The Retail Expansion of Organic Produce Sections

I can remember when organic produce first entered the supermarket scene. There were only a handful of items, and we didn’t have much information about them or the role they were supposed to play in our retail business. I only knew that they were new and different for our retail operations at the store level. Anything different to me always represented a possible opportunity for sales growth.

As organics drew more attention, I became aware of a small number of consumers demanding that these items be offered in our stores. I felt this was no longer an anomaly but rather a new trend. It could represent a breakthrough and generate the incremental sales we always seek.

During the very first stages of handling organic produce, we tested a limited number of items in a few stores. We didn’t have any history or a layout plan to guide us in merchandising the specific items. We were new to the game.

After a couple of weeks, I visited the test stores and reviewed the results with the produce managers. The results were disappointing, with very little product sold. In fact, much of it had to be discarded because it had deteriorated on the shelf. The produce managers felt that the retail prices were too high and discouraged purchases. However, supply and demand dictated the pricing.

But we didn’t give up. As with anything new, you have to keep working at it. During our experiments, we finally decided to set up a small section in the wall case with approximately 15 organic items.

The number of organic items grew from 15 to 30, then to 50. We opened a new store and devoted a large amount of space to organic produce. That department offered 101 organic choices to our shoppers and was a huge hit with the organic community. There is now a wider range of choices for shoppers who specifically seek fresh organic produce.

Greater farm production of organic fruits and vegetables has vastly improved inventory availability. This has been a great advantage for retailers and is the primary reason they need to expand display space at the store level.

“Our overall department distribution has increased daily, with a large percentage of that growth coming from organic sales,” said Vince Mastromauro, director of produce operations for Sunset Foods in Highland Park, Illinois. “I have seen an overall increase in basket size, as have other retailers. As our online presence has grown immensely across all produce purchases, organic has been well represented. With summer fruit coming on, the numbers will only increase as we offer more organic produce items.”

It may be time to review your organic produce listings and sections. Perhaps it’s a good time to expand your program based on the category’s current impact.

What do you think? Write to me at ronprocon@gmail.com