Working closely with retail partners is essential to moving big volumes of cherries in the short summer window. Here are a few merchandising musts Sage Fruit recommends to its partners:

• Build eye-catching displays
  • Grab the consumers’ attention as they walk into the store or produce department. We have several point-of-sale bins and marketing materials to help create the displays.
• Provide information about the product flavor, availability, best uses or what it compares to.
• Promotions: in-store or digital
• Ask the experts
  • Market reps in the field are available to help build marketing strategies specific to the retailer for whatever best suits their needs.
• Showcase
  • Promote cherries 5 or more times per season for maximum category contribution.
  • If Rainier cherries are carried, include them in the promotional plan.
  • Using a combination of single and multiple cherry item ads throughout the season produces stronger results.
• Sales
  • Run promotions at a discount up to 10%, with attention to monthly trends – Late June/July 4th consumers tend to be more price sensitive than later in season. There will be repeat purchases if the consumer has a positive eating experience, and they will be less likely to be price sensitive when buying the second time.
  • In June, consumers are the most sensitive to Bing cherry pricing. For example, the study suggests that a 10% decrease in June retail pricing will drive a 10% increase in sales volume.
  • In large retailers, (average weekly produce department dollars sales greater than $47,000), offer deeper discounts on only 1 to 2 promotions.