Natuurwinkel: flagship in Amsterdam

Govert Baanders (32) has been present in his shop every day for the last ten years. Until the start of this year that meant a 60 m² specialist wholefood store in the centre of Amsterdam. He then took a huge step, and on 5 March 2009 he opened a 500 m² organic supermarket just 50 metres away. It is the biggest specialist organic store in Amsterdam and is one of the flagships of the wholefood franchise organisation Natuurwinkel Organisatie that has its headquarters in Harderwijk. At the moment, 57 stores belong to this organisation, but by the end of the year there should be 60 members. (Picture: Govert Baanders)
“Quite a few tourists come into our store,” explains Govert Baanders, whose organic store is located right next to a big flea market in the well known square called Waterlooplein (Waterloo Square) in the city centre. He has scarcely finished saying this when a customer seeking information on a product addresses him in English. The nearby Rembrandt museum also attracts international tourists to this part of town. Thanks to its central location, this new Natuurwinkel store is open from Monday to Sunday, and is closed only on about ten public holidays every year. Despite its size, the store is run with around 15 staff, because all operations are streamlined and there is plenty of space to stack the shelves from trolleys and to fill or clear out the fruit and vegetable shelves (picture right). Of course, aisles about two metres wide make shopping with a trolley a pleasurable experience for customers.

Ten of the 57 specialist wholefood shops that are members of the franchise network “De Natuurwinkel Organisatie” (NWO) are to be found in Amsterdam. “The specialist stores in Natuurwinkel have a retail area between 100 m² and 650 m², and 40 of the stores have over 200 m²,” explains Marc Koetsier, the managing director of the organisation. This year, eight of those shops have been renovated and refitted. Expansion in 2009 should also be about eight stores, since at the beginning of the year they started with 52 stores and are anticipating 60 by the end of the year. The product range varies between 2,500 and 7,000 articles, depending on retail space. The next shop will open at the end of September in Hilversum.

NWO is linked to the wholesaler Natudis that is located in Harderwijk 100 km to the east of Amsterdam. Natudis is the market leader in the Netherlands and, from its modern high-stack warehouse in Harderwijk, it not only supplies the Netherlands and Belgium but also delivers a large number of own brand products all over Europe (De Rit, Molenaartje, Ekoland, Akwarius).

Consequently, Natudis is the main supplier of the flagship store at Waterloo Square in Amsterdam. Three bakeries, two vegetable businesses and five other organic companies supply direct to the organic supermarket, that stocks 8,000 articles on its clearly displayed shelves. When you enter the store, on your right is the large, well equipped fruit and vegetable department. Near the entrance there is a facility for returning empty bottles (picture). Large pictures on the walls convey the message of good food and joie de vivre.

On chilled shelves about eight metres long and with glass doors you find an extremely wide range of convenience products for preparing quick meals (picture on right): soups, vegetarian patties, pizzas, sausage, ham, bacon and much more besides. On some shelves are large red signs with “Actie” (price campaign), drawing customers’ attention to special offers (pictures left and right below). A large flat screen also shows what is on offer and provides product information in general. “Marketing cubes” measuring approximately 10 x 10 x 10 cm hang in front of the shelves and draw attention to special features of products (picture on left). For example, in the case of jams they state that they have been produced without cane or beet sugar and have a high fruit content.

“By moving to these new premises we have just about doubled the number of customers,” Govert Baanders is pleased to report, benefiting from the fact that his previous shop was only about 50 metres away. That well established organic shop had been founded by his parents in 1973, four years before Govert was born. The time was right, however, for taking a big leap forward into the new, modern premises with a glass façade that stretches the whole width of the store.
(Picture below left: muesli promotion with three packs for the price of two)

The organic market in Holland is currently doing quite well. Despite the financial crisis, organic turnover in the conventional retail food trade grew by 10 % in the first half of 2009. Organic turnover in 2008 came to 583 million euros, according to the organic association Biologica. This represents growth of 12 % compared with the previous year. The market share of organics in 2008 was 2.1 %, with the market share of fresh foods rising above the average from 2.5 % to 2.8 %. The annual report of Organic Monitor states that eggs enjoyed the highest market share – 6.6 % of all organic food sold. Growth in the specialist trade was just under 9 %, whereas in the conventional retail trade it was 11 %. The catering sector almost doubled, with growth of almost 97 %.

Tip for people who understand Dutch: www.denatuurwinkel.com/nw 
 
Info on the Dutch organic market: www.biologica.nl