Washington marketer Rainier Fruit Company introduced a new display box for the current apple and pear season late last year as well as the upcoming cherry season. The company has been assessing its reception and have reported a positive response from retailers so far. Rainier Fruit's Andy Tudor highlighted the display bin's flexibility as an important feature which makes it suitable for a wide range of stores.
"We designed the display bin over the past year and introduced it in fall for the start of the apple season," Tudor said. "By winter, the bins were widely distributed in stores. The bin is very flexible - it can be used as 1 single display, 2 bins side by side, or up to 4 bins for a larger, more prominent display. It can vary according to each store's size."
External display easily changed out
Another interesting feature of the new display bins is the fact that the external display can be easily changed. The company says the image is digitally printed and can have any image that the store wishes to have. But with it comes the flexibility to easily change it in minutes.
"They are very easy to change out because you can simply change the digitally-printed sleeve," Tudor explained. "For example, we had one retailer who were promoting pears. They simply changed out the digital sleeve with a Lady Alice image. The header is also fully customizable and stores can order whatever image and text they need."
Adding more real estate
According to Tudor, retailers were also keen on the additional product display area the display bin provides. He said this is especially so when it comes to organic fruit, meaning that the retailer does not need to choose between displaying conventional and organic.
"One area where we are finding great traction is that retailers often mention there is not enough real estate on the shelves for duplicate displays of conventional and organic varieties," he observed. "They can now use this to create a focal point of their organic options and we've had a lot of interest from retailers for this purpose."
"Each display bin holds two boxes of apples and it's also a good vehicle to sell the organic 2lb pouch bags of apples and pears and also cherries," he added. "To complement the bins, we have designed marketing programs for retailers, including featuring one category at a time before changing it out for another each week."
Available nationwide and now Canada
Rainier Fruit Company has made the display bin available nationwide and are now in the process of expanding it into Canada too. The company has even shipped it out to Asia. "The display bins are palletized and shipped across North America," Tudor shared. "One of our customers in Asia also requested it so we shipped some over to Asia as well. These boxes are one piece of our marketing program."
He concluded by encouraging retailers to start planning for this year's apple season in fall. "We are getting ready for the cherry season at the moment and we also have organic blueberries coming up," he said. "It's already time to plan ahead and discuss programs for the next apple and pear season in fall."
For more information:
Andy Tudor
Rainier Fruit Company
Ph: +1 (509) 698-0717
andyt@rainierfruit.com
www.rainierfruit.com