HAC, Inc.'s Director of Produce and Floral, Price Mabry, Talks Merchandising
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - Any time I speak to buyers, I walk away with a new outlook on fresh produce’s role at retail. My most recent conversation with Price Mabry, Director of Produce and Floral for HAC, Inc., offered insights on how the retailer—which operates 80 grocery stores in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, and Georgia—preps for holiday merchandising.
“For Cinco de Mayo, we’re going to have a destination. The display depends on the store, but we’re tying in Romas, jalapeños, and we’ve had a countdown for Vidalia® onions on social media that will drive more shoppers to the store. One event will tie together everything from guacamole fixings to tomatillos and garlic,” Price shares with me.
He also notes that no matter the holiday, HAC, Inc.—which includes banners such as Homeland, United Supermarkets, and Country Mart—works to push a citrus and an apple. Recently, its success has stemmed from Fowler Packing’s Peelz™ brand as well as Honeycrisp and Gala apple varieties.
“Typically, during Cinco de Mayo and this time of year, we see a lift in potatoes, packaged salads, and berries, as well as tropical fruit like pineapples and avocados. Everybody’s going to be buying an avocado because of Cinco,” he says.
Price also imparts some insights regarding Mother’s Day.
“When we think of Mother’s Day, we think of the color red, so a lot of our merchandising stems around that color. We’re going to push red grapes, Pink Lady apples, and raspberries,” he remarks. “We’ll also be steering shoppers toward organics, too, since we try to get a $1.99 or $2.99 price point for all of our organic items. Our go-to is our two-pack offering for bell peppers, cucumbers, or celery. We haven’t found a way to get around the packaging aspect, which sometimes turns organic customers off, but it does help us to promote organics in this way to get the ring at the register.”
Additionally, HAC, Inc. will be pushing organic salads across its banners.
As AndNowUKnow continues to discover more buy-side insights, be sure to keep a tab open for us.
