More than 50 new product lines have been added to the ‘refill zone’ at Asda’s flagship sustainability store in Middleton, Leeds.
The supermarket has worked with brands including Coca-Cola, Yorkshire Tea, Napolina, Tilda, Mars and Kellogg’s to expand the refillable range as part of the retailer’s efforts to help customers reduce, reuse or recycle plastic packaging.
New products available in the Middleton store include prefilled 1-litre glass bottles of Coca-Cola Original Taste and Zero Sugar, which can be returned to the store when empty and deposited into a reverse vending machine. Customers get 20p off their shopping for each deposit, while Coca-Cola cleans and reuses each bottle.
There is also an increased range of cereals, including Kellogg’s Special K, Bran Flakes and Crunchie Nut Corn Flakes, Nestlé Shredded Wheat Bitesize, and Asda own label Cornflakes and Rice Snaps.
The range of Yorkshire Tea products now covers Original, Decaf and Gold tea bags as well as loose tea. There are more dried products such as Napolina Rigatoni, fusilli, penne pasta, and Tilda basmati and jasmine rice, and petfood from Mars such as Whiskas, Chappie and Pedigree. And Silver Spoon sugar and Asda own-label home baking and snacking lines also feature.
Following the addition of the 50 new lines, shoppers have a choice of 76 different products in refillable format at the store. Asda claims the refill zone has already been popular with customers since opening in October 2020, with several products outstripping packaged sales.
“We have always said that working in partnership with other like-minded businesses will be vital if we are to persuade people to shop more sustainably,” said Susan Thomas, Director of Commercial Sustainability.
“We are very pleased to secure the backing of some of the UK’s most recognisable consumer brands which means we can offer customers even more of their favourite products in refillable format.”
The move is part of the supermarket’s ‘test and learn’ approach to see what works with its customers. Asda recently announced that it was rolling out the refill proposition to four more stores by the end of the year – Rugby, Milton Keynes, York and its first refill offer in Scotland at the Glasgow Toryglen store.
NAM Implications:
- One of the most direct ways of market research…
- …‘put it on a retail shelf, and check on the hour’.
- Not rocket science…
- …and speedy rollout optimises the opportunities.
- Refillables being but one example…
