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merchandising review apples
away from the traditional varieties. In most instances, customers are trading up in dollars, buying a little more expensive, proprietary fruit. We’ve had some success with doing it.”
FINDING THE BLEND
Among the vast resources the apple industry o ers retailers is help sorting through the variety of fruit to nd the right mix. It’s an art based in science, where consumer scan data is key. “Putting these varieties out there, getting behind promoting them and
measuring results help you make plans for the coming season,” says Rainier’s Tudor.
“It’s not enough for us just to be sales guys,” says Mascari, vice president of sales for All Fresh GPS, Sparta, MI. “We have to add value to our customers and retailers. I’d love to sell my customers all 21 varieties we sell. But we want to look at all their stores and geography and give them the assort- ment that works. It’s all about tailoring that program to the customer, and even more micro, to that store, to that area. At the same
“It’s not enough for us just to be sales guys. We have to add value to our customers and retailers. I’d love to sell my customers all 21 varieties we sell. But we want to look at all their stores and geography and give them the assortment that works. ”
— Nick Mascari, All Fresh GPS
time, you don’t want to pigeonhole some- body. Maybe you ... display a higher-end apple on a smaller scale. It’s nding that ne line.”
e NYAA’s Haskins says that “it’s best to o er a good mix of sweet-to-tart apple varieties, so consumers will nd a variety that suits them.”
“New apple varieties are coming out all the time, so it’s natural for retailers to want to focus on what’s new,” she says. “What’s more important, though, is to o er a good mix of new and classic varieties because consumers have personal and powerful emotional asso- ciations with the varieties they like.”
From Fowler’s perspective, as the grower of more than 20 di erent varieties, erring on the side of more is a good strategy. “People who carry more varieties seem to do better than others,” he says. “It shows consumers they’re serious about apples.”
In addition to choosing from the array of options, retailers must determine how to mix organic versus conventional, and bags versus bulk. “You have to be careful that you honor your consumers’ purchasing patterns to gure out what that mix is,” says Pepperl. “Tradi- tionally, the bulk-to-bag ratio is 70-30 ... You don’t need every item you have in bulk to be in a bag.”
ADDING IN ORGANICS
Apple experts say consumers’ demand for organic apple varieties is on the rise, and in Washington – which grows 90 percent of U.S. certi ed organic apples – production is increasing, according to the Washington State Tree Fruit Association. e 2018 organic crop is projected to be 14 percent of the total, or 18.9 million boxes of the state’s estimated 131 million-box crop.
Organic apple sales are up at the Tops Markets, where Cady’s display strategy is to “integrate them. We put them above the
134 / OCTOBER 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS