A raft of businesses have already listed their support for the Soil Association’s Organic September this year.
They range from multiples such as Ocado and M&S and specialist chains such as Whole Foods Market and Planet Organic, to independent health stores and wholesalers, box schemes and processors as well as brand new organic businesses.
The Better Food Company in Bristol has lined up a whole range of events and offers for the month-long celebration of all things organic. This will kick of on 3 September with the screening of the acclaimed documentary GMO OMG at the waterfront, a key location in Bristol, after which Better Food and the Soil Association will host a Q&A session about the film.
“We are very excited to have such a full and varied programme for Organic September, with all events as accessible as possible,” commented Phil Haughton, founder of the Better Food Company. “We believe organic is essential to our health, to our quality of life, and to our future, so we love to really celebrate organic and the fantastic people we work with in our food community. Our events and offers are timed to coincide with the Soil Association’s Organic30, so on Friday 4 September, to match the ‘switch to organic tea’, we are holding an afternoon tea party with Pukka Herbs. They will be doing free tastings in store, our bakers are coming up with some organic biscuits and treats to go with each tea and we’re offering a fantastic deal on Pukka teas in store. Having a month-long, national campaign is great for us as it helps us attract new customers and explain why they should switch to organic.”
All retailers, business and companies who are holding events or offers during September can upload information to the Soil Association website, which will act as a portal to help people find places to buy organic.
To further support independent retailers, the Soil Association has created a marketing toolkit. Included in the toolkit are hints and tips on selling organic, a visual merchandising guide and some point of sale materials to use in store. Toolkits are available free of charge from the Soil Association website.
“For me the visual merchandising guide, which includes marketing statements that you can use about organic, has been invaluable,” said Katy Mansell-Carter, the retailer’s marketing manager. “When I started at Better Food, I had only a limited knowledge of what organic was about, so it was really helpful to get up to speed quickly on what to say to customers.
“Independent retailers would be crazy not to sell organic because there is a huge demand for this at the moment”
“Independent retailers would be crazy not to sell organic because there is a huge demand for this at the moment. It’s clear that the organic market is growing and with so much free support to help us sell organic it is so easy to improve our offering.”
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to promote your organic offer and increase sales. To find out more about Organic September and how to get involved visit soilassociation.org/organicseptember.
