Canned food: opening

Increased consumer spending has had a positive influence on canned food sales too.

András Szirbek
marketing director
Bonduelle Central Europe

András Szirbek, marketing director of Bonduelle Central Europe Kft. spoke to our magazine about the strengthening of the beans, beans in sauce and chickpeas segments.

Tibor Nemes
owner
Import Trade Hungary

Tibor Nemes, the owner of Import Trade Hungary Kft. added that sweet corn sales are traditionally strong in Hungary. The company’s sales performance has been improving in recent years, thanks to the very hard work of sales managers – canned food is losing ground against cooled and fresh foods.

The growing popularity of healthy eating has a good effect on canned tuna sales.

Zsuzsanna Takácsné Rácz
sales director
Del Pierre Central Europe

Zsuzsanna Takácsné Rácz, sales director of Del Pierre Central Europe Kft. told our magazine that more and more shoppers realise: canned tuna contains no preservatives, so they can perfectly substitute fresh fish in one’s diet. László Berényi, Globus Konzervipari Zrt.’s sales manager talked to our magazine about the conquest of single serve canned foods. Private label (PL) products have remained strong in the market.

Zsolt Molnár
key account manager
Foltin Globe

Zsolt Molnár, key account manager with Foltin Globe Kft. informed us that the company’s PL product selection now also includes special products such as pineapple or fruit cocktail. He explained that retail chains now pay bigger attention to sell products made from fruits and vegetables grown in Hungary. In the case of certain products (e.g. mushrooms) canned products are replaced with jarred products. Although discount supermarkets play an ever-bigger role in canned food sales, in these shops the canned vegetable product selection is not as large as in other store formats – revealed Mr Szirbek.

Bonduelle offers many premium quality canned vegetables, from super sweet Gold corn through Bon Menu beans in sauce to chickpeas or baby carrots, in many different sizes. Recently Bonduelle has launched a small-sized product line, called Inspiráció. Bonduelle’s mission is to make healthy and tasty vegetables part of Hungarians’ daily diet. This year the company continues to add new steamed vegetable products to the portfolio, which are marketed under the Vapeur name. Thanks to the technology used, these vegetables preserve their original characteristics, staying crispy and fresh.

Del Pierre Central Europe Kft. has decided to give a complete renewal to the Twist brand this year. Products got a uniform new yellow colour and a new logo. This year they are going to put a few new products on the market. Autumn brings the debut of the low-fat, 3x360g Twist light tuna product. One of Del Pierre’s goals is to market products that are unique, in terms of both size and quality. As regards sales channels, Twist products can be found on the shelves of hypermarkets, discount store chains and the shops of Hungarian-owned retail chains. In marketing the company puts special emphasis on online activities, and on retailer-specific tailor-made promotions.

Foltin Globe Kft. has strong positions in the canned beans, tomatoes and fish segments. Brands such as Top Fruits are sold in easy-open format. This spring they came out with a new tomato product line: Pregod’oro products contain 100-percent Italian tomatoes in purée, peeled whole and chopped variants; the products are available in 400g and HoReCa sizes. Foltin Globe’s main marketing tool is promotional leaflets, which they combine with monthly price discounts.

Globus Zrt. has recently launched a health-conscious product portfolio, under the GLOBUS Vital brand name. The Quinoa and Spelt products in this range are something completely new in the market: they can be consumed without having to soak them in water or cook them. Globus Zrt.’s brand ambassadors are Chef Lázár Kovács and Anna Pásztor. They give a 360-degree marketing support to brands.

Rita Habuda-Salyámosy
marketing manager
Glatz Hungary

Glatz Hungary Kft.’s marketing manager Rita Habuda-Salyámosy told our magazine that their main products are canned vegetables, fruits, fish and fruits of the sea. This year the company put Larsen canned mussels and trout, Excelsior tuna salad and Nuri sardines (once again) on the market. John West canned tuna and trout salads come with a plastic fork, so that they can be consumed instantly after buying; these products are available in gluten-free version too. Glatz Hungary firmly believes that the best advertisement is good product quality. For instance Nuri sardines scored high in the Origo Tafelspitz test.

Import-Trade Kft.’s experience is that the so-called pouch packaging has started to conquer the canned food market – it can be used with everything that has a purée format. It is very practical from a logistic perspective and shoppers like it. While jars break easily, pouches require less care, what is more, they takes up less space as garbage, too. The company is the distributor of many brands, including Novofruct. They like to advertise in-store the most. //