The Wonderful Company have reported that their Halo brand mandarins enjoyed a strong start to the season. In the first 6 weeks of the campaign, the company announced a 7% jump in sales over the previous year. Additionally, they said the Thanksgiving period saw its biggest year ever.
"Kicking off the season in early November prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, Halos just had their biggest start of the season yet with the 6 first weeks seeing a 13% increase compared to the first 6 weeks of last season (2016)," said Adam Cooper, of The Wonderful Company. "In addition, Halos had its biggest Thanksgiving ever, with consumption in Total US Food up +15% vs. Thanksgiving last year. Halos is the fastest selling mandarin brand in America during the California mandarin season."
In-store merchandising assists sales
Wonderful pointed to their intensive retail promotion campaign as a key that helped sales reach such strong levels. "The increase is exciting news following the introduction of the new Wonderful Halos “Grove of Goodness” POS collection and to date over 12,000 POS units have shipped," Cooper said. "We find that in-store merchandising is extremely important to capture the attention of our consumer. So every season Wonderful Halos makes it easy to merchandise in-store by arriving in high-graphic packaging and providing eye-catching POS displays."
The campaign involves a duo of in-store display setups that the company said intends to present the customer the feeling of produce arriving fresh from the field to the store. The colorful displays are designed to be placed in different parts of the store, depending on the setup.
"Our high-graphic, cart-stopping displays act as billboards for our brand in-store and this past November, we introduced one of produce’s biggest-ever POS display programs with our new “Grove of Goodness” POS collection," Cooper explained. "The collection features a grove-to-store tractor, bringing to life the process of delivering fresh Halos directly from farm-to-table. Furthering this farm-to-store idea, we have a POS grove tree display with a smaller footprint that can be placed in secondary locations including the checkout, lobby, deli, pharmacy, and other areas around the store, reminding consumers to pick up their fresh mandarins."
Cooper noted that placing the displays in high-traffic areas of the store encouraged an increase in uptake from customers that purchase mandarins on impulse. "With over 12,000 Halos Tractors and Trees out now, we believe the POS display program has been a key driver to our fastest start ever," he said. "Almost 60 percent of mandarin consumers buy on impulse and Halos sales velocity doubles when showcased in a marquee display, so retailers are taking advantage of our POS by featuring Halos displays in high-traffic area of their stores."
Seasonal availability
The Halo mandarins are made up of the two main varieties of mandarins grown in California to ensure availability over 6 months of the year. For the retail market, the Halos are offered in 3 - 5lb bags as well as 5lb boxes.
"Wonderful Halos are in season November through May," Cooper said. "The 100% California-grown mandarins are made up of two varieties: Clementines, which are available November through January and W. Murcotts, available January through May. Our mandarins are grown in the San Joaquin Valley, where the rich, fertile soil and abundant sunshine produces sweet and delicious Wonderful Halos. Wonderful Halos are available in 3- and 5-pound bags and 5-pound boxes in grocery, mass and club stores nationwide."
For more information:
Adam Cooper
The Wonderful Company
Tel: +1 (310) 966-4665