Proprietary berries are all business for Watsonville, Calif.-based Well-Pict Berries.
The company is a marketer of 100% proprietary-variety strawberries and raspberries. The company’s berries are grown in the Oxnard, Santa Maria and Watsonville regions of California. It offers conventional and organically grown strawberries, as well as conventionally grown raspberries.
“This year, our organically grown strawberries will be offered in 1-pound and 2-pound clamshells, the same as it has been in previous years,” said Dan Crowley, vice president of sales and marketing.
The pandemic has shifted the way consumers buy their strawberries. They’re opting for more volume per purchase.
“Right now, the 1-pound clamshell container of strawberries is the industry workhorse,” Crowley said. “But we have found in the past few years that larger-sized containers are increasing in popularity. The 2-pound clamshell container of strawberries now seems to be a standard shelf item as opposed to a special sales item. The larger package sales increase may be in response to consumers’ efforts to adopt a healthier eating lifestyle.”
It appears that consumers are choosing larger packaging. It could be to avoid multiple visits to the store or using online orders more frequently, Crowley said.
It isn’t just packaging that has been affected by the pandemic. The way grower-shippers do business has also changed.
“There are many challenges in the farming business right now,” Crowley said. “Labor, water and transportation issues all make for a headache but must be addressed if you want to continue doing business. Luckily, we have found ways to cope with these problems and continue to deliver fresh berries.”
Capitalizing on the seasonality of strawberries takes strategic and creative merchandising.
“There are many avenues retailers can take to effectively promote berries,” Crowley said. “If you are running a promotion and the berries are expected to sell within a day or two, displaying them in the front of the produce department is a good way to stimulate impulse purchases. Cross-merchandising is another effective and useful promotional tool.”
Business is a game of change. The world has experienced an unusual amount of change over the past few years. Looking ahead, more change will come, hopefully less dramatically.
“The farming business is always evolving and always looking for whatever will work best in given situations,” Crowley said. “My guess is we will be seeing organically grown products becoming more available, as well as products grown in greenhouses and vertical farming operations.”
