MarcabyBolognaFiere 2012
In Italy sales of fresh cut produce have been calculated at 740 million euro and it’s estimated that 65% of these sales consist of private label products. This means that Italy is the third largest European market for fresh cut produce after the UK and France and, especially in recent years, has a strong productive and innovative potential. Innovation is certainly the most important competitive factor in a market that may otherwise be at risk of early maturity. As well as delivering excellent quality, it is necessary to innovate products and related services, from logistics to merchandising, in order to meet and stimulate changing consumer demand.
The Initiative
So Fresh Lab 2012 will devote special attention to convenience fresh fruit and vegetables, produced with high added value and a high service content for consumers. It will provide in-depth analysis by examining European cases of excellence compared with Italian experiences in terms of product/service innovation and optimisation of management processes, from logistics to lay-out and merchandising. In other words, it will attempt to highlight the way in which the chain of value is formed for private label fresh fruit and vegetable produce in the most advanced European markets.
The Format
Specialist conferences will be two hours each, reserved exclusively for industry professionals, where authoritative experts will discuss a number of international case studies. The So Fresh Lab caters for large-scale retail managers, buyers, category managers, fresh-cut food and ready meal producers, fruit and vegetable and meat producers, cooperative consortia, POs (Producer Organisations) and trade associations. Admission to the So Fresh Lab specialist conferences will be reserved exclusively for personnel from the retailers’ sponsor companies at Marca 2012 and for exhibitor companies in the relevant sectors (2 passes per company) subject to pre-registration. Pre-registration is an essential requirement for admission to the conferences.
Meetings
Wednesday 18, 14.30pm - 16.30pm
Product and service innovation for convenience / fresh cut produce.
The introductory presentation by a leading UK chain will present the innovations adopted in the marketing mix to establish a market leadership:
- produce (fresh, fresh-cut and ready meals)
- packaging (new packaging materials, bags and micro-perforated films that allow for a longer product life)
- communication
Thursday 19, 14.30pm - 16.30pm
Creating value in the distribution and sales processes – logistics, lay-out, merchandising.
Leading players in the large-scale retail sector will describe their experiences in addressing the following themes:
- logistics (how to optimise the costs of the distribution chain)
- merchandising (display innovation and analysis of the department costs)
- supermarket layout (innovative layouts are becoming popular in the UK, especially for small local supermarkets)
- At the same time the analysis should highlight how the chain of value is formed in the UK: what the department costs are, how to create economic margins for the distributor, etc.
For more information on MarcabyBolognaFiere 2012: The Private Label Business Alliance, on January 18 and 19, 2012, visit www.marca.bolognafiere.it.
