MONTEREY, CA - Organics has long held a tight grasp on consumer trends, but retailers such as Albertsons are seeing blockbuster sales of organic fresh produce and a spike of in-home eating as of late. In an exclusive virtual presentation for the Organic Produce Summit (OPS), Co-Chairman Jim Donald revealed that he believes this trend will continue to propel strong retail growth over the next 18 months.

“Anything green and organic is blowing out,” Donald explained, noting that organics continues to outpace its conventional counterpart in sales growth.

The growth of organics shows no sign of slowing, Donald said, and “there is no ceiling at all” as to how high organic sales can go. According to an OPS release, Donald called organic produce “mainstream” and predicted it would continue to garner increased square footage at retail.

All this was a part of a wide-ranging interview with Kevin Coupe of Morning NewsBeat. Donald highlighted the very essential role the supermarket industry is playing during these challenging times, the critical role of organics in retail sales, and commented on some of the keys to his own success.

With huge organics sale gains top of mind during the ongoing pandemic, Donald credited those on the front lines of both the retail and supply community with keeping the supply chain moving.

“All retailers have a better sense of urgency, and more respect for what the front lines do,” Donald said. “We are stronger as an industry than we were before this.”

He also applauded the organic producers and suppliers for their commitment to provide fresh product on a steady basis during the pandemic. Donald attributed on-going and consistent communication as a key to how retailers are faring during these uncertain times.

“You’ve got to remember that no matter how big you get, no matter how many stores you have, you have to pretend you have one store, one employee, and one customer and treat them as if they are the only one,” Donald said.

Donald further commented the current retail landscape is showing the strength of brick-and-mortar locations as well as the growing direct-to-consumer marketplace.

“Brick-and-mortar remain as strong as ever, and we have shown that it can co-exist with e-commerce,” Donald said.

In fact, Donald believes the supermarket industry has never been better than it is today. He said grocery retailers have a history of dealing with crises and they have truly shined during the past few months.

To hear more of this riveting exclusive, click here.

As we continue to navigate these waters, ANUK will report on the latest.

Organic Produce Summit