Opinion: Tom Moses
Tom Moses, treasurer of the HFMA, shares his views on how the UK health trade celebrates organic, and asks if it’s time for a shake up.
Has the boat sailed for Organic September? This once laudable and worthy month of celebration of everything organic was made memorable by the almost exclusive participation of the independent health trade who used it as a perfect vehicle to highlight all that is great about their stores: unique products, brilliant service and promotions to match the best of the discounters. I’m not sure at which point a marketing company got involved in coordinating the event and thus, to justify their enormous fees, felt the need to get the multiple grocers involved to stump up the revenue and promote the 0.02% of their product selection to the public at large, but it seems to have completely lost its reason to exist for the independent health trade – and to make matters even worse, it now clashes with that other marketing event, Fairtrade Fortnight. What a shame!
Perhaps it would be better if our own industry organized these marketing events and then they could be coordinated to gain maximum advantage for the trade. The now very active Health Stores UK and HFMA could be the drivers for the events. Whilst the HFMA has only a small number of organic food companies as members, there is a growing list of organic supplements and herbal remedies that could also participate, and with greater scrutiny on false health claims by the ever-watchful AI overlords it would be in everyone’s best interest to raise the profile of these national organic events.
As throughout the history of this great independent health trade, we will now have to go and highlight another event that will serve the trade in the best possible light – Mushroom Month, anyone?
I think it’s vital that we reclaim these very worthy celebrations of our great industry for ourselves, and this will probably mean that they will need to be reinvented in a different time slot, when everyone can participate and take advantage of the commercial opportunities that will ensue. I mean suppliers, wholesalers and retailers alike, as well as our loyal consumers – and not the marketing leeches.
“Let’s not save up organic for September – let’s make every month of the year Organic Month and really take advantage of this great opportunity”
Is September the right month in which to hold the celebration? When is the best time to take advantage of the availability of organic goods and products? I realize that many organic products are now available throughout the entire year, but that’s not necessarily the case with produce that has been grown in our own backyard and not earned itself enough air miles to get to the moon and back on holiday.
Certainly, for the independent trade organic is a very important part of business, with recent analysis stating that the UK organic market has experienced growth of over 5% in 2024, with more than a third of those asked saying they valued and would buy more sustainable and eco-friendly foods if they were available.
There is evidence that this especially rings true amongst younger shoppers who are thinking not only about their diets and the impact of what they eat on their own health, but also the impact that diet has on the world around them. It is this element that holds the key to making sure the future of health stores is assured by appealing to the next generations, be they X, Y, Z or back to ABC. There is also evidence that independent health and grocery stores did better than the average in maintaining growth in organic foods, as well as the growing market for supplements and other health and beauty products, probably outperforming their bigger and much clumsier multiple neighbours.
Being flexible and reacting quickly to new and innovative trends is an absolute priority for independent health stores. Most major multiples take a year to make any significant product changes, while the good independents can be highlighting these trends quickly and getting them into the hands of consumers before their big competitors are even aware there is a market.
So let’s not save up organic for September – let’s make every month of the year Organic Month and really take advantage of this great opportunity.
By Tom Moses, treasurer, HFMA