Get shoppers to fall for pears

As we steamroll through fall (hey, where did 2022 go?), we have to continually switch up our counters with the abundant fall crops and bountiful fruit that the season provides.

Besides apples, I don’t think there is a fall fruit category more seasonal than pears. I have a ripe spot — err, soft spot — for each and every variety in this amazing category. The flavor profiles! And they are super versatile. Pears are great to eat fresh in hand and added to salads, as well as baked, roasted and grilled.

The pear is one of my favorite fruits to both eat and merchandise, yet one that is still underutilized. Pears are low-hanging fruit (literally) for category growth, consumer awareness and increased sales in your produce departments.

With the extensive amount of apple varieties that hit our backrooms and counters in the fall, pears can sometimes get lost in the shuffle, but adding a bit of attention to them will reap positive results and potentially introduce your customers to new varieties they’ve never tried.

Learn: All about pears, the commodity

So, how do we better utilize our counters and department spaces to increase pear-category awareness and boost sales and profits? How do we get more fruit into a consumer’s cart, and get them to try some new things? Try these three ways to do just that:

1. Care and handling

The journey to pear success starts in the backroom. Pears are a bit more sensitive to bruising if they are handled or stored improperly, so setting up backroom staging will help lead to super pear sales on the department floor.

For starters, never throw pears onto racks or tables, as this will surely bruise fruit and cause unnecessary shrink. Pears can be stored both in your cooler or out on a dry rack.

Storing outside of coolers starts the in-store ripening process.

Also, like tomatoes and stone fruit, pears are a category that does not carry the first in, first out — or FIFO, as we like to say in the industry — rule, since riper fruit should always be put out first. Pear sales increase when you offer both ripe and unripe fruit on your displays.

To ensure you always have ripe pears on hand, install a simple-to-follow, in-store ripening program:

• All you need is a temperature-controlled backroom (not a hot or warm dock area) and a banana, tomato or any other item that naturally gives off ethylene.
• Simply open the box, pull back/open the plastic and pull a few pears out of the center.
• Replace the pears with your ethylene-producing source, cover up with plastic and store on the shelf outside of your coolers.
• For really hard fruit, cover the boxes with a plastic bag. The ethylene and heat buildup will hasten the ripening process.
• Be very sure, however, that this is monitored every day to ensure fruit is not getting too ripe. Controlling your ripening will help control your shrink.

2. Pear picking

There are four pear varieties you should always stock when available: bartlett, bosc, d’anjou and red pears. The specific red pear will vary among starkrimsons (personal fave), red bartletts and red anjou as the season progresses. They’re all great eating pears that add splashes of red color to your sets.

Besides these four basics, other pear varieties such as concorde, comice, forelle, seckel and French butter pears should be added to your sets during peak times to help boost sales and bring category awareness to the consumer. Different flavor profiles can lead to repeat sales down the road.

Place variety signs by each pear to help customers decide which variety matches their eating preferences. The Northwest Pear Bureau (usapears.org) offers high-graphic, point-of-sale signage that really adds depth and an education element to your displays.

Remember, consumers will sometimes be skeptical when it comes to trying something new, so these signs on your displays can remove the guesswork. Be sure to offer some bagged pears, as well, in your sets and departments. Convenient grab-and-go options for customers can have a nice ring for your department.

3. Powerful pear displays

Pears offer a nice color break in the sea of red that comes with apples when merchandised together, and they are a perfect commodity to use as an impact display in your departments.

Pears can be merchandised in your counter and cooler sets, of course, but I have found the best success in merchandising pears in higher-traffic and higher-visibility areas, and on non-refrigerated tables and display bins. Putting pears out in front of a consumer brings awareness to the category and creates the potential for impulse sales.

Merchandising the fruit this way also allows for the natural ripening process to start, and offers that super-fragrant, floral aroma as your pears are ripening.

Have you ever walked past a display of pears where that aroma just hits you? Well, your customers have. For me, it’s hard to walk past that tantalizing scent without picking up a piece of fruit or two.

Never just dump pears on a display. Place each one onto the display carefully. When stacking fresh pears, there are a couple of different strategies that produce artists use.

Some choose to lay the fruit down on its side and utilize hand-stacking and interlocking pears to build up the display. My choice of stacking has the pears with stem up and standing tall. This adds depth to the display and gives it a clean look. Whichever way you do it, pear displays have the chance to be some of the finest in your department. And remember to always rotate packouts based on ripeness of the fruit.

Big displays of pears can add big sales and profits in the category. However, pears are a bit trickier because they bruise easily. When building larger displays, use false bottoms to prevent deep packout, which also can spread out the fruit to give it a full look. Excessive weight on pears will surely damage fruit, and more so when the fruit is softer and ripe.

Pears really can and should still be merchandised in large displays with little shrink, just a bit more strategically and carefully than some other commodities. Still, a very large pear display is generally a destination point for your customers.

No room for a big display? No worries! You still can create a big impact in a small space. As long as it leaves an impression on a customer, visually, or through quality, price or previous experience with the fruit, then it’s a win for you, your department sales and the consumer for continuing to enjoy those fresh pears. 

— Brian Dey is a multiple winner in PMG’s Produce Artist Award Series and a one-time guest judge, as well as senior merchandiser and trainer at Four Seasons Produce, Ephrata, Pa.