Food products aimed at consumers with special dietary needs will be the next big thing, according to Sainsbury assistant md Stuart Mitchell. He told the suppliers' conference that the multiple planned to offer more such products as part of its strategy of being First for Food. Mitchell said Sainsbury's Wellbeing range, launched in May, was already achieving sales of £500,000 a week. He reckons the market could be worth £3bn by 2005. "It's quite niche. But like organics 10 years ago, we think it is a big opportunity." Sainsbury was keen to reduce by half the time it took to get new products to market. Its links with GlobalNetXchange would help. The chain would also get much smarter about refreshing sub brands. "We need to constantly reinvest in our ranges. We have to deal with sub brands in the same way suppliers deal with branded business." The first to be refreshed will be the Be Good To Yourself range, with others following in the coming year. Suppliers heard Sainsbury was committed to product innovation and quality ­ exemplified by its Taste the Difference range. A year after launch the range is generating sales of £6.4m a week. A further 65 products will be launched for Christmas. Blue Parrot Café is generating weekly sales of £1m with 90% brand awareness in the target group. Mitchell added that Sainsbury was doing a huge amount of work on tiering in own label offer. It is looking, category by category, at how much is needed in each sector and on getting the optimum mix of value, standard and premium lines. {{NEWS }}

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