The dangers of focus on one product

According to a report in The Grocer, Jersey Royal new potatoes are one of the most heavily promoted lines going - they are considered to be one of the first signs of the arrival of summer produce. However, in a gastronimically mixed metaphor, they suggest that this illustrates the dangers as far as retailers are concerned of putting all your promotional eggs in one basket, as this year’s crop, which should just be reaching the supermarkets and greengrocers now, is reduced by about half by the worst drought for the last 30 years.

As a result, the supply chain is suffering and the supermarkets have all sent representatives to Jersey in the last few days to try to secure supplies to meet their demand. “Traditionally, coming up in the next couple of weeks you’d have the big volume coming on line where all the retailers would look to do the big promotions this week, next week and the week after, but clearly that volume is down,” said Mike Renourd of the Jersey Royal Company.