“Rimi” forecasts rise in ecological products market

According to “Rimi Lietuva” data, in 2009 sales of ecological products remained stable while sales of some categories rose by up to 10 %. This year the company forecasts the ecological products market to grow by more than 20 % due to the rapidly increasing assortment of the products.

„Although during the economic downturn most of households limited their expenses for food, there is a group of consumers who are more attentive to the products they consume, healthy nutrition and they prefer ecological products. “Rimi Lietuva” seeks to correspond to customers needs; hence, it is launching a new range of ecological products – “I Love Eco”. This new range will significantly expand our ecological products assortment, – says Tony Holmberg, “Rimi Lietuva” Country Managing Director.

 

According to T. Holmberg, ecological products market remained resistant to crisis in economics. This fact could be supported by increasing popularity of ecological products bazaars in Lithuania as well as by increasing sales of ecological products in “Rimi” stores. “We noticed that ecological products remain popular even during the financial crisis when customers are focused on the price-quality relationship. “Rimi” organized the Eco week and had special offers for ecological products in February. During that time the sales of ecological items increased by almost 200 %. The sales of ecological products in 2009 remained the same as in 2008, while this year we notice the constantly increasing demand. Following these facts we can assume that the majority of ecological products buyers did not cut their expenses for food“, – says Tony Holmberg.

 

The most popular ecological products in “Rimi” stores are yogurts, brown bread, and baby food. During 2009 the sales of ecological brown bread in “Rimi” amounted to 17 % of the total sales of bakery products, while in general the brown bread sales decreased by around 14 % in Lithuanian market. Sales of ecological yogurts amounted to 22 % of all yogurt sales and sales of ecological baby food – to 16 % of all baby food sales. Last year sales of ecological grain, tea, and wine also increased due to the expanded assortment of these categories.

 

„We believe that the demand for ecological products will increase with the recovery of economics, therefore, already now we are launching the new ecological products range “I love Eco“ that was created by our mother company “ICA“. The new range consists of ecological grain and corn, biscuits, syrups, jams, coffee, seasonings, oil, sauces, canned vegetables, noodles, and rice. This range has already become popular in Scandinavian countries and the Baltic States and we are going to continuously expand the assortment with new EU certificated ecological products. The sales of “I love Eco” products are satisfying ever since they appeared in “Rimi” stores – the customers have already evaluated the price-quality relationship of these products”, – says Tony Holmberg.

 

Rimi Baltic Group currently manages 62 stores in Lithuania; 26 “Rimi” (“Supermarket”), 14 “Rimi Hypermarket” and 22 low price shops “Supernetto.”