At the beginning of the year, ICA’s Corporate Responsibility and Purchasing departments launched a tool on the ICA website that allows customers to trace the source of their ICA-brand frozen cod. Now, people – as well as media and NGOs – can all see how ICA’s commitment to sustainability has had tangible effects on sourcing. And concerned customers can once again enjoy a firm favorite: sustainable cod.
Cod has always been a favorite fish in Sweden. But when the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) labeled cod ‘unsustainable’, Swedes cut their consumption. While cod from the Baltic Sea is in danger, Barents Sea cod, from north of Norway, is sustainable. And all ICA-brand frozen cod comes from those sustainable stocks.
Consumer confidence
The problem is: how to let concerned customers know that the cod is sustainable? “Corporate Responsibility and Purchasing have worked together on sustainability for years,” explains Kerstin Lindvall, Senior Manager Environment and Social Responsibility at ICA. “We’ve offered sustainable cod since 2002. But the media has not always made this clear.” So ICA is going straight to the consumers.
At the beginning of 2009, ICA launched a new tool on its website that allows customers to trace where their ICA-brand frozen cod came from. They select the product type and lot number from dropdown menus, and a map shows where the fish was harvested and processed. “They can see where the fish was caught, and trace it to their ICA store,” explains Kerstin. “We hope this will encourage them to purchase more of our frozen cod.” New packaging for the cod will provide details about the webtool, and customers can find out more on the ICA website.
Getting suppliers on board
“We could create the traceability tool because of the great support of our central supplier, Aker Seafoods,” Kerstin highlights. “Our stores also purchase fresh fish from other suppliers, though, and we need to get them on board.” ICA will offer seminars and training for the suppliers. “They should be able to inform our stores about the seafood they sell,” Kerstin continues.
If the webtool proves a hit with customers, Kerstin wants to take it beyond cod.
“There are other fish we could include,” she comments. “We hope that customers will appreciate – and use!—this tool. It is already an important asset in our relationships with environmental NGOs. The fact is, we are committed to sustainability and to traceability of our products, and that will remain true whether we make the information public or not.”