Robert Schueller, director of public relations for Melissa’s in Los Angeles, explained, “The organic produce category is ever-changing as it represents the minority of overall produce sales. Organic produce is a category that is continuing to grow as retailers learn more about this expanding segment, especially over the last two decades. It’s not a category that is figured out yet. It’s just like the specialty produce category.”
One of the precarious disputes has commonly been the merchandising of organic produce. We often debate whether it should be displayed in its own section or incorporated alongside the conventional item. The majority of retailers prefer a separate section for their organic produce. A smaller number choose to integrate it with conventional produce. Whichever works best should be the decision of each individual retailer.
We’ve had packaging versus bulk challenges with conventional produce long before organic produce entered the scene. Now, the question comes to the table again. Should we sell organic produce packaged or bulk?
A great number of retailers offer their customers a little of both bulk and packaged organics, but each store and region is different.
Primarily, most consumers want organic produce for health and environmental reasons. The predominant organic customer firmly prefers packaging that is recyclable. Then there is the pricing strategy of organic produce. Retailers price organic versus conventional produce arbitrarily. A recent random check was made of organic and conventional prices at several major supermarket chains taking comparable items into consideration. The price ranges were quite divergent.
One grocery chain priced conventional cabbage 99 cents per pound and organic at $1.69 per pound. Another had conventional celery at $1.49 and $2.49 on the organic. A two-pack of organic green peppers were priced at $2.99 while the conventional were being sold for 99 cents each or $1.98 for two peppers.
The merchandising and display of organic produce is where the sales growth will make a huge difference. Retailers can apply visual merchandising to their organic section by enhancing the artistic appeal of the organic fresh fruits and vegetables. When they do that, it may build customer traffic, but it has to have creative visual elements in order to induce plenty of those sales.
Here are five basic fundamentals to trigger that visual merchandising:
- Size: Refrain from cramping organic items into limited space. Widen display areas to attract more customers to it.
- Color: We certainly have the color in produce. Put some artistic skills into the product for a stunning presentation.
- Exposure: Keep stocking levels to a maximum. The more product made available the more shoppers tend to buy. Use a table endcap to promote two or three organic items in a similar way that you would conventional produce. Get the organic in front of the customer’s view.
- Focal Point: Give your organic section an eye-catching captivation by improving the product visibility. Merchandise it with the feeling of a natural point of purchase stimuli.
- Signs: Use signs to tell short stories about items, the farmers and health facts to provide information for customers. Nicely designed signs will encourage sales.
The organic produce sections have progressed from those small, limited number of items to a much larger array of variety today. There are now a wider portion of choices for those who shop specifically for fresh organic produce.
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].
