In a prolonged economic downturn it is hardly surprising to find subdued sales of a wide variety of goods and services. The UK organic sector is not
immune to the challenges of the wider financial environment.
Despite a 1.5% decrease in sales overall, however, there are areas of significant growth for organic products. These include parts of the dairy sector, large specialist retailers, home delivery, non-food products and catering. This report also identifies a number of important trends, opportunities and challenges for the UK organic market:
Online And independent Succe
Organic shoppers are increasingly choosing the convenience and variety offered by online shopping and specialist stores over the inconvenience and frustration of finding more limited ranges and stock at many supermarkets. Multiple retailers will need to ensure full ranging of organic products and invest in their own-label ranges (whose sales fell by 11.2% in 2012) if they are to regain ground from the leading home-delivery specialists Ocado, Abel & Cole and Riverford (whose organic sales increased by 10.3%).
