Sainsbury’s has launched a ‘Best of British’ page on its groceries website, hoping to better highlight and promote products grown in the UK to its millions of online customers.
Fresh fruits and vegetables top the list of 450 items at the retailer coming from British farmers. Meat, dairy, eggs and “chilled essentials” are also in the offer that helps support those key suppliers. In addition, customers can buy discounted mealtime staples such as a Big British Salad. While some produce availability depends on seasonality, Sainsbury’s keeps stock counts high on those that are.
The critical difference in this campaign is that it is happening online, helping those who are tech savvy and those who want easy orders and deliveries.
“Many of our customers want to support British suppliers and make more conscious choices when doing their food shop, and our new Buy British webpage helps them to do just that through a curation of over 450 quality, 100% locally sourced products,” Simon Roberts, Chief Executive Officer at Sainsbury’s, said. “We recognise the pressures that British farmers are facing and the importance of supporting them to maintain a resilient UK food system for the long term. Our relationships with farmers and suppliers are incredibly important to us and we remain committed to sourcing British as much as we can, now and in the future.”
When it comes to supporting British farms, particularly those who grow fruits and veg, Sainsbury’s is near the top of the list, investing £2bn annually. It doesn’t stop there. In more than 1,000 of its stores, it heavily promotes British-sourced items in through labelling, packaging and signage.
“With Sainsbury’s launching a ‘Buy British’ section online they become the latest supermarket to support homegrown produce,” Dr Luke Evans MP said. “Sainsbury’s have taken a further step forward by placing signposting to buy homegrown produce on the homepage and in other sections on the website such as those dedicated to dairy, fruit and vegetables.
“Farmers always tell me the best thing we can do to support them is to buy local, homegrown produce and the new ‘Best of British’ section on Sainsbury’s website makes it even easier for shoppers to support our farmers and cut down on unnecessary food miles. It’s great to see Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Morrisons all leading the way on the ‘Buy British’ button, I look forward to seeing other supermarkets follow their lead.”
Added NFU President Tom Bradshaw: “It’s fantastic to see supermarkets getting behind Dr Luke Evans campaign and I’m delighted that Sainsbury’s is also backing British farmers by adding a British section online in order to signpost shoppers to home-grown produce. Our own independent research shows the public want to buy more British food from retailers and we have been championing this issue for some time. The addition of the British section online by Sainsbury’s will help customers support British farmers.”
