Arla is making a major play for the UK infant formula and babyfood markets by bringing its Baby & Me Organic brand to the UK.
The UK launch of the brand this week also marks the dairy co-op’s first foray into direct-to-consumer sales, with the range the first to be made available to buy directly from the Arla Foods UK website.
Six products are initially available, ranging from tins of stage one and stage two infant milk powders made from organic milk (rsp: £12/800g), to boxes of organic porridge for weaning flavoured with either carrot & pumpkin, apple, millet & maize, or spinach & green peas (rsp: £2.50/210g).
The products are also available through Amazon, Arla said, while it was also “exploring opportunities” in other retail channels.
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Baby & Me is manufactured at Arla’s Arinco site in Denmark, which underwent a €12m upgrade last year. It was originally launched in Denmark in 2012, and is also available in China, while Arla also produces infant milk formula under other brand names globally, such as Little Baby in Finland.
The brand’s Danish offering also includes vegetable purées and RTD baby milks. While Arla had no immediate plans to expand the brand’s initial UK offering, a spokeswoman said the dairy giant hoped there would be an opportunity to widen its UK range in due course.
Arla will be taking on established players such as Danone Nutricia’s Aptamil and Cow & Gate brands, and Nestlé’s SMA, who make up some 66% of the £404.5m infant formula category [The Grocer Top Products 2017/Nielsen].
“The launch of our D2C platform and the Baby & Me brand presents us with an exciting opportunity to further enhance our digital capabilities in e-commerce,” said Arla head of digital Steve Millard.
“We believe by taking these first steps and building a scalable DTC platform now, we are positioning ourselves to meet the ever-changing needs of the consumer in what is becoming an increasingly complex market.”
It comes as the dairy co-op this week unveiled a “new standard for dairy farming”, which aims to make improvements in areas including animal welfare, economic resilience and the environmental impact of its dairy farms. Arla 360 has already been backed by Aldi, which pays a premium to farmers who take part in the scheme.
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