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 Esselunga - Summer 2007  |
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Esselunga’s PL Strategy
Esselunga prides itself on its product innovation, concern for the environment, and patriotism. Product Innovation Esselunga has constantly invested in product innovation, defending the rights of consumers, protecting the environment and increasing its distribution business. Esselunga is also a manufacturer, owning two factories, one located in Limito di Pioltello (Milan) and the other one located in Florence. These two factories have been set up to produce a range of Esselunga private label products including ready meals, fresh pasta, confectionery products such as cakes and cookies, fresh bread and ice-cream–all made according to traditional Italian recipes. Private label has always been a central and strategic part of Esselunga, with a particular focus on organic and environmentally friendly products. The first private label products “Esselunga” were created at the end of the 1970’s. The strategy has been to focus on fresh, high quality products at a reasonable price level, a policy of transparency and strict control on product safety, which is carried out by the internal quality assurance and by external laboratories. The organic private label was launched by Esselunga in 1999 and today, this range includes more than 500 items through all the food categories from fresh fruit and vegetables, jams, preserves, cereals and bakery products, dairy products to ready dishes and ice-creams. There are three different private label ranges in Esselunga:
While the Esselunga branded products are presented on the shelves with no specific unique graphical brand image, i.e. the products are designed according to what is status quo in the relative industry, the organic range has a design with a strong identity–all products have the same graphics
The Esselunga organic range is the most extended one among the Italian retail chains. Esselunga was the first Italian retail chain to make Organic a central strategy to communicate the chain’s competence in fresh, natural, healthy and environmental friendly products, all subject to strict controls by Esselunga’s QA and by external accredited organic certification. The “Naturama” brand, includes more than 350 products, and also has a clear brand image. The “Naturama” branded products are made from “agricoltura integrata,” which means that they are not organic, but during the production cycles, there is only the minimum use of artificial substances such as fertilizers or pesticides. The Naturama branded products are manufactured according to precise product and process specifications set forth by the Esselunga QA technicians. These specifications define the rules for all the production steps from the field to the finished product, in order to warrant a controlled production chain and guarantee complete traceability from the finished product back to its ingredients and to their origin. Caring for the Environment For the Naturama branded meat, Esselunga has made an agreement with the Italian environment protection association Legambiente, to create a total control from the animal breeding, their feeding and the processing of the meat. This agreement is strategic to strengthen both the technical know-how and also the image of an environmental-friendly company with a correlation between the statements and the effective action. The environmentally-friendly policy by Esselunga is not limited to the organic and natural products themselves, but is extended also to the logistics, to the energy use and to the recycling of packaging. For example, the Esselunga trucks are all equipped with “Euro 5” motors, which is one of the most advanced systems for emission reduction. In the Esselunga stores, there are collection points for packaging, where the customers can bring in paper and cardboard packaging and polypropylene packaging to be recycled. In the fresh food & vegetable compartments, re-usable plastic boxes are used and, when they are ready to be discarded, the boxes are sent to recycling centers. Furthermore, Esselunga supplies polyethylene bags, which are easily recyclable being a one-component plastic material. Advertising Efforts Esselunga has used intense communication campaigns for launching their new ideas with creative, cheerful and clever advertising campaigns. For example, an advertisement for its organic range in 1999 featured posters with baby chickens on green grass and with a blue sky background, chirping “Bio Bio Bio.” “Bio Bio Bio,” in Italian is how people imitate the sound of baby chickens, but it also emphasizes the word organic by repeating it three times. Esselunga’s clever and creative private label advertising campaigns are constantly present in the Italian cities where there are Esselunga stores and superstores. As a part of the strategy to enforce the visibility of the Esselunga private labels, Esselunga frequently exhibits at the tradeshow SANA, the most important Italian tradeshow dedicated to organic and natural products. SANA takes place each year in Bologna (2006 was the 18th edition). SANA is open both to the visitors in the retail or trade business and to the consumers. Esselunga has used this opportunity for both advertising and promoting educational activities. To optimize its position as a national and international power, Esselunga has made strategic alliances with leading retailing groups, such as ESD Italia, which is the buying and marketing platform of the Italian independent retailers with a strict quality policy. ESD Italia is composed of Selex, Esselunga, Agorà Network and Acqua & Sapone. With a market share (super and hypermarkets) of 17.40% (data: IRI), ESD Italia is the third buying organization for the retail in Italy. The partners of ESD Italia share a vision of the market based on efficiency and ability to offer consumers quality products at competitive prices. Acqua & Sapone (Group Cedas) is a retailer specializing in personal care products, (perfumes, cosmetics, personal hygiene), home care products and pet products with more than 300 stores in Italy. |
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