During confinement, "there were 30% more customers" at Biocoop, according to his boss

INTERVIEW

This is one of the positive side effects of the coronavirus crisis: stores specializing in organic products have recorded an increase in their attendance since the start of confinement in mid-March.

"There were around 30% more customers and we saw a fairly strong increase in activity, linked to organic farming and proximity", explains at the microphone of Europe 1 the president of Biocoop, Pierrick De Ronne, guest Tuesday noon from

.

As the manager says, this growing interest in organic can be seen at Biocoop but also "in supermarkets and in all the specialized networks".

This is also the case for Leopold Market, a group of independent organic stores in the South West, which also reports a 30% increase in turnover.

According to a recent OpinionWay study relayed by the specialized site Agro Media, the French now favor local products (45%), made in France (39%) or organic (29%).

Customers "rethought their consumption"

“The Biocoop model has been able to do well, customers have praised the proximity and the commitments”, continues Pierrick De Ronne “We have recruited new consumers. We have seen a significant drop in attendance but when they move, customers are consuming a little more. "

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How to explain the attractiveness of consumers for these stores during confinement, when organic today only represents 6% of French baskets?

"During this period, food shops were the only places of consumption," says the president of Biocoop at the microphone of Elisabeth Assayag and Emmanuel Duteil.

"People have rethought their consumption and have consumed less, but better. Customers have seen that we did not show solidarity at the time of confinement."

A trend that will continue? 

In detail, "fresh, groceries and fruits and vegetables" were more popular with consumers of Biocoop, underlines its manager.

"The growth on these shelves has been quite significant. We have also seen a lot of increase in meat consumption, probably linked to the closure of restaurants."

But if "the post-containment trend has returned a little more to normal", according to Pierrick de Ronne, the trend of an increase in organic consumption is "quite heavy".

The potential share of the total market is "10, 12%", he estimates.

"The Covid-19 crisis is revealing of the different things that we could observe before the crisis, such as organic consumption, better eating, the link to production and e-commerce."

Biocoop's offer to buy Bio c'Bon is "credible"

One of Biocoop's competing networks, Bio c'Bon, was placed in receivership on Tuesday.

Several candidates would be in line to buy the brand, such as the family group Zouari (shareholder of Picard and franchisee of Casino), Carrefour and La Vie claire.

Biocoop is one of them.

"We want to buy back Bio c'Bon because we have a responsibility", defends Pierrick de Ronne.

"We believe that we are responsible, as leaders of the specialized market, so that Bio c'Bon remains in the fold of specialized stores", wants to believe the manager, at the head of a network of 650 points of sale (158 stores in clean for Bio c'Bon).

"It's a bit counter-intuitive compared to our development model, but our offer is credible."