Creating theater in your produce department
(All photos courtesy Brian Dey)
In the last edition of Retail Detail, we covered the very basics of display building and the effect that fundamentally sound, well-merchandised displays have on produce department sales, not to mention on the image of the store. With your produce display building knowledge now in 3D, and your awesome display built, now it’s time to take it up a notch or two. We’re going to create some produce theater!
Produce theater is fun and injects a lot of excitement in the department and throughout the store. From going for world-record builds with avocados (shout out to Rob Ybarra and the team at Rouses) to working to introduce something new to a community or customer, preparing and executing produce drama is a great way to engage your customers and even spark some community fun.
So without further ado, let’s look at a few tips on how to set the stage for your next showstopper.
Planning and teamwork
Coming up with a theme for your event is important because it will be the foundation for everything else. The planning and preparation take a lot of work and coordination between many people in departments across the store. Getting everyone on the same page early is key to a successful big event.
For example, Lexington Coop in Buffalo, N.Y., ran “Artichoke Adventure” last year, an enormous success on many levels. The display itself had impact, but all the activities built around the overall theme really took the event to the next level. I know it’s one of the coolest display events I have ever been a part of.
There were produce associates doing “Artichoke Prep 101” – live demonstrations on how to prepare artichokes. There was sampling, cooking events outdoors and even a food truck making artichoke fajitas for customers. This event involved not only produce, but grocery, prepared foods, dairy, store marketing teams and even Ocean Mist Farms, the grower of these amazing artichokes.
Part of the goal in holding these types of events is to not only provide a cool atmosphere and fun shopping experience, but to create a platform for great interaction between store personnel and shoppers. This Artichoke Adventure did just that, creating a great buzz about artichokes through education, tasting and conversation around this cool vegetable.
And just for reference, the four-day event produced sales of over 3,200 artichokes in stores that maybe only sold a few cases per week before. But remember, it all starts with planning and championing teamwork throughout your store. “Teamwork makes the dream work” is really a very true statement.
Promotions and marketing
Coordinate all the ideas and plans for your festivities with your store management and marketing teams. Get the word out there with print or ad flyers, social media, local news – anything that will alert the customer that a can’t-miss produce display and event is on the way.
Working directly with grower-shippers or produce wholesalers is a good way to get help with point-of-sale signage and other marketing material. At the Broccoli Rabe-a-Thon event at Healthy Living Market in Burlington, Vt., this past fall, D ’Arrigo California provided some awesome signs, recipe cards and giveaway bags with its Andy Boy label for customers who bought broccoli rabe.
Healthy Living’s management team worked directly with Four Seasons Produce to secure pricing with merchandising assistance, and the three-day event created an excellent visual with rabe, discussions about rabe and built sales of close to 40 cases.
This was also coordinated to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month as Andy Boy is a proud sponsor and partner for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. So not only did the store create a great event to boost sales, create an exciting atmosphere and grow interest in the product, but it also helped raised awareness for breast cancer research. This is a great example of how effective communications and advance marketing benefit special events.
Let the fun begin
The display build is the eye candy that this “theater” is centered around. The tools and basics for building learned in the last article are put to the test here; now is the time to show some serious skills.
What you can you do to stop the customers in their tracks and create an impression that makes them say “Wow” – and then snap a picture to send to their friends?
How can you take the basics of ordering, design, building and sustaining to the next level?
You want your display to be crisp, clean and colorful. You want something that your customers can look at and visually enjoy. You want to include cool tie-ins, you want flair, and you want to be able to create a buzz in the store. At McCaffrey’s Market in New Hope, Pa., Tony Mirack and his crew made an incredible “buzz” at their grand opening with all things SugarBee.
SugarBee apples, SugarBee cider, fun giveaway SugarBee bags and stuffed SugarBees (a kid favorite, but not going to lie, one of these sits on my desk) was the visual that customers walking in the front door for the first time got to see. Tony himself stood at the front of the department, offering samples, discussing flavor profiles and was just engaging everyone around him to talk about this super apple. The store took a simple display and made it an event.
In closing ...
These three examples listed above did several things. They engaged and educated the consumer, built sales for that event (which ultimately lead to repeat purchases), and created an engaging atmosphere that customers remembered. They created theater, they created fun, and they created opportunity for both sales growth and the chance for customers to try something new. A true shopping experience.
Of course, not every display that you build will be an event, but think about trying something different now and then to create these types of scenarios and fun times in the department and the store.
The steps and examples above are just a few tips and ideas on what it takes to plan and execute some produce theater.
Remember, you want your customers to leave the store not only with an awesome experience and shopping trip, but also with a better understanding of the product they are buying.
Keep it fresh, keep it fun, and go create some produce theater!
Brian Dey is the senior merchandiser and natural stores coordinator for Ephrata, Pa.-based wholesaler Four Seasons Produce. He’s an industry veteran with a serious passion for helping produce teams to achieve great presentation and results in their departments. You can reach him at briand@fsproduce.com
Want more expert insight on merchandising from Brian? (You've read the whole article at this point, so of course you do!) Check out his series on wet rack wisdom at the following links.
Wet Rack Wisdom – Part 1 – Crisping
Wet Rack Wisdom – Part 2 – Setting the rack, creating your masterpiece
