Fairtrade Smoothie
The journey of our food, from conception to consumption, involves insight as well as innovation, and brings together a wide range of people right across our business. It’s not as straightforward as you might imagine; but it’s always done with a passion and a responsibility that makes us Good with Food.
Here, with a little help from members of our team, you can share the journey of our Fairtrade Smoothie from the initial idea to appearing in store. It’s a fascinating and complex journey that offers you the opportunity to explore some of the career opportunities within our Food business.
Consumer Trends and Strategic Assortment
We encourage innovation and new ideas from all our teams and this time it came from the top, our Chief Executive, Guy McCracken. Allison, one of our Category Product Managers, took Guy’s idea of making an own-brand smoothie and sat down with Jonathan, a buyer within our Trading team, to assess the market for this product.
With so many smoothies already available, ours needed to have a USP (unique selling point) and Allison and Jonathan came up with the idea of a Fairtrade Smoothie.
More detail >>
Hear from Allison,
Category Product Manager >>
New Product Development
Ingredients were chosen and sourced, and then Jonathan our Category Buyer made sure our Fairtrade Smoothie was commercially viable.
Recipes were sampled and tested in our kitchens by our Product Assessment team. Then one of our Product Technologists sourced an approved factory to produce the recipe.
After the first production run the Smoothies were sampled on-site and then sent back to the kitchens to compare with our originals. Once we were happy the taste was right, we turned our attention to ensuring the packaging was as well. After all, the packaging is crucial in persuading customers to try the product.
More detail >>
Hear from Allison,
Category Product Manager >>
Buying & Supply Chain
After going through New Product Development, our Smoothie started on its journey to the Supply Chain – and then out to our stores. First we had to make sure its ingredients could be bought in the right way. Our Buying team sources, develops and buys ingredients balancing choice, value and quality. When you’re dealing with Fairtrade products, this obviously presents its own unique challenges.
If you enjoy working in a fast paced, dynamic, challenging environment our Buying department may have the opportunity you have been waiting for.
More detail >>
Hear from Jonathan,
one of our Category Buyers >>
Marketing
There are a number of ways of launching a product and the marketing team will consider all of these before choosing the right media and the right advertising message. Our goal with the Fairtrade Smoothie was to make sure it got the best launch possible.
No two products are the same and we have to communicate each launch to the right people. Our Fairtrade Smoothie appeals to both the health conscious and Fairtrade advocates – so we started by targeting these audiences.
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Hear from Helen,
our Head of Marketing >>
Transport & Logistics
In a market as competitive as food retail, we have to make sure our Fairtrade Smoothie is in the right place at the right time. So it’s essential that we have an effective and efficient Transport & Logistics operation to make sure our Smoothies are in store when our customers want them.
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Hear from Tony, Warehouse Operative and Angus, Driver >>
Store and Aftercare
With the finishing line in sight; our Smoothies are now only a purchase away from being in our customers’ fridges. When the Smoothies arrive in store they must be marketed, displayed and promoted, as well as being given effective aftercare support.
More detail >>
Hear from Martin,
one of our Store Managers >>