CPS GfK Harvest House: Continually improving the offer with consumer and market insights
Global HQ: Maasdijk, The Netherlands
Founded: Harvest House, 2013
Facts & figures
Greenhouse horticulture: 1.136 hectars
Largest growers' association in the Netherlands for salads
Through our relationship with CPS GfK we access the latest market and consumer intelligence to continually improve our offer and the value we give to our customers. We identify opportunities to refine our assortment, promotion, price and distribution – in fact, all aspects of our business.
Harvest House is an international association of salad growers based in the Netherlands. The members grow high-quality tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers using innovative and sustainable methods. The association’s mission is to grow healthy, nutritious salads of the highest quality in an innovative and sustainable way, together with their chain partners. They ensure that they take the most efficient routes from the greenhouses – reaching the consumers with the best prices and most appealing products. Produce is delivered to retailers in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the UK and worldwide. The majority of Harvest House’s customers are in North West Europe.
This essential information helps us deepen our existing relationships with retailers and to build new ones. Crucially, it helps us stay close to the shoppers who buy our tomatoes, sweet peppers and cucumbers.
Business-critical market and consumer intelligence
The research revealed that every online platform triggers a different shopper trip, and it identified which platforms offer the most potential for Unilever brands to appeal to new customers. A key insight was that online platforms are not all the same, and put simply, there is no one solution to online shopping for Unilever. Buyers are more mature in their habits today, and their behavior is constantly evolving. In fact, as Tamara Vieveen says: “There are many layers to e-commerce and that needs to be reflected in our strategy.”
The findings in this piece of research are used by the Unilever market research team, the category management team, marketing and account teams to understand current channel dynamics. They are important insights to be used for portfolio planning, product positioning, and ultimately, of category channel strategies. The findings are used as input for conversations with retailers and at a top-level, they have fed into strategic thinking across the market research team.
An effective partnership
Harvest House and CPS GfK have a strong working relationship built over a number of years. As well as regular data delivery and insights from the consultants, the team at CPS GfK is on hand to provide ad hoc analysis and support. With a good understanding of the association’s business, the team is both proactive and reactive, whatever the need.