Independence Day Merchandising Tips

Jun 23, 2015 By: Ray Taglialatela

Crushing it on 4^th of July produce sales will take planning.

Have you put your scheduling, ordering and merchandising plans together for the Independence Day holiday sales period? This year 7/4 falls on Saturday so you’ll have the benefit of the full week of selling plus all of the extra business that will come on Sunday. Here are some of our suggestions:

Deliveries and Planning

Four Seasons Produce will make deliveries every day to most regions on Monday 6/29 through Saturday 7/4. Don’t wait until the last minute to fill your cooler and back rooms or you might be caught with empty shelves and be waiting on a truck.

1. Monday 6/29 – Order your hard goods such as croutons, dips, dressings, snacks, juices, etc.) to arrive this day. Get ‘em in and pack ‘em out early so you’re not messing around with these areas of your department when the busy time hits.

2. Monday 6/29 – Tuesday 6/30 – Order so your hard fruits and vegetables arrive. Have your evening associates pack out your semi-perishables and non-perishables and hard fruits and vegetables. Have your backrooms and storage areas organized and straightened in preparation for large deliveries. Be organized and the holiday will go smoothly.

3. Wednesday 7/1 – Thursday 7/2 – Get your tonnage items in early. Start taking delivery of your sweet corn, summer fruits, watermelon and cantaloupe needs. If you wait until Friday 7/3 to bring in our heaviest orders, you’ll be waiting on your delivery for product that you need to sell that day.

4. Friday 7/3 – Saturday 7/4 – Bring in Refill of ad items, highly perishables and product to cover your Sunday sales.

MASS displays are going to sell product, so don’t be bashful. Be aggressive and keep your displays full. We’ll have all of your Organic and Conventional product needs.

Summer Fruit Merchandising – Promote conventional and organic summer fruits in a big way.

The eating quality and value are outstanding on all varieties. Cherries will be at their best from the Northwest and can drive massive dollars through the register. Your fruit counters should reflect the availability of full variety now:

Saturn (Donut) Peaches Black and Red Plums

Nectarines Apricots

White flesh Peaches Pluots/Plumcots

Dark Sweet Cherries Rainier Cherries

White flesh Nectarines Green, Red, Black Seedless Grapes

California & Southern Peaches

Melon Merchandising

Watermelon melon bins The heat of the holiday makes your customers crave refreshing of fresh melons. Keep your melon displays chuck full with variety. Your cut display space should be heaviest on halves giving you the higher rings. Organic and Conventional Melon variety is outstanding right now:

Whole Watermelon* Watermelon Halves, Quarters, Hearts

Mini seedless Watermelon* Tuscan cantaloupe

Western Cantaloupe* Honeydew*

Bin Athena Cantaloupe KISS series Specialty Melons

Ideas: Build a melon patch using bins of Athena lopes, personal seedless melons, Dulcinea Tuscan cantaloupe and whole watermelon. Tie golden pineapple in to your melon patch.

Berry Merchandising

Now’s the time to keep your berry patch full with all sizes and varieties since there is plenty of variety available and you make great margin at fantastic retails.

Strawberries* Blackberries* Blueberries* Raspberries*

Fresh Cut Fruit and Vegetables

Expand your display space on clamshell fruit chunks, cored and chunk pineapple and watermelon chunks, veggie trays, kabob kits, bean dip, guacamole and salsa. Prepare your in-house fresh cut team for more volume or pre-book organic and conventional fresh cut packs from Four Seasons Produce.

Vegetable grill display – Vidalia onions, colored sweet bell peppers, asparagus, portabella mushroom caps & slices, eggplant, anise, count russet potatoes & Grill Pack Russet potatoes, Brussels sprouts and green & yellow squash. Try traying up a combination of these items and weigh it at $5.99 lb. Garlic Expressions marinade and dressing is a great item for this display.

Sweet Corn – To satisfy demand you will need to build a secondary display of corn using a bin dummied up to control your display quantities. Position a clean trash can at the display for your customers to shuck their corn. To make very good margin, trim, strip and tray pack 5 ears of corn and get premium retail for the added value and convenience.