WENATCHEE, Wash. – The magical time of pear harvest is quickly nearing for Stemilt Growers in Washington State, and with a new crop coming, the long-time pear leader is urging retailers to jump start their pear categories this year by planning the first round of Rushing Rivers™ pear ads for early September back-to-school timing.
The Northwest pear crop is expected to be down slightly over last year, yet important to promote early and often during the fall and winter months. Stemilt starts harvest in early August with its signature Tosca pear. With Italian roots, Tosca has similar qualities to Bartlett but a more exotic flavor. It also has the advantage of coming off the tree ahead of Bartlett, and is a great specialty pear to start filling produce shelves with pears early on.
“Tosca is a Stemilt exclusive variety and available both organically and conventionally,” said Brianna Shales, Stemilt communications manager. “It’s a great variety to kick off the season with and because it comes off the tree during that time that parents are thinking about what to put in kid lunches again, is ideal to carry in our Lil Snappers® kid-sized fruit pouch bags.”
Soon after Tosca, Stemilt will start harvest of its Bartlett pears and is recommending that retailers continue to power their pear sales early by loading a first round of pear ads with bulk and bagged Bartlett’s the last week of August. This aligns well with early September’s back-to-school rush and should also include Starkrimson pears, a red variety.
“The first ad on Bartlett and Starkrimson help sets the tone for the pear category, and it’s important to hit the ground running by promoting great tasting fruit in a big way,” said Shales.
Stemilt uses its RipeRite™ ready-to-eat program to ripen summer pears for instant sales and increased repeat purchases at retail. The company has an array of packaging options to help retailers segment the summer varieties of Rushing Rivers™ pears available. Bulk promotions on Bartlett and Starkrimson are a must, while larger 4lb. Rushing Rivers™ pouch bags are an ideal way to boost the purchase size of pears at the beginning of the season. Because of the timing with back-to-school, both conventional and organic Lil Snappers® are smart items to carry in early September.
“Lil Snappers® make it easy to merchandise your department around the back-to-school theme,” said Shales. “They are offered in the ideal 3lb. size in order to pack one pear in two kid lunches all week long, and ready to merchandise in a DRC. We also have display bins that designed to be placed at check stands to drive that impulse purchase that parents so often make.”
Beyond their ease in merchandising, Lil Snappers® are also a proven way to build sales of pears. According to a Stemilt Fruit Tracker™ study that compared a 3lb. Lil Snappers® bag user, a 2lb. bag user, and the U.S. composite (which includes all bag pear sizes), Lil Snappers® 3lb. pears can sell 225% more volume and drive 152% more dollars than 2lb. bags can, and 169% more volume than the U.S. composite.
“In this analysis of Nielsen scan data, we looked at two retailers who were both engaged in their bag programs, but carried different bag sizes. We also compared Lil Snappers® to the U.S. composite, and the results overwhelmingly favored Lil Snappers® and their 3lb. size as the right package to build both volume and dollar sales of pears,” said Shales.
After getting a robust Lil Snappers® pear plan in place, Shales recommends that retailers utilize the Rushing Rivers™ brand and its two famous locales as a story platform to build pear displays around. Stemilt grows the majority of its pears in the Wenatchee and Entiat River Valleys, which are mountain rivers surrounded by alpine peaks and recognized around the world as the best grounds for growing pears.
“Rushing Rivers™ is an opportunity for retailers to share with shoppers the amazing locale that their pears call home. These locales are our family growers have farmed pears for multiple generations, and the reason why Stemilt pears stand out above the rest,” said Shales.
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About Stemilt
Stemilt Growers is a leading tree fruit growing, packing and shipping company based in Wenatchee, Washington. Owned and operated by the Mathison family, Stemilt is the leading shipper of sweet cherries and one of the nation’s largest suppliers of organic tree fruits. Stemilt has also demonstrated a commitment to sustainable agriculture and social responsibility since 1989, when founder Tom Mathison launched the company’s Responsible Choice program. For more information about Stemilt, visit www.stemilt.com and follow Stemilt on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and You Tube.
Source: Stemilt Growers
