PL Pioneers Eco Products
By Jean-Claude Alpi

Carrefour’s Agir Bio line offers (from top, counterclockwise), 4 vegetable quinoa, butter cookies, and cane sugar.

Now in France, developing environmentally safe products is more a “philosophy in action” as well as company behavior, than a marketing tool for value added products.

About 16 years ago, a Monoprix’s top manager visited his friends at Loblaws Canada. He was surprised to see in Atlantic Superstores so many “Green” products. Loblaws gave Monoprix a file with the hit parade of top selling green SKUs. Back in France, Monoprix asked Mr. de Pirey to launch the first French ecological line “Monoprix Vert.”

During these years, ecology and environmental issues kept growing and became an important European and World political matter. Retail is a strong ecology actor for it reflects customers’ concerns. At first this development was quite anarchical. For example, in Europe there is an EU environment logo and many other countries also have their own national ones.

Monoprix’s Pioneering

As Monoprix is the front-runner of French ecological products, and its PL options explain the development. The first green products were Monoprix Vert paper products, cleaning and garbage bag. These products are still on the shelves with the same packaging and logo. Writing papers, envelopes, kitchen and toilet paper are made of recycled (or part recycled) paper with no chlorine bleaching. And they are printed with no heavy metal inks. For the cleaning products, the approach was different, they offer 14 SKUs of Monoprix Vert that avoid river water atrophy by using raw materials that are highly biodegradable. Their new packaging is made with vegetal raw materials, are renewable and spare mineral oils which are not renewable. Garbage bags are made of recycled plastics and use minimum packaging.

After the green movement from which healthy non-food products and packaging evolved, the public became concerned with the healthy contents of their food. Therefore, in 1993 Monoprix launched “Monoprix Bio,” a line of presently 150 SKUs in most areas of the food department including wine. Most of these products are packaged goods. But in perishable a “Monoprix Bio” Batavia salad is not only grown without chemical fertilizers, its packaging bag itself is 100% vegetal raw material from corn, so, renewable and will be easily composted.

Monoprix Bio products, as well as all retailers with Bio products claim they are “issued from biological farming.” Their major goals to preserve the environment are: to assure the consumer that the growing conditions, as well as industrial conditions are controlled and certified by an independent organization that guarantees animal welfare and synthetic, chemical free materials; and that farmers use natural fertilizers and practice crop rotation in order to keep soil clean and fruitful.

Like most French retailers Ecocert is the certifying ecological organization of grown products and industrial food processing and packaging. For more information, visit www.ecocert.fr.

Many Monoprix Bio PLs have the customer guarantee “equitable commerce guarantee.” This concept means that growers are paid a fair price. Often from the price customers paid, part of it is used to educate growers’ families, to provide health care and bring their farming techniques up to date. So a growing percentage of customers want their food to be good for their health and for the future of farming. Furthermore, by shopping with equitable commerce (also named ethical commerce), these customers help poor farmers of underdeveloped countries to improve their living conditions. In France, many retailers as well as suppliers rely on Max Havelaar, a Netherlands ONG. The French branch of this organization works in 45 countries with 95 producer coops. Their main licensed product lines are food (Central & South America, Africa, Asia), cosmetics and cotton. On the Max Havelaar-France website it is said that a grower usually gets 10% of the retail price of a product such as a coffee pack from the worldwide market. But when this customer agrees to buy an “equitable commerce” coffee pack, the grower will receive 21% of the price the customer pays. And it works.

Customers wanting to find more Bio, green, and ethical products in stores and mainly on non-food items is a new concept in France. In Monoprix, PLI found Monoprix-Bio in child cotton underwear, and women’s bras. The cotton is grown in developing countries without any chemical fertilizer or pesticides. The manufacturing process of the clothing is guaranteed and controlled to protect both human work forces and the land. There is a heavy trend to buy products that are not manufactured by children, prisoners or by socially over-exploited employees.

The Monoprix-Vert line includes bed sheets, and towels. The manufacturing of these products is ecological and no active pesticides are left in cotton fibers or chlorine bleaching is used. These last products carry the EU environment logo.

Carrefour and Champion

Carrefour changed its PL policy at the beginning of this year. It resulted in new, more readable packaging. They have concentrated their sustainable development PLs under two names: “Agir Bio” is the more prominent with 130 SKUs mainly in groceries, frozen and fresh departments. 250g of Agir Bio ground coffee from Mexico is €2.96, and Camargue rice costs €1.25 for 500g. For Solidary action, “Agir Solidaire” is the second line and is developing PL items such as quinoa from the American Andes farmers. With the “Agir Solidaire” line, Carrefour makes an effort to help export from countries where it opened stores and where a large part of population is under the poverty level or suffered huge catastrophes like Tsunami or earthquakes.

The PL products are displayed in Carrefour Auteuil in both a specialties section with more than 70 SKUs and in their own section too. A vegetarian dish (vege + quinoa) is priced at €2.25 for 350g, is packaged in (Sainte Livrade in Lot et Garonne) and manufactured by “Raynal et Roquelaure.” The packaging states the complete list of ingredients as well as information on what it contributes to a customer’s daily nutrition needs in term of fat, elementary sugars, intricate sugars, protein, fibers and salt. These daily contributions are presented with new nationally standardized graphics. Carrefour Bio is AB (for biological farming) and Ecocert certified.

In comparison to other retailers, they don’t offer “Max Havellar” certified products although they were the first to offer an ethically grown quinoa. As Guy Yaretta stated: “We will launch our own ethical line, without Max Havelaar help & fees.” As they are very involved in sustainable development, there will probably be a proposal to come in coming months.

Champion

Champion (which is a branch of Carrefour Group) developed a softer approach to the Bio product presentation, though they come from the same supply companies. Their BIO products look different with yellow & green colours, a logo with 4 people under an apple tree position above the word BIO, the logo AB delivered by Ecocert and the softer Champion signature. Champion PL products come from the same Carrefour suppliers even if they are less numerous than in a hyper-market. Nonetheless, it states that they all of the categories that are fit for Bio.

Auchan and Atac

Auchan and its sister supermarket company Atac, have an opposite strategy. Customers see a lot of Max Havelaar Auchan products as well as Max Havelaar certified independent brands. PLI saw at Auchan Bagnollet a few Bio branded PLs except on eggs, milk and some fine meats (Limousine breed). It signifies that Bio is a quality component of the product and it does not need to appear as a specific brand. All products should be more or less bio; if not, it would mean low quality. Auchan Bio PLs carry the AB logo but the certification organizations are Ecocert for meat and milk and “Qualité-France” for eggs. At the same time, Auchan relies on local or regional producers to compete with multinational brands. Developing medium size Bio or Ethical lines is also a method to be competitive with more notable brands.

In these stores, the supplier brands (often medium size companies) that develop the Max Havelaar ethical businesses well represented either on coffees, chocolate, teas, but also juices, rice, honeys, and even cane sugar. They are Malongo, Equitable, Alter-Eco, “Jardin Biologique” and many others are sometimes tied with NGO, for an important part of the ethical action takes place in southern countries to help organize a better life by improving education, healthcare and production and marketing in northern countries.

If prices are higher than other retailers’ PL lines, Auchan PLs are still less expensive than national brands such as Brazil Orange juice Max Havelaar , which costs €1.25 for one liter while Tropicana is sold for € 2.04. In terms of comparison, 100g Auchan Max Havelaar black chocolate is €1.00 while Côte d’Or black chocolate is €1.32.

Leclerc

Leclerc, like Auchan, uses the BIO label to a minimum. In a Nanterre Leclerc, PLI saw a mere 20 items named “Bio Village” in the “Produit Repère” line, which is a medium range.

It is of interesting to note that there is only one PL BIO Repère item with Max Havelaar logo. The item, Central America Sustainable Development (Repère Max Havelaar) pure Arabica ground coffee is sold for €1.95 for 250g. Under the line “Bio Village by Repère” a 74% black chocolate bar was priced at €1.05 per 100g.

Another product was Muesli Bio, 7 fruit bar sold for €1.41 on 500g while a regular 700g Repère,7 fruit bar was €1.85. There was a “quinoa BIO Village Repère,” 500g at €1.95 against “Jardin BIO” brand, of the same quality was sold for €2.46. “Village BIO Repère” rice from Camargue was €1.55 for 500g, and a supplier brand was €2.06.

In the fresh food department PLI found only two products, a 300g container of sour cream “Village BIO Repère” for €1.35. and more importantly a Normandy camembert “Village BIO Repère” at €2.05. The same product under the premium range, “nos Régions ont du talent” was sold for €1.85 and a supplier brand “Le Rustique” was sold for €.87.

While Leclerc plays BIO with minimum choice and exposure, its stores advertise with a strong emphasis on its 3 PL lines: ECO+, “Produits Repère” and premium “Nos Régions ont du Talent”. Furthermore, mostly in all categories with Bio products, Leclerc seems to rely on comparing its “Repère BIO Village” line with suppliers brands by positioning them beside each other.

A lot of non-food PL products have a long way to go before being labeled safe for the ecology. In many areas the manufacturer process uses poisonous materials, (acids, heavy metal), fossil raw materials and destroy natural habitats. However,there are more changes to take place. Carrefour announced that they would change all their teakwood garden furniture to Amburana, a type of wood that can be grown earth friendly.

In terms of the food category, a long process is on its way for fresh prepared food and seasonal vegetables. There is the development of “filières quality” or quality contracts between a retailer and a specific agricultural production association to deliver, at shared costs, products following a strict ecological & quality contract.

Bio is a part of a development, which is by itself a part of an ethical behavior for the sake of our small planet. It is already the case when you check PL items on websites of Carrefour, Leclerc, Champion, you find their banner brand, premium PLs and entry lines. But in Monoprix stores for instance, you will find BIO on medium range Monoprix products as well as on premium Monoprix-Gourmet. We can assume that retailers following the BIO lines will develop them on their two upper layers (standard and premium) and also soon on entry lines. Now in France, developing environmentally safe products is more a “philosophy in action” as well as company behavior, than a marketing tool for value added products.