Jan DeLyser, an industry icon who has spent almost the past quarter-century marketing California avocados in her role with the California Avocado Commission, is retiring. Here she shares her keys to marketing avos at retail.

• Use prominent signage at shelf and on display and call out the California origin when the fruit is merchandised.
• Always merchandise ripe avocados to satisfy shoppers who want to eat them on the day of purchase.
• Whenever possible, also merchandise avocados that will ripen and be ready to enjoy in a few days. This encourages buying more avocados on each purchase.
• Expand or contract the avocado set as needed for seasonal demand and use secondary or tertiary displays for key events like the Big Game, Cinco de Mayo and 4th of July.
• Merchandise bagged avocados.
• Avocados are a fun fruit that encourage larger basket rings with the purchase of complementary produce items. So have fun with them! Cross merchandise with tomatoes, limes, lemons, onions, chiles, mangos, stone fruit and more. Have fun with signage and draw attention to displays.