When Sunkist's director of retail merchandising, Julie DeWolf, came from a consumer product group company to the nation's largest citrus marketer, she was surprised that retail display bins weren't in the firm's marketing arsenal.

On the consumer products side, it was a well-developed and well-used strategy. "They offer an excellent opportunity to get a display in a secondary location," she said.

As such, DeWolf began developing a display bin program for Sunkist. Today the marketing cooperative has a number of different bins in various sizes with various marketing messages. There is one touting lemons as a "S'alternative," another pushing the large pomelo fruit and still others for Navels, Valencias, Cara Cara Navels, Meyer lemons and multi-variety marketing. Several of the bins come with interchangeable header cards allowing for multiple product uses at retail.

DeWolf said that depending upon the size of the bin, the display can be set up in the produce department or any other department.

"As compared to other produce, citrus is very compatible with a number of departments," she said. "Seafood is a perfect example and so is the beer and liquor department. Citrus is used for making many different cocktails so we get a lot of requests for smaller units in the liquor department."

DeWolf said there are more challenges that must be overcome when dealing with produce as compared to CPG products, but the rewards are plentiful for both the retailer and the supplier.

"There is a big difference logistically ," said DeWolf. "CPG display bins are typically pre-packed. You just ship the bin to the store and they put it up."

When she first started developing the Sunkist bin program, "we had to crack the code logistically." While Sunkist does offer a pallet-type bin with 800 pounds of fruit that is delivered and dropped typically in the produce department, most of its offerings in this category are smaller display bins designed to carry one or two cartons of fruit and be set up in a secondary location within the store.

The transportation cost for fresh produce is relatively expensive, compared to CPG products, so the product needs to be shipped in a standard carton to best utilize the cube of a truck. Bins are shipped flat to also defray shipping costs.

DeWolf said that once this logistical challenge was solved, display bin utilization started to grow and it has continued to gain favor. While it is difficult to measure sales gains, she said a secondary display does add sales and also allows for consumer education.

For example, she said the pomelo bin allows for graphics and verbiage that give utilization ideas to the consumer. The same with the "S'alternative" bin, which graphically tells the consumer that lemons are a great and healthy alternative to salt. The bins for Cara Cara Navels and Meyer lemons can serve as educational material for the consumer.

The National Mango Board uses bins in much the same way. Wendy McManus, retail program manager for the board, said that NMB first added bins to its merchandising program in 2013.

"In 2013, we distributed more than 7,000 bins," she said. "In 2014, we jumped to more than 9,000 bins. Retailers give us high marks for the construction, durability and graphics on our bin design."

NMB works with retailers on bin orders and bin placement, according to McManus, who said, "The NMB gives our partner retailers lots of options for how they can use their promotional funds to move more mangos. For retailers that choose bins as their promotion strategy, we provide them directly to the retailer."

This past year, NMB also distributed bins through its shippers, offering about 1,000 bins on a first-come, first-served basis, and asked the shippers to distribute those bins to smaller retailers. NMB designs and ships the bin free of charge.

"I worked closely with our bin vendor to design a corrugated plastic bottom tray with sliding casters to ensure that the bins could be moved easily and would not be damaged by spills or wet mops," McManus said.

The bins come in two sizes holding either six or 13 cartons of fruit, designed to work in both small- and larger-format stores.

McManus said that for an item such as mangos "the major benefit is display space. We ask the retailers to use the bins as a secondary display, in addition to their regular mango display. We've seen mango bins placed at the front of the department, the front of the store, or even the seafood department with a recipe suggestion."

She said the bins provide a high-graphic education opportunity. "Our mango bins use colorful images to teach shoppers how to select, ripen and cut a mango."

Seth Pemsler, vice president of retail and international at the Idaho Potato Commission, said that the potato industry has been using large shipping bins for many years. The concept is the same as for citrus and mangos, but the execution is a bit different.

The bins still are used as a secondary display to increase sales of potatoes, but while Sunkist bins are often small and tucked into secondary departments, potato bins are huge and used typically to facilitate large displays and great pricing in or near the produce department.

Pemsler said the two bins most often used with potatoes hold either 1,000 or 2,000 pounds of products.

"It's a great selling tool for a retailer," said Pemsler.

He said the bins are always used with bagged potatoes and almost certainly include a promotional price. He said it is of great help to a retailer during a blowout sale, for example, because a bin with 200 bags needs much less attention than a typical potato display table that might only hold a couple of dozen bags of product. Once the product is sold, the bin can be collapsed and recycled with the rest of the cartons.

The IPC executive said the bin is typically in the produce department or near it in a value-oriented part of the store. But he said the secondary placement remains the key point which helps increase visibility and thus sales.

"I have been in stores where eight or nine people out of 10 will pick up a bag from one of these bins," said Pemsler.

He, like the others, said it is very difficult to gauge the sales lift as one would need to create a controlled experiment to accurately gauge how much the bin contributed to the increased sales and how much was generated by the value price.

"But the sales lift is huge -- I'd say at least 50 to 100 percent," said Pemsler.

Delbert Bland, president of Bland Farms in Vidalia, GA, agreed with Pemsler that for hardware items such as onions, bin marketing is a well-worn concept.

"We've been doing it for 15 years," he said. "With the high graphics on the bin, it serves as a billboard letting the customer know about our product. It is a tremendous sales tool."

Bland Farms has a bin for its popular Vidalia onions and also has a combo bin that holds both onions and sweet potatoes. He said that bin has proven to be quite popular and it has received front-of-the-store treatment in some retail outlets.

Bland said most retailers are well equipped to deal with large bin shipments at their distribution centers. His bins hold about 600 pounds of product. While bin sales are often involved in a promotional situation, Bland said the high cost of creating and printing the graphics make the packaging cost very similar to an equal poundage of onions or sweet potatoes in 40-pound cartons.

"For retailers, the big savings is in labor," said Bland. "They just have to get it out on the floor and that's it."

From a retail perspective, Don Murphy, director of produce and floral operations for Grocery Outlet, a Berkeley, CA-based chain, agreed with all of the supply-side representatives that bins "are a great tool to promote additional sales."

He sees bins as a "satellite display that create another opportunity to sell the product."

Talking about the huge bins that hold hundreds of pounds of product and the smaller display bins, Murphy said, "it's all about the high graphics," which draw the attention of the consumer and produces the additional sale.

He said the larger bins offer a labor savings as they fall into the "drop, sign and sell" category, meaning retailers don't have to work them like a typical table or wet rack display.

The Grocery Outlet chain operates in the discount supermarket sector, so Murphy said the promotional price that typically accompanies large bin displays is attractive to his customers.

While space is often at a premium in the 175 owner-operator stores that he services, Murphy said, "if it's a good deal, I can usually find a home for the bin."