Hard discounters are jumping on the organic bandwagon with Aldi, Lidl and Netto developing ranges.
Aldi has begun the roll out of a range of own label organic staples, comprising seven lines in the dry staple goods category, as well as two juices, all priced under £2. The offer also includes a new organic beer by Batesman Bitters.
Aldi had previously offered organic fresh produce on a regional basis, but this was its first foray into a substantial range, said a spokeswoman.
She added: "Aldi has a broad customer base and the products in our organic range have been chosen to appeal to both new and existing customers.
"Aldi is looking to trial a range of organic products and will assess its success before making a decision on including more organics in core product lines."
Netto is already more than a month in to its development of an organic offer. It launched an organic fresh vegetables range in April.
The discounter has now added organic bananas, milk and yoghurt to the range. They will all be permanent core lines nationwide. However, a spokesman for Netto said that while it had in the past carried one-off organic specials it had no plans to develop a core offering of organic ambient goods.
Meanwhile, Lidl told The Grocer that it also intended to test organic products in the "near future".
It was not prepared to elaborate on the type of range or the time frame. Simon Wright, an marketing consultant in organics at O&F Consulting, said that the entry of hard discounters could be a positive move for sales of organic products, as price was the primary driver of consumers who currently did not buy them.
Wright pointed out that Aldi had hedged its bets well by targeting organic product areas that had long shelf life, a vast number of suppliers and competitive wholesale prices.
However, he warned that it would be near-impossible for hard discounters to offer certain products, such as chicken, as many foods could simply not be produced at hard discount price levels and would threaten either the discount retailers' margins or those of producers.
Aldi has begun the roll out of a range of own label organic staples, comprising seven lines in the dry staple goods category, as well as two juices, all priced under £2. The offer also includes a new organic beer by Batesman Bitters.
Aldi had previously offered organic fresh produce on a regional basis, but this was its first foray into a substantial range, said a spokeswoman.
She added: "Aldi has a broad customer base and the products in our organic range have been chosen to appeal to both new and existing customers.
"Aldi is looking to trial a range of organic products and will assess its success before making a decision on including more organics in core product lines."
Netto is already more than a month in to its development of an organic offer. It launched an organic fresh vegetables range in April.
The discounter has now added organic bananas, milk and yoghurt to the range. They will all be permanent core lines nationwide. However, a spokesman for Netto said that while it had in the past carried one-off organic specials it had no plans to develop a core offering of organic ambient goods.
Meanwhile, Lidl told The Grocer that it also intended to test organic products in the "near future".
It was not prepared to elaborate on the type of range or the time frame. Simon Wright, an marketing consultant in organics at O&F Consulting, said that the entry of hard discounters could be a positive move for sales of organic products, as price was the primary driver of consumers who currently did not buy them.
Wright pointed out that Aldi had hedged its bets well by targeting organic product areas that had long shelf life, a vast number of suppliers and competitive wholesale prices.
However, he warned that it would be near-impossible for hard discounters to offer certain products, such as chicken, as many foods could simply not be produced at hard discount price levels and would threaten either the discount retailers' margins or those of producers.
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