Page 74 - 0519

merchandising review cherries
size, starting dates, weather conditions and promotional time periods.
“If we have heavy volume of early cher- ries, retailers can capitalize on fantastic promotional opportunities,” says Wilson. “Consumers love early-season California cherries, and retailers love promoting this impulse item.”
He adds cherries are an ideal way to spark promotions during the warmer seasons.
“I think California cherries are unique to consumers since there are no fresh cherries on the market prior to California cherries,” he says. “Cherries are the first tree fruit of the spring selling season and a great item to get shoppers excited.”
Riggan says Chelan provides point-of-sale materials, including merchandiser banners to produce departments, but that getting the most out of these materials takes some efforts.
“Anytime you can build satellite displays, I think you drive incremental sales, but the challenge is that it puts pressure on your produce department to manage and update those displays,” he says. “If you can put a display of cherries up at the checkout register, I think you’re going to sell more because people are going to be staring at them as they
go up the line.”
This setup also leads to sales as customers
wait in line.
“If they don’t have any already, after three
or four minutes of staring at them they might say, ‘Oh I’ll go ahead and buy some,’ ” says Riggan. “But you also have to maintain that
display, and it’s out-of-sight, out-of-mind for most produce guys because they’re scurrying just to keep their produce filled. So it’s not as easy as it sounds.”
But hard work can definitely pay off, and it keeps customers coming back for more cherries. pb
74 / MAY 2019 / PRODUCE BUSINESS