Knowledgeable consumes, new oils

Shoppers know more and more about olive and other types of oils and they are open to trying new products. We learned from the representatives of companies active in the oil market that the spring stockpiling fever brought the dominance of sunflower seed oils. However, after the first few weeks of this buying frenzy, the sales of healthier products started to grow – informed Marianna Pinczés, managing director of Virgin Oil Press Kft. Attila Ádám, sales director of GA FOOD Kft. talked to us about the increased demand for olive pomace oils in this period; sales of extra virgin olive oils only commenced to increase in May, when the barbecue season starts. Glatz Hungary’s marketing manager Rita Habuda-Salyámosy said COVID-19 related buying had a small positive impact on the company’s olive oil sales.

As the pressure on olive oil prices were decreasing in the past two years, these products have become more affordable for consumers

Tasty and healthy

Marianna Pinczés
managing director
Virgin Press Oil Kft.

Ms Pinczés told: they only make and sell 100-percent cold pressed seed oils, which have very high vitamin content. The company is calling shopper attention to the fact that healthy food can be tasty too, as this is also the philosophy behind their innovation work. This year Virgin Oil Press Kft. is putting special-purpose oil blends on the market, and some of these are for pets – they marketed under the Grapoila Animeal brand name. The managing director added: online sales are increasing faster than usual, while in physical stores sales dropped considerably after the stockpiling period.

The digital channel profits from the work invested in it

Attila Ádám
sales director
GA FOOD

Mr Ádám talked to our magazine about their entering the market with first press (unfiltered) extra virgin olive oils and an extra virgin olive oil blended with sunflower seed oil, but only in the market of their parent company. It depends on the experiences there whether these products will have a Hungarian debut or not.

The company also rolled out two classic, aluminium box packaged premium products, which have a trendy retro style. In GA-FOOD Kft.’s current Instagram and Facebook campaign the Franz Josef Kaiser brand is in the spotlight. The number of its social media followers is growing fast; here interactions can be measured better than in promotional leaflets and various shoppers groups can be targeted with greater accuracy.

More space for manoeuvre in the olive oil segment

Rita Habuda-Salyámosy
marketing manager
Glatz Hungary

Ms Habuda-Salyámosy said their sales are developing nicely in independent and small shops too, and promotional campaigns can increase volume sales considerably. Filippo Berio’s positions are stable in modern retail channels, but there are still unexploited opportunities for growth. In Glatz Hungary’s portfolio there are 6 different types of pesto products, in 190g and 500g sizes. Filippo Berio olive oils are available in Classic, Fruttato and Delicato variants, in more sizes, plus they can also be bought in Bio and Italian Bio versions. As for the company’s KRONEN corn germ oil, it is popularised by tasting sessions, on recipe websites and in women’s magazines. //