FRESNO, Calif. (FNS) -- Supermarket operators are expected to merchandise more than the typical two varieties of red and green seedless grapes this summer, due to more abundant supplies of other varieties and a concerted push by the California Table Grape Commission here for diversification on the shelves.
ming campaign will tout the increased variety of grapes available to consumers, and will also highlight the expanded season of availability for California table grapes.
In a case history presented at the Annual Produce Conference last month in La Quinta, Calif., Kathleen Nave, executive vice president of the California Table Grape Commission, said major shifts in grape production in the state had led the organization to seek out new ways to sell the fruit, both to consumers and retailers. The solution it found was a merchandising campaign dubbed "Variety Sells."
Nave said that a few years ago, the significant seedless varieties harvested in the summer and early fall were being increasingly joined by new varieties, which extended the harvest season into December.
New plantings in the primary growing regions of the San Joaquin and Coachella Valleys also contributed to an increased tonnage on the market.
Nave said the volume of the entire California crop was heading upward. It was becoming a more diverse crop than it had ever been, and would consistently be harvested over the course of a longer season. The trends were running counter to commission consumer research that indicated consumers primarily thought of grapes as a summer fruit. Re-education was in order, the commission decided.
The resulting campaign operates throughout the new table grape season, which runs from May through December, and is expressly targeted on expanding consumers' horizons and their understanding of grape varieties, while it encourages retailers to feature a greater variety of table grapes in their advertisements and in their produce departments.
Kicking off the program, the commission asked retailers to carry and advertise multiple varieties and to track the results of their efforts, comparing them with sales for the same period the year before.
"While we expected sales to increase, we didn't expect the significant jumps the test program generated," Nave said.
Sales increases ranged from 66% for a 13-variety advertisement to 18% for a three-variety advertisement during the first year of the targeted promotion.
Based on the success of the tests, the pilot program was presented the next year, with the only changes being the expansion of the promotional components and the number of participating retailers.
This second year, the efforts helped retailers achieve a 60% increase for an 18-variety advertisement and a 21% increase for a seven-variety advertisement. The average increase was 48%.
Focus group research, conducted following the second wave of the "Variety Sells" campaign in six cities across the country, showed that consumers are interested in tasting and using new varieties, but that their produce departments typically carried only two varieties -- green and red seedless.
With the permission of the retailers involved in the initial tests, the commission used the results of the pilot program to hone the "Variety Sells" program moving forward. Additionally, a consumer research component was incorporated to measure the long-term benefits of the merchandising efforts. It is this promotional package that will be presented this coming season.
Merchandising kits and news stories in trade publications are part of the mix to encourage retailers to promote multiple varieties, particularly during the fall, when there are so many varieties available, Nave said.
Commission-sponsored radio commercials will carry the variety message in 40 top markets working in tandem with retailer's ads featuring the multi-variety focus.
