A thousand points of produce sales moments

Produce purchases are often an impulse decision.

Consider: The shopper enters the produce department with, say, spaghetti in mind for dinner that night (one of my personal favorites). The additional items then follow in suit. Definitely some bread. And a salad of course. That’s where the whole impulse tangent gets more involved.

Romaine or other leafy greens? Iceberg lettuce? Tomatoes, avocados, other vegetables? Perhaps the attention diverts instead to the value-added precut selections.

Customers are constantly making impulse produce purchases, whether in a same-night dinner decision at the store or during a weekly meal planning session that results in a loaded shopping cart.

Which option should they pick — A or B? Or like the fraught bomb diffusing wire-cutting scene in the old spy movies — red wire or blue wire?

Okay, so produce purchasing is a tad less intense. Still, decisions still teeter in the moment.

The point here is to staff, order, prep and stock the produce department so that whatever decision is reached, it’s because the offerings are so fresh, the stock level so nice, that in that moment any decision is a good decision.

The biggest reason is to keep them from wandering away from the produce aisle.

It’s about attracting a customer’s attention when they’re used to doing everything at a fast clip. Imagine: They’ve just wrapped up their busy workday and managed to slip out of their cubicle unnoticed and on time. They’ve picked up kids, zipped through traffic, and spied a parking spot even before pulling into your lot. And now you want to slow the customer down when they’re shopping your produce department?

That’s one part of their day and their limited time that you’re competing with. So you better be on your A-game if you hope to get their attention for a second or so to make a produce buying decision.

Further, keep in mind that it’s not just one produce category competing against another, but you’re up against the plethora of other food items in the store — the thousands of deli dishes, canned goods, frozen items, pre-prepared or to-go meals — as you and everyone else are vying for those precious spending dollars and trying to take advantage of the impulse moment.

We used to call it maximizing sales — which in turn affects everything else: labor hours, shrink, profits.

That’s why a produce department must be in top shape, with friendly staff when customers arrive. Even a modest-sized store has thousands of customers each day.

“Foot traffic,” as we also used to say — which presents the probability and outcome, the numerous opportunities for those key buying decision moments that can either mean either flat or brisk sales for the produce department.

Armand Lobato works for the Idaho Potato Commission. His 40 years of experience in the produce business span a range of foodservice and retail positions.