If you build it, they will come. That seems to be the theme behind the National Mango Board’s Mango Mania Display Contests, and from a the perspective of a couple of San Diego retailers, it works.

Working with Coast Tropical in San Diego, CA, a Foodland location and a Save A Lot Mercado outlet registered huge sales gains during week-long mango extravaganza events in July.

“It was amazing,” said Isabel Freeland, vice president of Coast Tropical. “We helped both stores build big displays and they significantly increased sales during the promotion period.”

At Foodland, Freeland said the Coast Tropical staff worked with store employees through the night to build a display consisting of 150,000 mangos. The next morning the store opened and people were lining up to buy the tropical fruit. The promotion stretched from July 23 to July 29, during the heart of the Mexican mango deal when volume was up and prices were down.

“The year before Foodland sold 194 cases of mangos during that time period,” said Freeland. “This year, they sold 9,520.”

Freeland said the store is located in a diverse neighborhood with a mix of Hispanics, Asians and Anglos. The store typically does good mango business, but this year sales were off the charts.

Coast Tropical helped a different Foodland achieve similar results during an NMB Mango Mania display contest several years ago.

“It’s very exciting and a great promotion,” Freeland said. “The contest gets people excited and helps create extra demand for mangos.”

Coast Tropical also helped a Save A Lot Mercado store realize a huge jump in sales it is own right, from 696 cases the previous year to almost 4,000 cases during the six-day, end-of-July sale. That represents close to a 600 percent increase in volume, which stacked against any store but Foodland is a very dramatic increase.

Freeland said it proves that promotions work.

When Freeland spoke with The Produce News in early September, she had just returned from a two-week trip wrapping up the Mexican deal and surveying upcoming deals in Ecuador and Peru. Freeland was happy to be home but excited about what the future brings for mangos.

“We just laid the foundation for our own packingshed in Peru,” she said. “Previously, we packed through other sheds but now we will have a packing facility just for Coast Tropical fruit.”

Freeland said construction was on a fast track as the expectation was that it would be completed and certified in time for the start of the Peruvian mango deal in January.

In discussing the just-completed Mexican deal, the Coast Tropical executive said it ended a bit early, which is exactly the opposite timing for the three deals that are following it. Brazil, Ecuador and Peru are all a bit late, which Freeland expects to help each of those deals. She added that the gap has created a very strong market for the month of September that should last well into October.

“The rain messed up the end of the Mexican deal, which was unfortunate because there was still fruit on the tree,” she said. “But it was still a good deal.”

And the late start to Brazil is also weather-related. It has been cold there, just as it has been in Ecuador and Peru. But Freeland said if each deal stays on its current timeline, shippers in each country will have ample opportunity to move their fruit. She expects total volume to be down for those three points of origin, though Coast Tropical will have similar volume to last year, at least from Ecuador.

“As far as promotions go, there should be promotable volume for all of November until about December 15,” she said, adding that Ecuador will be the main supplier during that time frame.

After the Christmas holiday, Peru’s volume will start and reach peak volume by the middle of January.

Freeland said that late-January time frame should also offer a good opportunity for retail promotions within the United States.