Less than six months after delisting The Saucy Fish Co in favour of its own-label Fish in a Flash range, Tesco has performed a u-turn.
From next week, Tesco will stock up to seven Saucy Fish Co lines from both Saucy’s ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat ranges in up to 1,000 stores nationwide.
The news represents a massive vote of confidence for brand owner IGUK following Tesco’s shock delisting of Saucy - which debuted in Tesco in January 2010 and was initially exclusive to the retailer - in April.
Simon Smith, sales and marketing director at IGUK, said Tesco’s decision was “great news” and gave “full credit to Tesco who have been so responsive in listening to shoppers and consumers”. He added: “Tesco have been very keen to understand the impact of their decision since April and working together we’ve used data to evaluate this.” It had shown that there was a different shopper purchasing The Saucy Fish Co products to other products in the sector.
Tesco said Fish in a Flash - a range of ready-to-cook fish and sauce lines produced by supplier Farne - would stay on shelf when Saucy Fish returned as it appealed to a different shopper. “Customers love our Fish in a Flash, and with the Saucy Fish Co returning very soon we think we’ve got the best possible range for every purse and palate,” a spokeswoman said.
In April, one marketing source told The Grocer: “Unless Tesco launches something that’s absolutely amazing and they really tap into Saucy Fish consumers with what they do, they’re going to lose out.”
The Tesco relisting means Saucy will now be stocked by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, The Co-op, Ocado, Budgens and Booths. IGUK forecasts £35m in annual sales of Saucy Fish this year.
Saucy was delisted from Asda last weekend. However, last week Young’s Seafood launched a new 11-strong Funky Fish Kitchen range of ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat fish products exclusive to Asda.
Saucy’s return to Tesco comes as it was voted the first-ever fish brand to make the annual CoolBrands list. Other food brands on this year’s list include Green & Black’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Gressingham Foods - the first meat brand to make the list. Non-food brands include apple and Aston Martin. The list is co-ordinated by The Centre for Brand Analysis and was judged by a list of 37 judges including TV chef Gizzi Erskine and model Daisy Lowe.
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