Tango mandarins to become convenience product

The Eurosemillas brand, which covers much of the Tango mandarin production, is working on a three-year plan to consolidate its position as a convenience product. This was explained by the body at the recent edition of Fruit Attraction to some of the purchasing managers in charge of planning the fruit and vegetable supply for large supermarket chains.

"We have a premium product with attributes that are known by both exporters and large distributors; it is a protected variety: the Tango, which has become popular among producers. Now our challenge is to consolidate our brand and ensure our seedless, bee-friendly mandarins are perceived as differentiated products, adapted to new consumer habits," explained the director of Tango Fruit, Juan José De Dios Contzen.

During the coming weeks, after the first trade fair contacts and ahead of the upcoming late mandarin season, Tango Fruit plans to close the first continental agreements with certain exporting and distribution chains. In this first stage, and given the still incipient production of this mandarin, the Eurosemillas brand wants to be especially selective.

"To continue adding value we need good coordination and understanding between brand, operator and point of sale. Everyone will profit in this project, because we will improve the product rotation. Then, once the consumer has responded to the stimulus and we have larger volumes available, everything will be a lot easier," states De Dios Contzen.

Taking all of this into account, Tango Fruit has developed a three-year plan to make the brand grow at the same pace as the licensed production in Spain and the southern hemisphere. Achieving this will also make it necessary to ensure an adequate presentation, packaging and branding that meet new consumer habits; those that have already become consolidated in the US and which are making their way into European markets.

The sale of individual pieces as a snack or, in some cases, even in formats adapted for vending machines and impulse buying; tastings, special promotions on special dates, campaign videos, games and gifts are all parts of a whole under a global slogan: 'Let's play', which promotes smiling, playing, laughing, enjoying, etc. Attitudes and actions that are linked to the act of purchasing Tango Fruit

As shown in the photos taken during the trade fair, the new packaging formats exhibited played with the factor of spontaneity and confidence, so necessary to escape the commodity concept that citrus fruits are usually pigeonholed in.

There were cardboard boxes decorated with mandarins transformed into 'scary' pumpkins, with stickers allowing you to play and dress the fruits up in the most entertaining way in the weeks prior to pre-Halloween; a duo pack with two mandarins adapted for quick consumption during lunch, or even adjustable for vending machines, so that they can be offered both at the gates of a gym or in the area near the hypermarket exit; or traditional mesh or wooden boxes with a cheerful design, always featuring three common characteristics: the 'Let's Play' slogan, which conveys a light-hearted attitude; the cheerful and funny bee (to emphasise that the fruit's cultivation does not limit the movements of these pollinators, making it unnecessary to use phytosanitary products to get them to go away), and its varietal certification seal, which proves the legitimate origin of the product.

Tango Fruit is not only offering a promotion and differentiated formats at the points of sale, but it is also facilitating greater regularity in the supply of seedless mandarins and easy peelers, serving as a platform to coordinate exports between the northern and southern hemisphere and guaranteeing greater regularity in the supply.