Planet Organic – the sustainable supermarket which offers everything from fresh produce to an array of vitamins and supplements – is expanding, unlocking its potential outside of its current hub in England’s capital.
With ambitions to expand from 13 to 50 stores in the next three years, it’s safe to say that Planet Organic is set to make its mark across the UK, introducing health-conscious and nutrition-focused shoppers to its niche brand.
Founded in 1995, Planet Organic is a well-loved high street staple across London, however as health and wellbeing moves up the priority list of UK consumers – and with “lots of demand” for its stores – it is finally time for Planet Organic to begin its wider UK expansion plans.
With growth at the forefront of its current business strategy, Grocery Gazette sat down with Planet Organic’s property and operations director, Nick Ridley at its Hampstead store to talk all things expansion.
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Growing Planet Organic
Last month, Planet Organic branched outside of London for the first time, opening a site in Henley-on-Thames, which Ridley describes as its “test,” to see how consumers react to the health-focused grocery store.
With its next site – based in Teddington – soon opening its doors, Ridley says the first phase of the plan is to grow the UK business to 50 stores by 2025, admitting that this is a “relatively small” expansion in industry measures.
However, in terms of Planet Organic, he says it is “relatively big because we are a very small, entrepreneurial business”.
Ridley explains that the company has “to be very intentional on where it builds its shops,” adding, “I get emails every single day from customers saying, ‘can you build a store here?’ ‘This would be perfect for a Planet Organic’.”
He says that while the business wants to meet the growing consumer demand, “we only want to open what we call whitespace, which won’t cannibalise sales for the existing network.”
Planet Organic looks at the market every week, working closely with partners who are constantly looking for potential new sites.
The organic business is also collaborating with one of the UK’s leading retailers, Waitrose. This key part of its ongoing growth strategy will see the high-end supermarket stocking Planet Organic in 50 of its stores, introducing the brand to a wider audience.
Ridley says the partnership is “super important” to Planet Organic because a lot of the brand’s target customers shop at Waitrose.
“There are some really good synergies there and they do a lot of thinking in the health and wellness space,” he adds. “It will certainly help us build our brand outside of London.”
Covid-19 and inflationary setbacks
Since early 2020, food businesses across the UK have experienced set backs from Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine and inflationary pressures pushing up prices across the board.
Despite this, Ridley believes that growth remains possible, pointing out that: “Nobody is immune to challenges but what we do have is a group of customers that absolutely love shopping with Planet Organic. And some of those shoppers will prioritise their health and wellness over everything else.”
He added that the business “is trading quite well” despite industry concerns throughout the organic sector.
Being based in London throughout the Covid-19 pandemic did have its setbacks for the business. With many workers stationed at home during lockdown periods, its stores located in less residential areas saw a decline in footfall.
“We’ve had to make some tough choices and we have closed some stores in the last couple of years,” Ridley admits.
However, with people returning to work and city centres coming back to life, this is causing less of a strain on businesses than it once did. Planet Organic’s growth strategy has seen a revamp as it looks to maintain its current London-based stores and expand further afield, as Ridley says, “now we go for growth.”
Planet Organic’s brand new look
As it extends its store portfolio outside of London, Planet Organic has recently opened a store in Henley-on-Thames and will be opening its new Teddington branch in February of next year.
While its Hampstead store has been operating for just over a year and is still one of the business’ newest operations, upcoming stores are set to see a slight transformation, moving away from its ‘eat well, live better’ ethos, to ‘discover better’.
Ridley says this is because Planet Organic has “created a whole piece of work around what the brand stands for and ultimately, our stores are discovery hubs where you can discover new brands and how to cater for specialist diets.”
The Henley store transformation was a fast-paced project, with the lease signed in July and the store opening last month. Ridley says he’s “really pleased” with how the store has turned out visually, adding “we’ve made a small store feel not-too-small.”
He explained that the site – which is set to act as a blueprint for future stores – features good visual site lines, a fresh colour palette and has dialled up, educational branding to ensure new customers understand Planet Organic and what it represents.
“We’ve also given more space to fresh produce, as one of our core non-negotiables is that we have 100% organic fresh produce.”
Looking to the future, Ridley says that Planet Organic also wants to build on localisation, as it “starts working with local food producers, local suppliers and gives space over to that.” He also highlighted the business’ partnership with community food kitchen, Made In Hackney, which he says “does extremely well in Hackney, as you would expect”.
With plans to grow and introduce a variety of new shoppers to the ethical, organic retailer and ultimately transform the once London-based business, Planet Organic’s expansion plans are front and centre as it looks to open one new store each month during the next financial year.
While Planet Organic might not quite yet be a household name across the country, with strong and steady growth ambitions, the UK’s first organic supermarket is one to watch.
