Page 24 - Deli Business June/July 2020

MERCHANDISING REVIEW
number. Delis have all the fixings to do the same thing, too. And because of the vari- ety offered at retail, probably do an even better job with more variations. Just think, the average deli has four to five sand- wiches, four to five salads and four to five soups. Putting even two of these together in a combo meal can result in a 25 to 50 percent life. Plus, this variety means there’s a huge ability to mix and match and come up with different combinations every day or every week.”
Newer products include the company’s Hatch Chile Mac & Cheese that pairs well with fried chicken; Cheesy Polenta that menus with ribs and coleslaw; and Riced Cauliflower as a side for baked salmon. Among the best-sellers is Blount’s Broccoli and Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese.
2. BUILD ALL-IN-ONE DISPLAYS.
Some retailers practice merchandising according to an internal category hierar- chy, while those who are most successful execute their merchandising practices on par with how the consumer shops, says Conroy Food’s Orlando. “Can you have allthebreads,rollsandcondimentoptions right next to the deli? No, but you can provide simple, creative and quite possibly uniqueproductpairingstofittheconsumer demand.”
To do this, create secondary in-store displays.
“Putting dips or spreads near the Pressels or Wicked Crisps or vice versa work well in terms of secondary dis- plays,” says Jeff Canner, vice president of CRG, LLC, a marketing company based in Andover, MA, that manages both brands. “But it falls down when it’s a treasure hunt. You need the items together. If people can find these products together in a second- ary display, the cross merchandising will be highly effective.”
Protein Pressels are the latest variation of the thin, crispy and popular pretzel chips, and are made with red lentils, white beans and green peas and available in BBQ and Sea Salt flavors. A 1-ounce serving pro- vides 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber.
Use store signage to make a clear snack, meal or usage connection between the products cross merchandised in the display, recommends Krystle Turnbull, product manager for the artisan line at Litehouse, Inc., in Sandpoint, ID. “Plus, offer entic- ing price promotions. A buy-one-get-one incentive,whetherforafreeordiscounted product, is a great way to connect new product trial with a best-selling product that customers already know and love. Research has shown that by using sec-
ondary displays, stores typically see an additional 200 percent unit lift during this type of cross merchandising promotion.”
3. DEMO TWO OR MORE PRODUCTS. The try-it, you’ll like-it and buy-it approach works well when cross merchandising as part of a manned demo.
“When a shopper tries a sample fea- turing our cheese spread with a specific cracker, it may give them an idea of a pair- ing they hadn’t thought of before or remind them of something they wanted or needed that wasn’t necessarily on their list, and they will buy both products,” says Brittany Requejo, marketing manager for Pine River Pre-Pack, Inc., Newton, WI-based mak- ers of cheese spreads. “This is especially true when the deli staff and demo person work well together to prepare the samples and set up an appealing display. It is the dif- ference between a shopper stopping and sampling or walking away.”
Early this year, Pine River released a new and improved line of shelf-stable gourmet snack cheese spreads. The com- pany achieved this by adding more aged Wisconsin Cheddar to the recipe and limiting the use of other non-dairy ingre- dients to achieve a flavor more consistent with the traditional cold pack, but with the convenience of not requiring refrigera-
24 DELI BUSINESS JUN/JUL 2020