Selling in Winter

Tropical fruits are likely to put shoppers in the mind of beaches, sunshine, and luaus, but winter is actually a terrific time to promote these fruits, because they offer people a mental respite from the cold, harsh weather.

“Winter has a good upswing as people like to have tropical fruit during the cold weather, as it could remind them of tropical summer holidays,” says Hartmann de Barros. “During winter, the body needs plenty of vitamins, which tropical fruits provide.”

According to Christou, winter is the time to embrace all the celebrating that’s going on. “For the winter holidays, we suggest POS with holiday themes, fall and winter recipes and in-store demos with holiday meals that incorporate the Del Monte fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Christou.

Frieda’s Berkley says many tropical fruits have been popular with shoppers for a long time. “With bananas, pineapple and mangos carrying the tropical set, papayas, kiwifruit, and pomegranate should always be available to shoppers because they have been mainstream items for more than 20 years now,” she says, adding papaya, in particular, is growing in popularity. “You are also seeing more varieties of papaya. Consumers are more appreciative of the health benefits of papaya and want a variety to choose from as they have different flavor profiles.”

Rossignoli also suggests using thoughts of the summer to promote tropical fruits. “From running warm-themed advertisements to cross-promoting with top-selling items in the winter like root vegetables, there are a number of promotions retailers can run to promote sales in the winter months,” he says.

Winter is also when the biggest sports event of the year takes place, and tropical fruits are part of the action in guacamole, drinks, and snacks featuring lime.

“Another way to market tropicals in the winter is to focus on the Super Bowl,” says Rossignoli. “This event has helped the consumption and sales of avocados and limes during the winter months.”