Berry Special Holiday Marketing
The holidays are here, which means many different things to many different people. But one thing most of us have in common is that the holiday season can bring up memories, association, or connection to certain foods.
When customers are excited or nostalgic about food, it stands to reason that they’re more likely to buy the ingredients required to make that food. The holiday season is a great time to utilize people’s emotional connection to the things they eat as a way to sell more of it (and make consumers happy, return). And, as Michael Warren of Central American Produce/CAPCO Farms puts it in a Produce Business article, “Wintertime is a great time to offer colorful produce for holiday menus.”
Making your produce department a fun holiday-themed area of your store can boost produce sales, in general. As Produce Business puts it, “Customers are inspired by attractive, abundant displays.” FS Produce recommends staging any Christmas displays by December 16th at the latest to maximize sales and profits.
Promotions are another great way to boost sales. Sam Marrogy, produce manager at Harbortown says, “You have to make a statement with big displays telling the customer this item is a value and will taste good,” he says. “The fruit category has always been huge during Christmas. Berries, citrus and apples sell very well with promotions.”
Featuring fresh herbs around your regular produce displays is a way to boost sales for both them and for the produce they’re displayed nearby. Savory herbs like sage, thyme, and rosemary, and garnishing herbs like mint, basil, and chives can all spike in sales when you promote them around the fruits and veggies that can feature them in holiday recipes. Think spices for mulled ciders by your citrus display, or spices for stuffing near your celery and onions.
MadMamaNYC
One very simple recipe that we love on darn near everything is a simple Strawberry-Basil compote, like this version from Broma Bakery. You could display basil leaves, granulated sugar, and lemons near your strawberry display and print out this recipe for customers, then they have an easy jam to put on toast, pancakes, vegetables, and even meat. If compote isn’t your jam (ha), there are many other great pairings you can find online.
Cross-marketing during the holiday doesn’t end and begin with herbs. Other miscellaneous sales you can boost by cross marketing during the holiday season include dips, dressings, sauces, and nuts.
Tying cross-marketing into sampling is another way to get customers in a festive buying mood. Serving up easy samples (Most of these recipes are three-ingredient or less) is a fun way to entice shoppers to not only buy strawberries, but purchase the melting chocolate, sprinkles, flakes, or other additional ingredients that go along with them. If you’re offering a sample that is easy for parents to make alongside their kids, even better. Samples that hold up and display well also encourage purchases from people who need quick, easy recipe ideas for taking appetizers to their own holiday parties.
Easy-to-make strawberry samples include:
• Santas, like these from Kelly Dixon
From Kelly Dixon
• Draidels, like these from Jewish Boston.
From Jewish Boston
•Gold Dipped Berries for New Years celebrations, like these from Hungry Enough to Eat Six
From Hungry Enough to Eat Six
Strawberries can also can be turned into Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Santa hats, and more.
As far as nostalgia goes, there is cross-marketing you can do to promote recipes families might enjoy year-in and year-out. One such recipe is our Strawberry-Lime Sufganiyots. They’re a popular dessert in the Jewish tradition but you don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate how delicious they are. Print out the recipe and picture off our website, and place recipe ingredients close at hand.
Tarts are another dessert popular around the holidays, and our Raspberry Almond Raspberry version is one that our staff has enjoyed for many years. Cross-promoting this recipe can be particularly lucrative, if you arrange your display with a premium brand of nuts.
However you decide to maximize your holiday sales, we wish you the best of luck and hope you close out 2019 with a profitable fourth quarter. Happy Holidays!