Are Blueberries Poised for a 550% Sales Increase?

Naturipe Farms, the world’s largest grower and fresh packer of blueberries, expects 2020 to be its biggest and best blueberry year on record. The Salinas, Calif.-based company is predicting nearly 750 million pounds of fresh blueberries industrywide. 

“It’s a drastic increase we’ve been planning in response to growing consumer demand,” said CarrieAnn Arias, Naturipe's VP of marketing.

“For our retail customers, this means more opportunities to promote in larger packs and with more frequency,” said Brian Bocock, Naturipe VP of product management. “With high volumes and quality, retailers can promote blueberries in more ways than just great prices.

“To showcase the peak flavor, we recommend in-store demos," he continued. "This, paired with a prominent front-of-department display, is a great way for retailers to achieve desired sales lift. In order to boost sales across the store, we also recommend cross-promotions with complementary products.”

For years, Naturipe has accurately predicted the size of its blueberry harvest due to innovative farming practices. For example, many of its growers have moved their blueberry bushes under tunnels to help moderate weather and produce better fruit, which makes forecasts and yields more dependable.

A predictably large crop means berry merchandising opportunities galore and out-of-the-box blueberry thinking in the year ahead.

“Last year, we worked closely with our retail customers to execute sales and display contests across dozens of their stores," Arias said. "This encouraged friendly competition amongst their teams of produce managers to think outside the box on their blueberry displays.”

Stores were judged on criteria that included sales volume, creativity of display and size of display. The contest was supported by in-store POS signage, recipes and usage ideas, as well as geotargeted social media content designed to drive more shoppers into stores.

“Through this promotion, all participating retail customers increased their year-over-year sales [during the same time period], with one customer increasing sales by over 550%,” Arias said.

Naturipe is a farmer-owned producer and marketer of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and avocados.