The summer period is crucial for the development of the turnover of the fruit and vegetable section. It is the time where customers are waiting for a rich proposal of seasonal produce that you must know how to showcase. Indeed, the family of summer fruits (peach, nectarine, melon, apricot) alone accounts for almost a third of the fruit and vegetable section, while tomatoes and ratatouille vegetables account for more than 15% of sales.
STAGING OF SUMMER PRODUCTS
A SECTION DEDICATED TO SUMMER FRUITS!
To meet the customer expectations, the selection must be changed throughout the period. To begin, with the fruits, think about reducing the supply of apples and citrus whose sales are starting to decrease, which will make place to set up the seasonal produce. As summer progresses, the peaches and nectarines must invade the shelf display. Do not hesitate to increase the number of references: for loose sales, you should offer yellow or white fleshed fruits, or at least of 4 references, to which is added the flat peach.
For the urban clientele looking to consume immediately, think about providing a pre-packed offer of medium ripe or ready-to-eat produce.
Peaches and nectarines are fragile, but you can still showcase them by being careful, either by transferring them carefully to set them into pyramids (more appropriate for nectarines), or offering them on a tray by using false bottoms (made with empty trays) to bulk up the presentation. You should not hesitate to also highlight the flat peach, as its sales are increasingly significant. In August, there are the vineyard peaches and nectarines which must be part of your selection but needing no staging.
The apricot range
is set up in June.
The large caliber fruits are popular, especially when their red side called blush is clearly visible to the consumer. The apricot must be highlighted especially in July with the arrival of the Bergeron, the most popular variety and appreciated by consumers. You can also showcase pre-packed 5 kg trays for making jams.
The most profitable produce
is the melon.
It must be permanently showcased from mid-June until September. It is a solid product that can easily be set up in a pyramid for a massive presentation. Although make sure to rotate them from one day to the other. In case of strong heat when the weekend approaches, don’t hesitate to anticipate by stacking them on trays. Of course, think about isolating the first package of the stack from the ground with an empty tray, regardless of the produce being worked on. Indeed, as a hygienic measure, no packages containing products should be placed directly on the floor.
THE VEGETABLE SECTION TURNS RED!
In terms of vegetables, it is the range of tomatoes that must receive all the attention. First, you must develop the range and offer next to the loose round and truss tomatoes, long tomatoes, cherry tomatoes in a tub but also cocktail tomatoes often sold in clusters. These types of tomatoes can also be available in different colours: red, orange, yellow. Over the recent years there have been a return of many so-called heirloom tomatoes like the beefsteak tomato, kumato, black Crimean, anawine tomato, rose de Berne, Peruvian horn or green zebra. These tomatoes can be sold together at the same price. The range can be showcased by differentiating them, but careful nevertheless with the amount displayed as these varieties can be less firm and more fragile than the so-called conventional tomatoes. It is the truss tomatoes that need to be massively staged as it remains the main sales of the family. It must be highlighted as from the month of June and till September. Set up a staircase display by delicately transferring on a full package the content of another one. These varieties, relatively firm on arrival, become soft under the heat, think of doing the rotations.
Next to the tomatoes, the ratatouille family should also be developed.
Courgettes, aubergines, coloured peppers should be on the shelf display so as to be well noticeable: the courgettes can be transferred by stacking them on top of each other. Think about displaying the aubergines all turned towards the customer for him to appreciate their shine. The peppers should be presented according to their colour. Green, yellow, orange, even purple, feel free to play with the array of colours to enhance the summer effect!
Finally, do not forget the crudités section, whose sales are “weather sensitive”.
Thus, radishes, green salads, cucumber but also avocado, see their sales grow during the period. These products require extreme freshness, especially green salads and radishes. Never place them on the shelf display for more than half a day’s sale. These products are subject to dehydration, better keep them in the fridge and take them out little by little. They are also very sensitive to thermal shocks that wilt the leaves and turn them yellow. If you take a product from the cold room, it is meant to be sold and not to be repacked! Repacking changes the quality of the products which will not keep long at the customer’s.
