BALTIMORE -- Organic produce and natural-food items are finding their way onto traditional supermarket operator's shelves with greater volume and velocity, according to a recent study conducted by the Vegetarian Resource Group here.
The group surveyed 12 major retailers, representing 1,800 units. It said the results of the survey indicated that the offering of vegetarian and organic products carried by traditional operators has greatly increased over the past two years.
This is in direct response to demand for vegetarian, vegan and organic products, which is clearly on the rise, the Vegetarian Resource Group's study said.
Organic produce was ranked as the natural-food category that is most successfully infiltrating traditional supermarkets.
That is happening because organic produce has been subject to "the most growing demand," retailers reported.
While the supermarkets surveyed were not asked if they carried organic produce two years ago, many supermarkets operators commented on the growing consumer interest in organic produce; every retailer that participated in the survey reported carrying organics in at least some of its units.
Examples cited in the study include Tops Friendly Markets, Buffalo, N.Y., which reported carrying organic produce items in 25% of its stores. Another, Grand Union, Wayne, N.J., boasted of 70 different varieties of organic produce within its total department assortment.
The growth in natural foods' prominence in mainstream stores is not limited to the produce department, retailers told the Vegetarian Resource Group. The study encompassed the entire store offerings, as operators respond to increased demand for healthy and vegetarian products. Every operator reported carrying veggie burgers and tofu, for example. This was not true when the same survey was conducted two years ago. Another category finding its way into traditional grocery assortments was nondairy milk, including soy milk and rice milk. This category was reported stocked by 67% of the chains.
"As a result of the growing number of vegetarians and health conscious consumers, more stores are creating natural-foods sections in their stores," says the report. Only 9% of supermarket chains reported having their own natural-foods section in the 1995 study. Two years later that number has swollen to 42%, with some chains reporting separate natural-food sections in at least some of their formats.
Operators responding to the study indicated that while vegetarian- and organic-product stockkeeping units are on the rise, some units within the chain may offer a greater variety of natural foods than others because of the individual requests from different communities.
