Hello from Spain. I need help and advice

[Vicen]

Hi, I'm farmer and we are a Spanish family business, growing and selling eco-friendly oranges and tangerines in our online shop. In Spain it is very common to buy citrus online directly from the farmer. I would like to give me opinions if Unfeasible citrus sale online directly from our orchards in Spain to the same house customers, and how it could make myself known in the UK.
I would also be interested in potential collaborations to introduce this type of online sales in UK.

Regards

 

[Deleted member 61074]

I would think your best customers would be small cafes so they could sell decent fresh orange juice to the
Uk public, cost of delivery will be an issue for home consumers thus not making it any cheaper than supermarket oranges. The English are used to buying oranges individually rather than in Spain where you buy 5 kilos at a time.

 

[Vicen]

The idea I have is to get to the end customer as in Spain. For orders that have already made ​​the UK the fruit takes five days to get home from the client and does not exceed the price of 2.30 euros per kg with transportation included.
If you let me I would like to tell you an anecdote of my life.

I was living in London for a few months, the first to be there to buy some oranges from Valencia in Sainsbury's. Oranges had good color and bright, but it tasted awful. This is normal as the oranges that are sold in supermarkets have cut free from 30-60 days. All this thanks to cold storage and chemical treatments.

Since then I always had in mind the idea of how could the people of England, France, Germany...eat an orange with the same flavor as those like me, natural and fresh straight from the tree.
The fruit is usually very expensive in the UK, and the quality leaves much to be desired. The idea that you give me on small cafes and unpleasant orange juice is very good and had thought, the problem is that I live in Spain and via e-mail is very difficult for me to heed them. The interesting thing would visit them in person and give them the possibility that the product degustasen "this would not be problem." For this reason I seek someone interested in this type of market opening, but what interests me most are the final consumers, this is where not as myself known in UK.

Sorry my English.

Regards

 

[Deleted member 61074]

I totally agree with you re the quality of UK supermarket oranges, i spend alot of time south of Valencia and have often chatted with friends re getting the superb local oranges over to the UK.

I am not sure if i can be of assistance to you, but please send a PM to discuss more.

 

[Andyimporter]

Some basic questions. Is there is any import duty on Oranges from EU. To be honest I have not seen many fresh juice stall / bar in Scotland. Which market you are interested to target.

 

[Vicen]

Thanks for responding. Within the EU do not need permits to import citrus, health inspections for the fruit export file for my self in Spain.

In Scotland I do not know if people consume orange juice in the stall / bar but I'm sure citrus consumed in Scotland are not fresh quality. This is the problem, there are many intermediaries the goods are passed from one to another until it reaches the final consumer, but less about 30 days since the fruit was harvested in orchards. My advantage is that I am an eco-friendly farmer and my product goes directly to the customer.

The markets we want to point out are all EU countries, transport takes between four and six days to reach the customer, I think it is a great advantage for many reasons.
My questions are as to raise awareness of this service already provided in Spain through our online store and I can search any kind of collaboration with people from different countries.

Regards

 

[Andyimporter]

How much is the cost of per KG including delivery. Can you share the online website in Spain.

 

[Vicen]

How much is the cost of per KG including delivery. Can you share the online website in Spain.

The price depends on what you need. For customers who want citrus sent home we have the online store, and for large shipments we use direct contact since they are different prices to those offered in our online store.
I pass a link of my site by private message, I'm new and I can not link to my site. The site is translated into English, French and German. If you have any doubt let me know.

regards

 

[Pentafruits]

I agree with your idea and would like to have complete info to work it out plz. Ineed in bulk quantity.

 

[MrCloser]

. Oranges had good color and bright, but it tasted awful.

What you said there about the taste and junk quality of supermarket fruit will strike a chord with lots of people here. Not suprised kids won't eat fruit nowdays.

Are your oranges organic? can you get certified?

Forget about Tesco /Sainsburys trash, also they will be a nightmare to work with and very dodgy if you actually want to get paid. Maybe go upmarket a bit, Harrods for example?

 

[Pentafruits]

Hello vicen,
I need your immediate attention regarding ortanique mandarin and other varieties to import from spain to uk and ukraine.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Why not contact a importer in London fruit market and deal direct, therefore you can export to UK in large quantity and the importer will forward on to UK grocers and market traders

 

[boxcolo]

UK mindset is very different.

When I'm in Spain I buy oranges and juice them to make lovely orange juice in the morning.

When in the UK it costs about 10 times the price so it's cheaper to buy the less nice concentrated orange juice.

I think the idea is ok, even with shipping you could buy a months worth of oranges for less than in the UK, but UK culture is much more 'convenience focused' - people don't get up early enough to make juice as they're rushing around.

I think you're best market would be the UK company who do vegtable boxes (first hit on google UK is riverford) these guys just deliver a boxed selection box of Fruit to their customers once a week so would buy in larger quantities.

Cafe's etc may also be a viable market, but again unless the price is much lower they'll just buy wholesale as to their clientèle wouldn't have a preference over the lovely Spanish oranges

 

[Vicen]

. Oranges had good color and bright, but it tasted awful.

What you said there about the taste and junk quality of supermarket fruit will strike a chord with lots of people here. Not suprised kids won't eat fruit nowdays.

Are your oranges organic? can you get certified?

Forget about Tesco /Sainsburys trash, also they will be a nightmare to work with and very dodgy if you actually want to get paid. Maybe go upmarket a bit, Harrods for example?

The fruit is sold in the UK has collected about 30 days, is preserved by chemical treatments and cold stores. This is the difference between Vivavida Gourmet and large wholesalers selling to Tesco, Seansburys and even Harrods.
Our idea is to give our customers a fruit freshly picked from the tree without chemical treatments or in cold storage.
We are certified by the regional government of Valencia as "PRODUCCION INTEGRADA". In English I think is called eco-friendly.

It is a term that includes various techniques and standards to cultivate a farm reducing resource consumption (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, energy, etc). Using these elements only allowed when strictly necessary in the opinion of a qualified technician. Production is a type intermediate between industrial agriculture or conventional and organic farming.

Like I said we have certified by the regional government of Valencia.

If you need more information feel free to ask.

 

[Vicen]

Why not contact a importer in London fruit market and deal direct, therefore you can export to UK in large quantity and the importer will forward on to UK grocers and market traders

It is what we are trying, the problem is that I'm not finding mailing via a good result, and the companies that contact me do not care which could provide quality fruit, fresh and without chemical treatments, they are looking for Cheap prices and if they are treated to last longer best yet.

In fact people from outside Spain to purchase in our online store are surprised to taste the citrus that we send. Since the cut until they get to take home for 4-6 days and find it curious the good condition in which they arrive. The problem is they do not know that oranges they buy in supermarkets can be perfectly cut 30 days.

 

[Vicen]

UK mindset is very different.

When I'm in Spain I buy oranges and juice them to make lovely orange juice in the morning.

When in the UK it costs about 10 times the price so it's cheaper to buy the less nice concentrated orange juice.

I think the idea is ok, even with shipping you could buy a months worth of oranges for less than in the UK, but UK culture is much more 'convenience focused' - people don't get up early enough to make juice as they're rushing around.

I think you're best market would be the UK company who do vegtable boxes (first hit on google UK is riverford) these guys just deliver a boxed selection box of Fruit to their customers once a week so would buy in larger quantities.

Cafe's etc may also be a viable market, but again unless the price is much lower they'll just buy wholesale as to their clientèle wouldn't have a preference over the lovely Spanish oranges

I understand perfectly, but one problem is that consumers in the UK have no option to find fresh fruit and in optimal conditions. As I said, customers outside of Spain who buy in our online store are the first to be surprised by the taste and freshness of my citrus. As I say .... the repeated test client 100%.
Using your information, I will try to contact if I have seen Riverford luck, basically engaged as I, but with the caveat that I am producer ;-)