VALENCIA, CA - November marks the start of the domestic citrus season, and consumers will soon be basking in the glory of the high-quality citrus varieties hitting store shelves. As Sunkist Growers kicks off an anticipated harvest, I got in touch with Senior Director of Global Marketing Christina Ward to see what the supplier has in tow for this citrus season.

“Citrus season is finally here!” she exclaims. “November marked the start of the new citrus season, and beloved favorites such as California-grown Navel oranges and Sunkist® California mandarins are back. They will soon be followed by the unique, flavorful, and juicy Sunkist specialty varieties: Cara Cara oranges, Blood oranges, and Minneola tangelos. Grapefruit is a year-round nutrient A-lister, and the largest variety of them all, Pummelos, are now available in ample volume with their tropical scent and big, sweet flavor.”

Wielding this expansive lineup of premium citrus varieties, which includes promotable volumes of lemons, the grower-member cooperative is ensuring it captures shoppers’ attention with new packaging designs for the upcoming season.

“For our organic lineup, the new packaging design celebrates our California heritage with the iconic Sunkist lollipop logo,” Christina tells me. “We are also rolling out new, high-graphic packaging for Sunkist California mandarins featuring the Sunkist lollipop logo, vibrant colors, bright and smiley illustrations, and our tagline Peel Good Citrus™.”

Retailers can make use of Sunkist’s new merchandising portfolio, which includes display bins that feature big, bold fruit images and simple, clear messaging that resonates with shoppers.

These bins are available for every variety in square and quarter bins and feature taglines such as The Essential Orange™ and Dramatically Delicious™.

Bringing even more advantages to the buy-side, Sunkist’s Sales, Category Management, and Marketing departments offer a great benefit to retailers, as the company is able to build relevant, data-driven programs to help increase selling space and retail shoppability.

“We have new shopper behavior insights that inform our 2021–22 retail promotional strategies. This data, along with other key learnings specific to each retailer, allows us to develop various citrus promotional programs that would be most meaningful and beneficial to retailers and consumers,” Christina notes.

You read it here first! Sunkist has all the tools you need to collect shopper dollars in the citrus set this season.

Sunkist Growers