Everyone knows strawberries are summer’s traditional favorite fruit, but here’s the thing: because strawberries are a year-round crop, sales don’t have to slow down. The produce department can absolutely enjoy an endless summer – and a very profitable one at that.
✔ Studies show that when berries are the focus of a produce department, sales of all produce are increased 6% and more.
Berries are the retailer’s secret weapon that keeps cash registers ringing through the transition period of fall, all the way to the holidays and beyond. Ripe, aromatic strawberries practically sell themselves, and they whet the appetite for everything else in the produce aisles. This means keeping berries “top of mind” for shoppers, by giving them plenty of reasons why they want berries again this week, and the next.
To boost your berry sales, try these quick tips:
- Front of store, front of mind. Keep berry displays in the very front of your produce section. Not only do people typically see-first-buy first, the visual appeal of fresh, colorful berries puts shoppers in a happy friendly frame of mind. And they’re actually apt to buy additional fresh items when berries are prominently placed: Produce sales overall are known improve by 6% and more, thanks to this “berry boost effect.”
- ✔ When you display more products, and include all the size and grade options, shoppers are often motivated to buy more than one package.
- Maintain displays after summer — in a semi-permanent spot. By focusing on your berry displays, you help make them a healthy, weekly habit, not just an occasional dessert idea. Be sure to keep them freshly-rotated twice a day and straighten them up often; you don’t want a bruise or stray leaf to detract from the whole effect.
- ✔ Dollar sales can increase up to 16% by maintaining displays through the end of the season — and increasing the size of displays can generate dollar and pound sales increases of nearly 12%.
- Cross-merchandise for that extra pop. Help guide your customers to the purpose behind the purchase, not just an impulse buy. Baked goods, whipped toppings, salad ingredients, bite-sized cheeses and crackers, yogurt add-ins — all these can easily follow berries into the shopping basket.
Are you ready to up your post-summer sales? Contact WellPict Berries today, for more tips and free educational materials to make your produce department sing.
