Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The farm shop should change displays to embrace:
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Spring;
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Summer;
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Autumn;
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Winter; but also
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Valentine's Day;
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Mothers' Day;
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Halloween;
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Christmas;
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Pink October for cancer research;
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Movember - November for men's cancer research, started in Australia;
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Daffodil Day;
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Apple Day;
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and others that apply to your demographic target market or region.
Merchandising
The rules of merchandising in any retail store are the same. Maximum sales are
made in the sight and take position. The sight and take position is the space
between the average height of a consumer's belly button and eyes. The farm
shop retailer has some extra rules that apply to their merchandising strategy.
'Shelf life' is a term all retailers talk about. The shelf life is how long
a product looks fresh on the shelf. The faster a retailer can 'stock turn' the
product at a profit, in theory the more money can be made. Fruit and veget-
ables have one unique feature, ethylene gas. Ethylene gas is released as a
natural gas during the ripening process and can shorten the life of other
products located near to the high ethylene gas producer. High-level releasers
of ethylene gas should be noted and displayed in strategic locations in store
and products next to them need to be monitored carefully. The table below il-
lustrates the level of ethylene release for a selection of fruits and vegetables.
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High-level ethylene releasers
Medium releasers
Low releasers
Apple
Banana
Cherry
Apricot
Fig
Citrus fruit
Avocado
Honeydew melon
Leafy vegetables
Peach
Tomato
Cut flowers
Kiwi fruit
Potato
Nectarine
Cucumber
Pear
Pineapple
Plum
Passion fruit
To add to the complexity of merchandising, colours need to be split to
maximize sales; the location of the colour red is critical to success. Red can be
used to draw the eye to certain locations. The positioning of, for example, red
