Schär and Sodalite Work Together to Shape the In-store Vision of Freefrom
With a claimed 10% of the UK population eating a gluten free diet and 1% suffering with coeliac disease*, it is no wonder, in the past 10 years, that the Freefrom category has doubled in size. With the top 6 retailers generating £628m**, it is showing no signs of slowing down.
Coeliac disease is an illness caused by an immune reaction to eating gluten. As many know, gluten is found in foods containing wheat, barley or rye. This is something that’s quite tricky to avoid in modern life. As a foil to this dietary challenge, the Freefrom category has grown from a few bays hidden away in the corner of a supermarket, into a full, multi-temperature aisle adorned with engaging POS and an exceptionally wide assortment of products.
The Freefrom category has a few “big” players but none come bigger and more influential than Schär. With their bright yellow packaging they are synonymous with the category and can be called upon to provide trusted products to customers young and old. Whilst the Freefrom category is growing, it does face a plethora of challenges in a modern supermarket. Some of the biggest are visibility and ease of shop. There are Freefrom products strewn around the store in ambient, chilled and frozen fixtures. This doesn’t make it easy for shoppers who already feel marginalised by their illness.
When the team at Schär were looking for an agency to partner with to create a category future vision, they were looking for a company that had the creativity to take a brief and “own it”. They needed an agency with flexibility that would challenge traditional thinking and deliver with impact. After investigating the market, the team chose to work with Sodalite Creative.
Senior Category Manager Paige Wood said
“We investigated a number of agencies and spoke to other companies for their thoughts. We wanted to find an agency that we could work closely with to develop a best in class vision.
We wanted a vision that would position us as thought leaders in the Freefrom category. When we saw the type of work that Sodalite Creative were producing, we knew we’d found the perfect partner”
The team at Sodalite lost no time in taking a brief and discussing ideas and concepts that could be used in this challenging category.
The first challenge was to bring all the temperature regimes into a single aisle, thereby creating a Freefrom zone that was easy to find, giving the category greater in-store presence.
Another challenge was the category’s merchandising. With such a wide range of products from bread and biscuits to beer and pasta it could be challenging to find what you’re looking for Sodalite’s space planning team worked on the planograms, creating clear product blocks based on the shopper decision hierarchy. These blocks were segmented with fins to aid shopper navigation. In addition to this, coloured shelf strips, floor stickers, freezer door vinyls and headers were created to improve “findability” but also to generate some excitement in the aisle.
One of the challenges every retailer faces, is how to increase basket spend. The team at Sodalite created food pairing recommendations communicated through fixture POS to encourage shoppers to use the Freefrom products with other complimentary products.
There are many newly diagnosed coeliacs and even more with symptoms who are searching for answers to their discomfort. With this in mind, a touch screen has been added to the main aisle allowing shoppers to investigate what their symptoms could be, guiding them toward professional help. The screen also provides advice for coeliacs on living with the illness and food choices that will make life much more comfortable.
Senior Category Manager, Roger Harrop, said
“Providing information and support for people new to the category is key to them developing a life-long bond with the brand. If we can help relieve their symptoms and allow them to lead a more normal life they will continue to turn to Schär for information and will remain loyal to the brand”
A study by Hello Fresh showed that 25% of people can only confidently cook three meals and an Ocado study showed a Briton’s typical repertoire only stretches to nine dishes. As part of the project, the team at Sodalite Creative wanted to provide meal inspiration for shoppers at the fixture. This was done using recipe cards and QR codes, driving traffic to websites providing tasty gluten free recipes that makes the person feel like they’re not missing out.
In addition to in-aisle enhancements, Sodalite showed how front of store displays can raise awareness at key times of the year. This approach will encourage undiagnosed people to seek medical help to resolve their problems.
This approach also stretched to in-store pharmacies where dietician advice can be found by utilising an interactive screen to help diagnose symptoms and guide the shopper to an appropriate physician.
Sodalite Creative Managing Director, Tony Jerodiaconou said
“It was an absolute joy working with the team at Schär. We had a clear brief with lots of room for interpretation by our creative team. The final animation looked amazing and clearly demonstrated why Schär are the number one brand in Freefrom.”
Now, all that’s left is for the Schär team to take their “shiny new vision” to the trade and encourage retailers to take action in store to make the display easier to shop and more engaging for the hundreds of thousands of coeliacs across Great Britain.
