Desmettre Bio, French organic fruit and vegetable wholesaler, “made a 360° turn” several months ago, with a return to traditional know-how: the market trading floor! Louis-Marie Asselin, managing director of Desmettre Bio, explains the reasons for this choice and gives an initial assessment of the changes made. The wholesaler also unveiled a brand new website to accompany this new positioning.

Return to a 100% market trading floor tradition
Desmettre Bio “has stopped deliveries to refocus on what makes Rungis so special: the trading floor,” according to Louis-Marie Asselin. The wholesaler has now settled in the tradition of the world's largest fresh produce market, with a new creed: 100% organic, 100% market floor. “We are relearning our trade and specializing in our product,” with proximity at the forefront: proximity with suppliers, proximity with clients and proximity with teams. “We are now the only organic player to operate exclusively on the market floor,” explains Louis-Marie Asselin. It is also a way of standing out from the other organic sellers at Rungis, for whom delivery accounts for “70 to 80% of sales.”

But it is also the desire to be part of a new dynamic, as the organic market is experiencing a slowdown. For Louis-Marie Asselin, organic food can still have a bright future. “It is a niche market, but it is a responsible and demanding market for both producers and consumers. It is therefore important to maintain a certain level of professionalism.”

Eliminating intermediaries for 78% of supplies
“We have gone from 50% to 78% of our supplies coming directly from producers.” For the last two years, Desmettre Bio has been working to reduce the number of intermediaries with producers as much as possible. The wholesaler “believes in the need to bring consumers closer to producers.” This approach aims to “restore the very essence of organic farming by fostering in-depth knowledge of territories, cultivation and production methods, as well as a privileged relationship with partner producers. By buying directly from the source, we support farmers, encourage them to continue their essential work, and guarantee that their hard work is remunerated fairly.”

According to Louis-Marie Asselin, the results of this new approach are clear-cut. “By refocusing on the fundamental elements, which are the producers and the clients, we have succeeded in increasing our tonnage by 22% in one year.” Refocusing on the market trading floor has also enabled us to “return to price competitiveness, which is essential: low margins for maximum volumes.”

New website
To accompany this new direction, Desmettre Bio is launching a brand new website, redesigned to embody Desmettre Bio's commitment to “an authentic, traditional and eco-responsible approach to the distribution of organic products.” The “delivery” tab is now gone, and the new watchword is "proximity". This is reinforced by the website, which offers “an additional means of communicating with the company, discovering its products and following its news.”

For more information:
Manon Gayraud
Desmettre Bio


20 Rue de Carpentras
Bât. D3, 94150 Rungis
as-marketing@desmettre.com
desmettrebio.com