What Retail Produce Marketing is About!

by John Berry, Extension Educator, Lehigh Co.

The incentive to consider retail marketing is obvious.  The closer you can get to retail customers, the more retail dollars go in your pocket.  However, it's not all profits.  If you sell retail, you will be providing services the wholesalers, packagers, distributors, and retailers typically provide.  As we approach another fresh produce marketing season, let's review some of the key details of operating a direct-to-consumer marketing enterprise.

Visual Display
Proper presentation of products increases sales.  Shoppers receive a positive impression if products are top quality, clean, and tastefully displayed.  Remember that high-quality products are the strength of produce markets!

A lively, well-stocked produce department entices the customer to buy and increases sales and profits.  Think of yourself as an artist, with several palettes of colors to choose from: visual - color, contrast, shape, size; smell - herbs, fruits; and touch - soft or firm.

Make displays that look like they came from the farm.  Wooden crates or boxes work well.  Baskets are beautiful; slant them toward the customer.  Even an attractive tablecloth can add to your sales.  Stair stepped displays create an array of depth, color, and texture; however, they may not be easy for the customer to reach or easy to restock.  Utilize vertical space by hanging products from slings or hangers.

Merchandising
"Pile it high and kiss it good-bye!"  Full, well-stocked displays make customers want to come back and get it.  Customers don't like taking the last of something from a bare, picked-over display; they want to choose the best.  Remember to not overstock to prevent the risk of crushing tender items on the bottom.

Make it easy for the customers to reach for the produce.  Your display should be no more than an arm's reach in depth, and between knee and waist level in height.  Don't put your merchandise on the ground.  Instead of placing your boxes flat, try slanting your produce to give the customer a more pleasing visual sense of your product.

Excellent example of using color and texture with a wide
product mix.  Everything I need to make a delicious side
dish for my dinner.

Organize products in related groupings.  Such groups might include dessert items, salad items, cooking vegetables, apples and pears.  Displaying compatible products together serves as a suggestion for additional purchases and uses of the products.

Research shows the use of color and texture greatly enhances eye appeal.  People enjoy food with their senses, so displays that are eye appealing tend to increase purchases.  Mix a row of radishes between the mustard and kale, tomatoes between the lettuce and cucumbers, or intersperse peaches with blueberries to create dazzling color displays.

Suggested good color groupings:

• Red and yellow or green
• Light green with yellow or purple
• Dark green with red, orange or yellow

If you don't have a lot of variety, create a color mixture with flowers or signs.

Price Signs

Prices should be clearly marked.  Most shoppers are in a hurry and will not search out the manager to find out how much something costs.  Include a few product features and perhaps menu suggestions on signs to stimulate your buyers' thoughts on how to use the item.

Great use of limited sign space to describe the product itself,
how to store at home, and possible uses.

Final Thoughts

Restock displays frequently, rotate products as needed, and remove damaged, decayed, or unsaleable products promptly.  Unsightly produce left on your stand not only detracts from sales, but it leaves the customer with the notion that you sell rotten produce.  If you'd buy it, leave it; if not, pull it out.

Farm Marketing: Aspects of Direct-to-Consumer Marketing

by John Berry, Extension Educator, Lehigh County

Direct-to-consumer farm marketing enjoys a special space in east coast agriculture.  Not only do we have some of the best land and productive farmers in our midst - we have millions of hungry consumers surrounding our farms.  These ready consumers not only seek farm products, foods and knowledge - they seek a connection to farm experiences.

One of the areas of retail farm marketing and agri-tourism of particular interest for enhanced professional development to many direct-to-consumer farm marketers centers on merchandising concepts.

Merchandising - pricing, product packaging, market facility and fixtures - sums up all the means you can use to sell your product, and encourages the customer to buy as much as possible.

Attractive signage can entice customers to purchase

Signs - product description, consumer awareness and general written communications - are one key element of merchandising.  Signage is your major means of communication with customers.  What you say is important to the customer in choosing what to buy, or whether to buy, so make sure the information on the sign is complete and accurate.  Always make sure your signs are clean and neat - a worn out sign will undo all the effects of an otherwise perfect display.

When you have the room, don't assume that every customer knows everything about even the most basic item.  Don't be afraid to add information like "Best Apple Pie" or "Best Baked Potato."  In any case, all products which are new, unusual, or seasonal, should be adequately signed.

Signs can also be used to promote items that are especially good buys, or tie-ins with other items in your or another department.  Signs can also emphasize nutritional information on particular items.   Signs are provided by many suppliers, trade associations, and organizations like the American Cancer Society.  Use these to best advantage, but don't rely solely on them to do the job.  Good signage can increase your sales, so use your imagination and create your own "best sellers."

Display techniques - what is being done to show farm products in their best light and encourage purchasing - are another key element of merchandising.  Your market layout may be parallel counters with displays in between, or a lateral maze with counters extending into the center.  You may even have chosen a boutique style layout, with displays in clusters.

Jams are displayed using a cluster, boutique style, layout.

Whichever layout you've chosen, the main feature of its design is to control the movement of your customers so they spend the maximum amount of time in your department, and are exposed to all your products.

The manner in which you display your merchandise within this framework can enhance their captivating environment and maximize your sales opportunities.  It would be defeating your purpose, for example, to put all your basic, staple items in one area, when a customer might make his most urgent purchases and then leave your department without seeing what else you have to offer.  To eliminate this problem, scatter your high-demand "power" items throughout your department, next to impulse items.

To further the education of those active in retail farm marketing and agri-tourism (market owners, managers, other personnel, etc.), Penn State Extension is offering a two-day bus tour of twelve premiere farm markets in northern New Jersey and Connecticut with plenty of ideas, education, food and fun for all.

We have something for everyone - seasonal, year-round, produce, food, tourism, value-added, pick-your-own, entertainment and educational farm direct-to-consumer marketing at its finest!  Not to mention the "classroom-on-wheels" as we travel between markets with opportunities to network and learn from each other.

Tour information, details, and registration is available here. 

Cross Promotion: Partnering With Other Business to Better Serve Your Customers, Part I

           With consumers desiring outdoor living spaces, complete with lighting and kitchen components, and baskets filled with wine, assorted cheese, and other food and non-edible items always proving to be popular gift items, how can ag. retailers provide such items when they do not stock and sell all the components?  One idea is to partner with business owners who sell complementary goods and services, thus the two businesses work together to help customers obtain a complete “package.”  

           Promoting goods and services offered by business owners you have an existing and trusted relationship with takes the guess work out of where to direct customers and your recommendation also helps reduce the risk for your customers.  Such a situation, known as cross promotion, is based on two (or more) businesses working together towards a common goal.  

        In this blog posting I’ve presented ideas for cross promoting in the retail space, but over the next couple of posts I’ll provide examples of how retailers can cross promote in other ways.  When cross promoting works, efforts coordinated with a complementary business provides certain benefits:
· expanding your customer base,
· greater reach with promotions and advertising,
· reduced marketing costs, and
· increased profits

Putting Items on Display

        Displaying items produced or sold by complementary businesses is one cross promotion strategy.  You may already have relationships with business owners who produce or sell items that would complement what you offer, but what if you do not?   What goods and services could appeal to your customer based on their demographics, behaviors, and interests?  If you do not already sell items like bath and body products, jewelry, specialty foods, place settings, or the like, search for businesses that do.  Once you have assembled a list, learn about clientele they serve, search for reviews customers post online about their shopping experiences, and investigate as much as you can about their business practices before requesting to meet.  Just as you put thought into developing a relationship with a new vendor the same amount of consideration is required when selecting a business to cross promote products.  

        Signage placed next to items should include a description of the product as well as information about the complementary business (e.g. business history, other available products, contact information) and an explanation as to why the product is so unique that you decided to display it in your store.  Don’t forget to ask the other business to reciprocate by incorporating select products you offer into their displays.

        The possibilities of what type of businesses to cross promote with are endless.  Displaying complementary items together is just one step, in the next few postings I’ll provide examples of how to cross promoting when communicating with customers and when hosting events, as well as the “costs” to consider before committing to this partnership.

Retailers - keep rotating merchandise and rearranging displays

Most every retailer has started decorating for the winter holidays, or at least will choose to do so after Thanksgiving.  Nevertheless, all retailers should understand the importance of changing the “look” of their outlet on a regular basis, whether it is a display, a window, or how customers will walk the floor. 

Why might you want to change or rearrange product placement or how customers must walk to get to key departments or merchandise?  The reason is simple – if you keep products displayed in the same location or do not rotate merchandise in key sales areas it is likely that repeat customers, who are accustomed to purchasing one or two items and then leave the premises, will never notice items other than what is on their list.  By moving “anchor goods” (items that customers purchase often and “draw” consumers to visit the retailer) to other locations, or mixing seasonal goods in with more commonly stocked items (so that customers looking for holiday decorations will notice other products) customers will certainly notice items that they may not have considered or may not even have realized were stocked and sold.

Aside from rotating merchandise, another way to periodically change the look of a display, or draw attention to a particular area, is to set up temporary and portable backdrops that complement product placed in front.  One way to achieve the goal of easily and cost effectively changing a backdrop is to hang fabric.  The numbers of colors and textures available, as well as being relatively easy to store, provide a realistic solution for retailers who may not have a large floor space and are limited in how they can rearrange merchandise.

Now, how often should you rearrange or change the look of your outlet?  It is suggested that retailers change some component of their window or floor display, or other design element, at least once a month; however, if your average customer visits more frequently than consider changing and rearranging more often. Again, it is in not necessary to completely rotate and/or redesign the entire retail space at this frequency, rather find something that you can change easily and that customers will notice.   

Using smells to increase impulse buys

Have you ever walked into a bakery with the plan of just getting a loaf of bread, but the delicious smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies makes you impulse buy a few? By using smells, a food retailer can get customers to make impulse purchases.



The smells of oven-baked bread, fresh ground coffee, warm cookies, and hot soups can evoke positive memories for a customer. The cookies may remind a customer of a Christmas party or the hot soups may remind the customer of a cold winter day at Grandma’s house. Whatever the memory, smell is an important part of marketing. According to the Sense of Smell Institute, people recall smells with a 65% accuracy after a year, but only have a 50% visual recall of photos after 3 months.

"Setting the Mood for Higher Sales" article

If you are a retailer who doesn’t have enticing smells naturally produced at your retail outlet, you may still want to invest some research in the idea of scent marketing. Stores like Sony Style and Bloomingdale’s are using scent marketing to set the mood for customers. Sony Style uses a combination of mandarin orange, vanilla, and cedar which are thought to entice women shoppers. Sony Style also uses this scent combination in every store to create a “Sony brand smell”. Bloomingdale’s uses a baby power scent in their baby department and a suntan lotion smell in the bathing suit department. Also, the ice cream parlor in the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando uses a waffle cone smell which is thought to have led to a recent 50% increase in sales.

How do these stores incorporate smells into their businesses without producing the actual item? Companies have been created that focus solely on developing your business’s signature scent. One firm, Scent Air (www.scentair.com), has produced a technology called ScentWave that dispenses these signature smells.




Scent branding may sound like a fabulous marketing tool, but you must first experience the retail atmosphere in the eyes (or nose) of the customer. Don’t over do it. Customers will not be rushing to the cookie display if your scent brand of cookies smells like 10,000 cookies just dropped from the sky. Subtlety is the key. Customers need a friendly reminder smell, not a smack-in-the-face smell!


"Scent Branding: Smell of Success?" article

As a consumer, do you feel that you make impulse purchases because of positive smells? Has a smell ever led you to not purchase a product? As an agricultural entrepreneur, have you seen sales increase when a new smell (like fresh baked bread) fills your retail outlet? Will you think about developing a “scent brand” for your retail space or product?