Potato Council has been working with the supply chain to develop a new approach for the fresh retail sector. This key market accounts for one third of the GB crop. Central to the strategy is showing shoppers that there’s more to potatoes than meets the eye; helping them to understand the different tastes and textures, rather than just focusing on skin finish.

Head of communications for Potato Council, Sharon Hall, said: “This is an opportunity to direct research to address what consumers would like to see in the market place. Helping them get ‘under the skin’ of potatoes and make purchase decisions based on more than just size or visual appearance. The first step is to understand how agronomy impacts on the different taste and texture characteristics, which will then enable us to focus on meeting consumer needs profitably.”

What is clear is that this is a real opportunity for the GB industry to lead the way in driving fresh potato sales and delivering value for the entire supply chain, right back to the farm gate. It has been backed by a year’s worth of research that proves there is a real shopper-need – 85% of shoppers want to understand more about potatoes and nine out of 10 would find a simple classification to help them choose, useful.

Potato Council head of marketing, Caroline Evans, added: “This strategy will build a stronger connection between consumers and potatoes; educating them by highlighting taste and texture with simple, shopper-led signposting. A common language will provide a clearer understanding of the wide range of varieties and promote consistency across the category, thereby encouraging shoppers to ‘trade up’.

“This has the potential to drive up the value of the industry. Increasing the average cost per kilogramme paid by the shopper by just 1p, would add up to £8.7m over the course of a year. Perhaps more importantly, building a stronger relationship with consumers will help ensure long term loyalty and demand for potatoes.”

Potato Week (1-7 October 2012) will be the launch pad for consumer focused activity. A nationwide advertising campaign is set to reach an audience of 10million, supported by over 100 regional sampling days, the distribution of 500,000 leaflets and a strong online presence.

Caroline said: “Potato Week is a platform for the whole industry to get behind the campaign and drive home a clear and consistent message; to ensure that consumers do more than just appreciate the look of the product and think about texture and taste.

“There are many opportunities to highlight this through regional media, schools or even local organisations and groups such as the WI. For growers retailing direct to the public there is a marketing pack available that can be customised to individual businesses. Suppliers to the processing sector can use the Week to raise campaign messages when talking about the high specification potatoes they produce. Working together as an industry we can show consumers that there is more to potatoes than meets the eye!”

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