Market Minute: California stone fruit ideal for ad promotions
Market Minute: California stone fruit ideal for ad promotions
The Central Valley of California is a major center for stone fruit production. Peach trees were first introduced in the 1700s by Spanish missionaries. The 1850s gold rush increased the demand for fruit and led to a widespread planting of stone fruit trees.
Today, California grows 80 percent of the stone fruit in the U.S. and is the main source for peaches, plums and nectarines. Organic stone fruit has expanded over the past years and is also a primary product for the area.
Since stone fruit is currently in prime time for promoting, plan to create some nice attractive advertising campaigns. Boost sales immediately based on California's outstanding quality and flavor.
There are excellent supplies of all varieties of stone fruit to make the displays speak for themselves. Start pushing this summer fruit line and cash in on the profits it will return to your company.
Fruit is available from the central and southern San Joaquin Valley. Peaches, plums and nectarines are in moderate demand with a steady market.
Merchandising Tip: Expand display space of all stone fruit, and create a waterfall spillover where space allows. Use original empty shipping boxes with the top boxes installed with false bottoms to prevent shrink. The spillover will give the display that aggressive appearance that lures customers over to the fruit and persuade purchasing. Do not stack the product more than two layers to prevent damaging the sensitivity of the stone fruit.
Top off your display with signage that shows the item description and price in order to give customers all the information they appreciate. No signs and no retails means no sales. Remember to keep the display neat, clean and well stocked with product.
Make plans with your California stone fruit suppliers to set up several summer promotion ads. Now through the season is the time to generate those sales.
Ron Pelger is a produce industry adviser and industry writer. He can be contacted at 775/843-2394 or by e-mail at [email protected].
