At the beginning of the year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) urged UK supermarkets to help consumers ‘buy British’.
It came as over 110 MPs signed an open letter last summer, calling on grocers to set up dedicated ‘Best of British’ sections on their websites to help consumers find these items more “quickly and easily”, while also helping to lift the economy and reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.
In January, Defra secretary Steve Barclay said: “British farmers take pride in producing food that meets, and often exceeds, our world-leading animal welfare and environmental standards.
“British consumers want to buy this top-quality food, but too often products produced to lower standards overseas aren’t clearly labelled to differentiate them.”
Now, just three months later, some of the UK’s leading supermarkets have already started to introduce the changes designed to encourage shoppers to opt for British produce.
Morrisons – Buy British
Morrisons became the first UK supermarket to introduce a ‘Buy British’ section online in December 2023 – a month before Barclay had called on retailers to act.
The grocer said the move was a bid to encourage shoppers to “back farmers and British produce”.
The dedicated page currently includes more than 100 products from the UK’s farming sector such as dairy, meat, fish, and seasonable fruit and vegetables.
Morrisons chief executive Rami Baitieh says: “We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to back Britain’s farmers and the high quality food they produce.”
He adds that Morrisons intends to continue developing the section on its website and “highlight new lines as they come into season”.
“As a longstanding supporter of British farming, we are delighted to make this change to our website and hope it leads to more British products in customers’ baskets.”
Aldi – Best of British
In January, Aldi introduced a dedicated ‘Best of British’ section to its webpage, allowing shoppers to choose from more than 300 British groceries, such as dairy, meat and fruit.
The initiative aims to bolster the discounter’s relationship with British suppliers, as it claims to be the market leader in sales of fresh British fruit and veg.
Last year, more than 80% of its sales came from British suppliers.
Aldi UK managing director Julie Ashfield says: “Our Best of British webpage aims to give our customers the chance to navigate British products more easily whilst supporting the thousands of local suppliers that we work with.
“We are proud to champion so many British suppliers and they are at the heart of our success, allowing us to offer our customers great British quality at the best possible prices.”
Sainsbury’s – Best of British
Last month, Sainsbury’s also launched a ‘Best of British’ page, making it the largest UK supermarket to offer the dedicated section online.
It includes over 450 100% British-sourced grocery products, including popular produce, meat, dairy, eggs and chilled essentials.
Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts says: “Many of our customers want to support British suppliers and make more conscious choices when doing their food shop, and our new Buy British webpage helps them to do just that.
“We recognise the pressures that British farmers are facing and the importance of supporting them to maintain a resilient UK food system for the long term.
“Our relationships with farmers and suppliers are incredibly important to us and we remain committed to sourcing British as much as we can, now and in the future.”
Ocado – Best of British
Earlier this month, Ocado became the latest grocer to launch a ‘Best of British’ section to its online store.
The virtual aisle showcases more than 800 products including fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, dairy and meat, which Ocado claims is the biggest ‘buy British’ section across the UK’s leading supermarkets.
Ocado Retail chief commercial officer Amit Chitnis says the aisle “comes in response to rising demand from our customers for more homegrown produce”.
A survey of Ocado customers found that 80% opt for British fresh produce and 83% said that buying British products had become more important to them in recent years.
Reasons for this included wanting to support British farmers for 72%, while 62% prioritise British produce for environmental purposes.
Chitnis adds: “Where we can, we will always try to source locally as our first choice whenever possible.”
Co-op
Co-op has become the latest retailer to launch a dedicated ‘Best of British’ section across its online delivery website.
The new section includes a range of 100% British products including beef, pork, chicken, fresh fruits, vegetables, eggs, milk and cheese lines.
Co-op propositions director Adele Balmforth said the pages make it “easier and quicker” for customers to buy British.
She added: “As a member-owned organisation, we know food provenance really matters to our member owners, and we continue our longstanding support for British farmers, growers and local suppliers, championing home-grown produce, protein and products.”
