BILLA and BILLA PLUS are creating a simple, clear label for local, regional and Austrian products for their customers - based on a transparent and easy-to-understand definition of locality and regionality. In order to bring even more local products to the shelves of BILLA and BILLA PLUS and to strengthen Austrian suppliers, "local partnerships" will also be introduced to further facilitate the way to the BILLA shelves for small and micro suppliers in particular.
From left: Alexander Zahel, Zahel Winery, Marcel Haraszti, BILLA Chairman, René Kachlir, Zum scharfen René / Copyright: BILLA / Harson
BILLA has been deeply rooted in the Austrian regions for decades and has always relied on domestic suppliers and their products. In spring 2020, BILLA had set another strong signal for more domestic products in the food trade: with 100% fresh meat from Austria also at BILLA Plus, BILLA is an industry pioneer. In this way, the food retailer is precisely meeting the tastes of Austrians. In addition, the share of regional and local products at BILLA and BILLA PLUS has increased by 20% since the beginning of the year. Now it's time for the next big step: BILLA and BILLA PLUS are making locality and regionality visible to customers directly on the shelf - simply and comprehensibly.
Local, regional, Austrian
Already more than 25,000 domestic articles from over 2,500 regional and local suppliers can be found at BILLA and BILLA PLUS. To make it even easier for customers to find them, Austrian, regional and local products are marked with the clearly visible label "is' heimisch". And in addition, the labeling includes whether a product is Austrian, regional or local.
"We are the first food retailer to make locality and regionality visible and, above all, comprehensible in our BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores. For our customers, it will be very clear: If a food product is labeled "local", the supplier is no more than 30 kilometers away from our store, regional means the product comes from the province, and products from Austria (i.e. outside the respective province, but produced within Austria) will also be labeled even more clearly," BILLA Chairman Marcel Haraszti emphasizes the advantages for customers and suppliers.
"We are the first food retailer to make locality and regionality visible and, above all, traceable in our BILLA and BILLA PLUS stores." Marcel Haraszti, BILLA Chairman
Local partnerships: great opportunity for small and micro suppliers
In order to put even more local products on the shelves and to offer small Austrian producers in particular a stage, BILLA and BILLA PLUS rely on their own regional scouts in purchasing. These help small suppliers in particular to gain a foothold in food retailing. It is also possible to supply only one or two stores. In this way, even the smallest local suppliers, who only produce small quantities, are given an additional sales opportunity for their products at BILLA and BILLA PLUS.
A new concept has also been created for these small suppliers: local partnerships. "BILLA may be a large company, but we also treat our smallest partners as equals. That is why we have created the 'local partnerships'. With it, we offer small producers an additional distribution option to ex-farm sales, presentations and tastings at the POS, workshops on relevant topics such as logistics, packaging, brand positioning and pricing, and special contract terms. This makes it easier for them to bring their products to our shelves," says Haraszti, adding: "Our customers also benefit from this. We already have potatoes from the Lobau region of Vienna, watermelons from Burgenland or regional fruit juices from Carinthian suppliers. We are proud of so much regionality and localism. In this way, we are strengthening Austrian added value, offering domestic producers and their products an even bigger stage and, above all, our customers even more 'Austria' on our shelves."
For more information:
Rewe International AG
office@rewe-group.at
rewe-group.at/de