginning of April, more than 10 days before the Easter weekend. This is an important period for our sales after Christmas, as consumers are used to cooking for the festive season," explains Frédéric Delahaye, key account sales manager at Cooperative Alinea/SAS Top Alliance. "We have a lot of decorations for the occasion, and all our sales staff are competing with each other in terms of imagination."
© Alinéa Top Alliance As with each campaign, the cooperative is keen to highlight the expertise of its producers and the quality of their products. "We have the advantage of offering a multitude of products with geographical recognition such as the Red Label pink garlic of Lautrec, and throughout the French garlic campaign, the PGI garlic of Lomagne, purple garlic of Cadours AOC and PGI garlic of the Drôme. For our part, we started the green garlic campaign a month ago, and we will be selling the first parcels of fresh bundles and fresh bulk garlic in two weeks. These are niche products that we need to keep on the shelves during the short marketing period. They give the brand an image of freshness and professionalism. Although we do not do any specific displays for fresh garlic because the product is too fragile, we are selling more and more of it every year."
© Alinéa Top Alliance
In the current economic context, the allium sector is also seeing a shift in consumption toward certain products. "The drop in purchasing power has had an impact on the type of products consumed. Today, there is an explosion in sales of bulk and first-price products. But consumers are still keen to buy quality products such as alliums with geographical recognition, so they are supporting production through this act of purchase."
For more information:
Frédéric Delahaye
Alinéa Top Alliance
Phone: +33(0)5 63 26 28 00
fdelahaye@topalliance.com