Masters of Merchandising: KEYSTONE FRUIT MARKETING

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Sweet Onions present an opportunity for incremental produce sales.

• Sweet onions offer ample opportunity for promotion and cross-merchandising with a variety of products in and out of the produce department.

• The health and flavor benefits are an easy sell for consumers looking to cook tasteful food without salt and cholesterol.

• Onions are the most consumed produce item in the world, averaging 21 pounds per capita consumption annually in the United States. This presents a tremendous opportunity for consistent sales!

RECOMMENDED DISPLAY IDEAS

• GO BIG! Capitalize on one of today’s hottest trends – fresh produce. It’s healthy, colorful, and bursting with freshness!

• Offer consumers multiple buying options, ensuring incremental sales lift — endcaps, stand-alones, value-added product offerings, multi-size strategies, and consumer bagged displays.

• Secondary display areas during promotional periods will increase sales and consumer awareness.

• Effective point-of-purchase mate-rials and signage help showcase nutritional benefits and outstanding flavor of high-quality sweet onions.

CROSS-MERCHANDISING OPPORTUNITIES

Sweet onion usage is very diverse, making cross-merchandising opportunities virtually limitless!

• Sweet, mild flavor make sweet onions fantastic on a hamburger, in a fresh salad, added to guacamole, in kabobs, or with steaks.

• As an ingredient, they are guaranteed to enhance your favorite recipes, taking your menu to a whole new level!

FLAVOR & NUTRITION DIFFERENTIATION GIVES CONSUMERS REASONS TO BUY WITH CONFIDENCE!

• Emphasize the quality, flavor and nutrition differences of authentic sweet onions over regular cooking onions.

• The top two reasons people eat fruits and veggies are taste and nutrition. Provide product education and tasting demos so consumers experience the product.

YEAR-ROUND AVAILABILITY PRESENTS YEAR-ROUND OPPORTUNITY!

• Being able to ensure a consistent sweet onion flavor profile throughout the year is an important element for repeat and consistent sales.

• Purchase only from a reputable industry leader to assure your consumers you are providing them with the safest, freshest, and most flavorful sweet onions all year long. This forms a win-win relationship between retailers and vendors, maintaining long-term, sustainable and uninterrupted supply.

• Use regional freshness to educate consumers on uniqueness of recog-nized sweet onion growing districts.

• Work with growing interest in buying local and knowing the grower, capitalizing on regional information available.

• Create brand awareness, which translates to consumer loyalty and repeat sales.

QUICK TIPS

SELL “A HEALTHY WAY TO ADD FLAVOR”: Onions are highly recommended for those trying to prevent cardiovascular disease, cancer and infections. Also, sweet onions are fat- and cholesterol-free, and contain very little sodium.

Ensure your sweet onions are SWEET! Get them from a reliable, authentic source.

EDUCATE STORE PERSONNEL: Ensure store-level personnel know how to store and handle the product, the difference in sweet onions versus other varieties, and usage ideas. They are the front line
in helping to promote the product and provide information to customers.

OUT-OF-THE-BOX PROMOTIONAL IDEAS

Schedule a chef demo to show consumers new ways to use healthy onions to infuse flavor into recipes.
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Develop a “Recipe Kit” promotion, which cross merchandises all the ingredients — including sweet onions — to make an easy meal.

KEYSTONE FRUIT MARKETING
11 N. Carlisle St., Suite 102 Greencastle, PA 17225
717-597-2112
keystonefruit.com

Read the entire Masters of Merchandising supplement.