A HIGH-PROFILE campaign to boost the sales of Irish-made foods has yet to receive the support this year of the country’s two largest Irish-owned retailers.
The Love Irish Food campaign is planning a fresh burst of promotional activity from next month, despite the absence of commitments for 2010 from Dunnes Stores and SuperValu.
The biggest multiple, UK-owned Tesco, says it will be signing up again to the campaign, as are smaller retailers such as Superquinn and Londis.
Love Irish Food was launched last year to promote Irish-manufactured food and protect the jobs involved. It has proved highly successful with suppliers, with 69 brands now involved. But retailers have been less enthusiastic.
Dunnes, which promotes its Irish-owned credentials, did not support the drive when it launched in 2009 but was expected to come on board in 2010.
However, despite a number of meetings between the sides, Dunnes has given the campaign “the cold shoulder”, according to retail sources.
Musgrave, which runs SuperValu and Centra, “hasn’t opted in or out” of in-store promotional activity, according to Love Irish Food. A meeting is planned shortly between the company and the campaign.
Retailers, while wishing to be seen publicly as supportive of any initiative to promote Irish goods, have expressed reservations in private. Some have said the promotional cycles of Love Irish Food do not fit with their own promotional cycles; others are concerned about the impact on sales of own-brand goods.
Retailers have also argued that they run their own promotions in support of Irish goods and Love Irish Food essentially favours member brands over other Irish goods which are not involved in the campaign.
Dervila McGarry, co-ordinator for Love Irish Food, said it was “still early days” for retailer support this year, adding that in-store promotions were just one part of the wider campaign.
All the objectives of the campaign have been achieved, she said, including high customer awareness and a massive jump in understanding of the aims of the campaign. More consumers were checking labels and declaring their intention to buy more Irish-produced groceries.
Among the brands involved in the campaign are Avonmore, Club Orange, Flahavans and Cadbury. Some brands are owned by foreign-owned firms, they qualify because at least 80 per cent of the manufacture of the product takes place in the Republic.