Express Dairies has outsourced its field marketing and is focusing on own label flavoured milks in a bid to overcome difficult market conditions in the liquid milk sector. Commercial director David Arrow said: "We have talked a lot about our doorstep business, but that does not mean we have not been working on other areas as well. We believe we are the company which gives authority to own-brand flavoured milks." Having outsourced its field marketing, Express is now benefiting from having a team that can visit all 12,000 supermarkets which its serves regularly. They check stocks on the milk fixtures and are using demographic profiling to make sure the store is carrying the right level of milk products for its customer base. Deputy operations executive John Loak said: "The field marketing contract gives us the ability to check stock levels in, say, 50 Tesco branches in a given area on a given evening, among other things. "We are moving away from set planograms with a target to increase availability by 1%, and lift sales by £2.5m." And Express is looking to strengthen its position in the market, not for a merger, Loak insisted. He said: "We are the largest milk supplier to the multiples and we have completed a refurbishment and modernisation that rivals must still do. If we have made a mistake, it is hiding our light under a bushel." l Express Dairies, which announces its interim results on November 16, is selling its Durham liquid milk business to Associated Co-operative Creameries and closing its Durham Dairy. {{NEWS }}

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