Customers to produce retailers: Show us what you’ve got
Our produce director stopped into our store early one morning when I was setting up shop.
I was still a little new to produce and was running behind. The produce department wasn’t in terrible shape, but the stock conditions were minimal.
Knowing this, I tried to point out that at least we had a little bit of everything on display. The director looked around and said, “You can’t have just a little bit on display. It looks like we’re out of business. Get it stocked!”
He was right. Full, abundant displays sell produce. Any effort short of this repels sales.
On yet another teaching-moment occasion, I was closing the department. I kept the wet rack neat but allowed it to sell down to minimize how much I had to pull off after the store closed. With about a half-hour till the closing bell a lone customer wheeled her cart around the corner.
“Where’s your head lettuce?” she asked.
“Um, right – there,” I said. Pointing to the facing of perhaps six heads.
She hesitated as she picked through the lean selection.
“Any more in the back?” she asked.
Knowing we had plenty, I hustled out a fresh case and stocked it right away. The customer didn’t say much. She picked out a couple heads and continued to shop.
What I learned from that moment was that customers never like selecting what they consider is leftovers, even if what’s available is pristine. I sure don’t like having to buy the last of anything, do you? Especially when we’re talking about a perishable item, one we intend to feed to our family.
No, customers only want to know that, no matter what time of day they shop, we provide a good selection. The head lettuce offering didn’t have to be several layers high at closing time, but the display — any display — should be ample enough to satisfy any shopper.
The thought process is comparable to a less-than-impressive long-wait experience at a restaurant, whose waitstaff then complains after the customer leaves them a meager tip. The affected server might say, “Hey, why the poor tip? They got their meal, didn’t they?”
Ah, but it’s not just about getting the food. It’s everything else: the cleanliness, the quality, accuracy, the promptness, the waitstaff attention, and so on.
Same thing goes in the produce aisle.
Customers may only want two mangoes, one pineapple, or one head of lettuce. But they want an ample display from which to select their purchase. Customers are best impressed when it appears that everything you worked so hard to build seems to have been done just for them, just for their one shopping trip on any given day, and at any given time.
Show them this effort, and they’ll respond with added loyalty, and repeat sales.
Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years’ experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.
