Five things to do if you want more money for your fresh produce

Joe is a medium-size grape grower. He sells his products using his brand, originally created by his father, the founder of the company. He is tired of having to fight the traditional price war with his competitors.

"I have to find the way to get more money for my produce", he thinks, "this is what I've got to do!"

Here's some advice for Joe:

1. Building a premium price position is not an easy thing. There is nobody (nobody) in this world with a magic stick that allows this to happen in minutes. There is no such wonderful system that can miraculously get results in a month or two. If you want to get more money for your fresh produce, take into account you will need time and resources.

2. Start with analysing your product category. What do your competitors offer? What might consumers like? What are the requests that you're mostly asked for by retailers (do you already use a trade marketing approach, Joe?) Visit some stores, talk with shop-owners, interview a good number of consumers. Make up your idea based on all this.

3. Study your products, your company, your production techniques, your competences, your history; make a list of your strengths and of all things you can leverage on.

4. Look for a differentiating idea for your offer, something that can make your products unique, different from the others, in a way that they look more interesting for those who will have to buy them. This is the base of the whole process: your success will depend on how strong this differentiating idea will be. Work on the idea, refine it, find the way to express it in a simple yet effective way; make it short and memorable.

5. Communicate your differentiating idea to the world, to both trade and consumers; use it in your packaging, on your site, on your ads, on your sales materials. Everything you do will have to be centred around your difference.

It will take time, but if Joe will do all this well, he will reach his objective: he will be able, slowly, to start getting a better price for his produce.

Sure, this is not an easy process: it takes marketing knowledge, time and some investments. But in the long term, it might be well worth of all these efforts.

If you are interested in fresh produce marketing, download the free e-book "Introduction to marketing for fresh produce"

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Pisani Produce Marketing is a training & consulting agency for the produce world. It was founded by Maurizio Pisani, former Chiquita and Fresh Del Monte executive.

For more info:
Maurizio Pisani
maurizio@pisaniproducemarketing.com
www.pisaniproducemarketing.com