De Groene Weg, the market leader in organic meat in the Netherlands, opened a webshop for organic meat and processed meat products at the beginning of May. Commercial director Ron Lenferink is delighted with this great development. “By launching our webshop in the Netherlands, we can introduce even more consumers to De Groene Weg products and our farmers’ and butchers’ stories.”
De Groene Weg has 11 organic butcher’s shops in the Netherlands and sells to various large national and international retail chains. With the introduction of the webshop, it now has nationwide coverage. This is particularly important at a time when online ordering is booming. “Our products now have a much wider reach,” says Lenferink. “After all, consumers can easily order online. An independent consumer survey that we commissioned shows that consumers like to know where their meat comes from. De Groene Weg, with the stories of our farmers and butchers that we tell on our website and social media, is the perfect response to that.”
How does it work?
Consumers can choose online from organic beef, pork, chicken, lamb and veal at De Groene Weg. They can also choose organic barbecue meat or processed meat products in the webshop. The order is delivered fresh to your home within two days. There is also the option of placing an order and collecting it from a De Groene Weg butcher’s shop if there is one close by.
Interaction with consumers
The increased reach that De Groene Weg hopes to realise through the webshop also helps in getting even closer to the consumer. Lenferink: “We want to get to know our customers even better. We want to know what products they are interested in and what they expect from us. Our social media channels also help with this and we have a total of more than 18,000 followers. This is in line with our intention to be a thought leader in the field of organic meat. Think of it as a knowledge centre for organic products; for farmers, consumers and processors alike. We have the necessary knowledge and capabilities and want to continue to nurture this by drawing knowledge from the market to make the products consumers want.”
Promotion and themes
De Groene Weg will be promoting its webshop in the coming period through various online campaigns. “This year, there will also be a focus on themes such as barbecue, autumn, our 40th anniversary and, of course, Christmas and New Year,” Lenferink anticipates. “We are currently also making preparations for the sale of organic meat replacements in our national webshop. We are seeing that consumers are finding their way to the webshop very easily: we have already received many orders since we put the webshop online in the pilot phase. That’s a great start.”