Produce Retailer Blog

What’s your official policy on organic merchandising?

The story from our 10-Minute Merchandiser this month — about the consumer who questioned her store about commingling — is true. click image to zoomHere's the picture my friend sent me. Is it OK for the organic and conventional bananas to be touching? Her store manager and produce manager say it is.

My friend "Lucy", a mom of two, lives in Seattle and buys organic. And every time she shops the store near her house, she gets annoyed because the organic bananas are touching the conventional.

She’s asked the produce manager and the store manager about it. The store manager even contacted the corporate director of food safety who assures her that it’s OK for organic and conventional bananas to touch because you don’t eat the banana peel.

Is this a satisfactory answer?

Lucy doesn’t think so, and she brought the question to me for my readers.

I’m less concerned on “the official policy on commingling” and more concerned about how this policy doesn’t take into account what matters to an organic shopper. How’s Lucy going to trust that you’re not letting conventional cases of broccoli drip onto organic in the back room? And that in-house fresh-cut organic fruit?  I bet she doesn’t trust that either.

This issue isn’t about what you think of organic produce. It’s about what the organic shopper thinks. Check out our Category Spotlight on Organic Produce. Despite the recession, sales grew 173% from 2006-10, accounting for 5.5% of total department sales over the past 52 weeks.
Make sure you’re growing those sales and not driving your consumer elsewhere.