Asda offers juice in its fruit & veg aisle as part of B.Fresh deal

Asda is taking a fresh approach to fruit & veg merchandising by selling a juice brand in its fresh produce fixture for the first time.

It has become the retailer to stock British cold-pressed juice brand B.Fresh, launching four products into its fresh produce section on 18 July. “We’re really excited to be the first retailer to stock B.Fresh juices in the fruit & veg aisle,” said Ken Atkinson, senior buyer at Asda.

“We’re placing them alongside our fruit and veg as they’re made with 100% fresh produce and it’ll give our customers a quick and easy way to grab something healthy, tasty and satisfying on the go.”

The deal was struck when Asda buyers visited B.Fresh MD Philip Maddocks, who already supplied the supermarket with outdoor lettuce and babyleaf through a separate company.

Maddocks said the fresh produce location made perfect sense for the brand and claimed the first few weeks of sales had been “amazing”.

Food marketing consultant Hamish Renton said Asda might be on to something by trying out selling vegetable juice in the fresh produce section.

“If you think about the flow of the store, when you hit fresh produce you are in your earning your halo mode and loading your basket up with the good stuff,” he said. “So I think it might be the right location for that product.”

B.Fresh is in discussions with other multiples over listings and expects to hit Sainsbury’s stores at the end of this month, although not in the fruit & vegetable aisle.