Demographic differences create produce merchandising challenges in supermarkets

A diverse consumer landscape with myriad purchasing habits and values is making the optimal marketing of fruits and vegetables a difficult endeavor.

While produce has high household penetration and the department attracts shoppers of all demographics, maximizing activity across the board can be a struggle. Many younger consumers with typically lower incomes, for instance, are reluctant to be regular fresh produce customers because of cost concerns, said Russell Zwanka, associate professor of food marketing and director of the food marketing program at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo.

In response, retailers can merchandise selections in smaller package sizes with lower price points to create a perception of affordability, he said.

Operators also can offer wider varieties of products in specific outlets to increase activity from the category’s core customers, including higher-income households and Asian and Hispanic shoppers, Zwanka said.

“Because produce is so highly ingrained in the Asian and Hispanic cultures, selections aimed at the populations need a much higher presence,” he said.

Adjusting product mixes also can enable conventional supermarkets to better attract the increasing number of shoppers who are purchasing produce from alternate channels, he said. That can include offering produce in the bulk size packages that are prevalent in club stores and providing more organic and sustainable choices, he said.

Traditional groceries generated 41.1% of produce dollar sales in 2023, down from 41.6% in 2022, reports Circana, a Chicago-based market research firm. Mass and supercenter produce share rose to 20.1% from 19%; club share grew to 11% from 10.9%; and specialty store share remained at 1.7%.

“The mass and club formats have made great strides in produce quality,” Zwanka said.

Along with the custom marketing aimed at specific shopper groups, retailers can influence all shopper segments with in-store signage that spotlights a product’s specific growers; by highlighting locally sourced selections; and promoting an item’s health benefits, he said. “Ensuring that the most seasonally relevant selections are front and center on displays is also vital for communicating freshness and seasonality,” Zwanka said.

Marketing to shoppers who receive benefits for the purchase of nutritious foods in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) can trigger greater produce activity as well, he said. That particularly includes recipients in the more than twenty-five states that participate in the Double Up Food Bucks program, which doubles the value of SNAP benefits that the shoppers receive to purchase fruits and vegetables.