Produce Retailer

It’s easy to get complacent when it comes to merchandising bananas — a top-selling item in most produce departments.

But rather than sitting back and letting the product move through its own momentum, successful retailers to take advantage of the fruit’s popularity to lure customers by maintaining good-sized sets — often complemented by secondary displays — and promoting them often.

Bananas rank fifth in produce sales, according to the Nielsen Perishables Group, a Chicago-based fresh food consulting firm. The category comprised 5.8% of produce department dollar sales for the 52-week period ending Oct. 29, 2011.

SOMETHING SPECIAL Whether you have a strong ethnic customer base, or you’d just like to add some variety to your regular banana set, think specialty bananas. “Specialty bananas are a great way to grow the entire banana category,” says Dionysios Christou, vice president of marketing for Del Monte Fresh Produce, Coral Gables, Fla. “Their demand is increasing with the growing awareness of ethnic cuisine across the country.” A good way to merchandise specialty bananas is to give them ample visibility with traditional bananas and to promote them alongside other ethnic products. “It would benefit a retailer to promote Del Monte plantains and manzano/apple bananas in an area where there is a high concentration of consumers of Hispanic origin,” Christou says. Turbana Corp., Coral Gables, offers baby and red bananas, manzano and burro, harton and Hawaiian plantains, says Bianca Pastor, marketing communications coordinator. The plantain is a fruit but must be cooked for consumption and is savory, like a vegetable, she says. Miami-based Banacol Marketing Corp. works with retailers to help them sell specialty bananas along with other tropical items, says Bill Sheridan, executive vice president. The company offers manzanos, baby bananas and plantains. “We’re seeing those categories continue to grow,” he says. “People are really looking for a new experience.” By cross merchandising the banana category, including specialty bananas, with tropicals like yucca and chayote, retailers may spark incremental sales. “We’ve had tremendous success introducing plantains and yucca to people who would normally just purchase bananas,” Sheridan says.

“Everyone buys bananas,” says Rob Perrottelli, assistant produce manager for Ancona’s Market, Ridgefield, Conn. “You’ll see more pounds of bananas than anything else.”

Ancona’s features bananas on ad every couple of months at prices ranging from 49 cents a pound to 3 pounds for $1, compared with a regular price of 79 cents per pound.

A low price catches the consumer’s eye, but the store typically experiences only a small sales bump.

“It’s a type of item that, even though they’re on sale, you can’t buy a lot extra because a lot of people won’t eat them when they get overripe,” Perrottelli says, adding that shoppers usually buy as many as they can use in a week.

Perrottelli merchandises bananas on a 4-foot table, and the store also offers some specialty bananas and organic bananas.

“More and more people are getting into organic,” he says.

Scale-free

There are no scales in the 158 stores that make up the Berkeley, Calif.-based Grocery Outlet chain, so the stores can’t sell bananas by the pound.

 “We had to come up with a different way of selling bananas,” says Scot Olson, director of produce and floral.
The solution was the 3-pound bag, which is the No. 1-selling item in the produce department. Bananas are the No. 2 category, second only to packaged salads.

Shoppers who don’t need 3 pounds of bananas can buy singles at 4 for $1. The 3-pound bags are $1.99.
Stores typically display the fruit on a 6- by 3-foot end cap, which is covered with foam padding to prevent bruising.

Produce managers often use waterfall displays to get the fruit out of their back rooms, which don’t have controlled atmosphere technology.

Olson also sets up banana tree displays, usually on the cereal aisle or close to the checkout register to prompt incremental sales.

Many products can be cross merchandised with bananas.

Ancona’s Market merchandises bananas with chocolate banana kits, banana cream kits, banana smoothie kits and strawberry smoothie kits, all of which are merchandised in front of the banana display, Perrottelli says.

Grocery Outlet cross merchandises bananas with Nilla wafers and California clementines. In early December, Olson was preparing to launch a kiwifruit program by setting up a shipper display of the fruit in front of the bananas.
“That helps sell kiwis,” he says.

Sales support

Suppliers offer a number of programs to support retail banana sales.

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Dole Fresh Fruit planned to launch its 366 Ways to Go Bananas campaign Jan. 1, says Bil Goldfield, communications manager for Dole Food Co., Westlake Village, Calif.

The initiative will be supported by a 12-month multimedia marketing effort encompassing a campaign-specific microsite, traditional and digital advertising, sticker program, public relations, social media, and blogger and other third-party partnerships, he says.

Dole also will work with retailers across the country to develop in-store promotions, point-of-sale materials, sampling events and other programs.

The company recently introduced a new banana product called FreshPack — a two-pouch banana bag with micro-perforations that significantly slow the ripening process, Goldfield says.

Miami-based Banacol Marketing Corp. also will roll out a number of promotions throughout 2012, says Bill Sheridan, executive vice president.

The company likely will have loyalty card programs for consumers and display contests and sales competitions for retailers, he says.

Turbana Corp., Coral Gables, Fla., has many tools to help retailers grow their banana and plantain business, says Bianca Pastor, marketing communications coordinator.

One tool is Hispanic marketing assistance.

“Turbana is a specialist in marketing to the Hispanic community and can be a valuable partner for retailers to help capture the Hispanic market segment,” she says.

Another is the firm’s ability to offer private label products.

“Turbana is the largest supplier of private label bananas,” she says. “Offering private label produce can help a retailer differentiate themselves and is essentially another advertising medium.”

Offering Fair Trade Certified bananas is one more way retailers can grow their business, she says, adding, “Turbana is the largest producer and exporter of Fair Trade Certified bananas in the world.”

Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A. Inc., Coral Gables, Fla., also is continuously developing new products and improving existing products to address the changing needs of retailers and consumers, says Dionysios Christou, vice president of marketing.

“We plan to expand our CRT (controlled ripening technology) packaging line to provide more exciting options for consumers and the trade,” he says.

Merchandising tips

Suppliers also have some useful merchandising suggestions.

Banacol’s Sheridan recommends merchandising bananas prominently in the produce department and implementing a two-color program.

“Making sure you have the right color really helps sell bananas,” he says.

Goldfield says Dole suggests placing “grab-and-go” displays of single bananas near checkout.

“Handle bananas with the care used with fragile eggs and maintain storage temperatures between 56 F and 65 F,” he says. “The key to merchandising bananas is to keep a large display full of bananas in a single layer that is prominent throughout the produce department.”

Turbana recommends making sure fruit has an attractive yellow skin. To protect against handling damage, display fruit on padded shelves, avoid stacking, and monitor and rearrange displays often, Pastor suggests.

The ideal placement for bananas is in high-traffic end cap areas, Christou says. Use secondary displays by the checkout counters and/or cereal aisle to increase impulse purchases.

He also suggests cross merchandising bananas with such items as strawberries, other tropical fruit, cereal, salads, chocolate dips and peanut butter.

“Smoothies are becoming a big part of healthy lifestyles, and bananas make a delicious ingredient for energy-packed smoothies,” Christou says.