Supermarket trials selling grapes with flavour and texture labels
A UK supermarket is trialling the sale of grapes labelled with their flavour or texture as it aims to better understand what customers prefer.
Tesco said that many may think of grapes in terms of red, green and black but that there are many hundreds of varieties.
The chain noted there are other fruits which are sold by variety, for example apples – with Gala, Braeburn, Golden Delicious and many more.
It said this helps customers know what to expect with each purchase. As a further example, wine is sold by grape, flavour and style rather than simply red or white.
A trial in 220 Tesco stores has seen grapes go on sale in three types of newly labelled packaging – categorising the fruit by either tropical flavour, candy flavour or crunchiness.
This is in addition to the existing range of table grapes.
Tesco hopes to learn more about shopper preferences through the trial and could look to expand the range.
It said that early feedback indicated that UK shoppers favour their grapes primarily by crunchy texture, next by tropical flavour and lastly by candy flavour.
Tesco fruit technical manager James Cackett said: 'If you ask anyone how many grape varieties there are, most people are likely to tell you three – red, green and black.
'And that was pretty much the case until the turn of the century when fruit breeders began looking at how to naturally improve flavour, crunchiness and sweetness, which is a wholly natural process, to deliver better quality grapes all round.
'Now with the advance in breeding technology we have the possibility to draw from many hundreds of new grape varieties which will allow us to deliver exactly what our customers want, and that's the reason why we have set up these trials.'
He said that they will 'allow us to better gauge and understand the attributes our shoppers prefer'.
The trial is being carried out together with Tesco suppliers AMT Fresh, a Peterborough-based global fruit importer, and leading global fruit developers Bloom Fresh.
Rachel Botha, head of commercial at AMT Fresh, said: 'This project, which we are implementing with Tesco through the Jaffa brand, is the most far-reaching research ever undertaken in the UK to understand British consumers' table grape-eating preferences, redefining the way they are segmented and marketed.
'We are working with the world's foremost fruit breeding companies to supply the grapes that British shoppers want to consistently see on supermarket shelves.
'Thanks to advances in technology we now have the ability to do just that.'
She said that the trial 'reflects the strengths of our breeding programmes, the commitment of growers eager to explore new possibilities, and Tesco's openness to pioneering shopper-focused initiatives'.
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