WENATCHEE, WA - Produce departments looking to capitalize on the juicing craze can look to Stemilt Growers for innovative new merchandising options. The company is unveiling a refreshed look for its Fresh Blenders™ line of apples for juicing and smoothies. The design is arriving at retail soon via 5 lb pouch bags and redesigned display-ready shipper cartons.

“The new look features a simplified logo with obvious messaging to shoppers that the apples inside were grown to be juiced,” said Roger Pepperl, Marketing Director, according to a press release. “The packaging makes it easy for retailers to merchandise juicing apples separate from their regular apple displays. Segmenting is key to category growth, and has proven to be very successful at driving apple sales in the past with brands like our industry-leading Lil Snappers® kid-sized fruits.”

These new assets will help retailers market directly to the growing crowd of shoppers who juice or make smoothies at home. Apples are a main fruit used by shoppers who either juice or blend at home, because of their flavors, high juice concentration, nutritional benefits, and year-round availability.

Additionally, Stemilt noted that shoppers who juice often buy produce in bulk, so they don’t need premium quality fruit. The apples packed under the Fresh Blenders brand have great flavor profiles, with high sugars and acids, but may not have full color or be blemish-free as one would expect with a bulk display.

“This makes Fresh Blenders a great value offering, which is needed in the apple category, and a great way to capture a bigger purchase size from a shopper who is buying for a specific purpose,” added Pepperl.

Stemilt’s in-house design team created the new logo and packaging, using simple and clean graphics and messaging in order to convey the value of Fresh Blenders. The simplicity of the look also helps the apples stand out on display, and allows shoppers to easily inspect each stand-up bag. The Fresh Blenders display ready carton clearly calls out the product as “Juicing Apples,” making it a great merchandising tool to create a juicing destination in the produce department.

“Studies have shown that one in three shoppers are buying fresh fruits and vegetables specifically for juicing and making smoothies at home. They juice because it’s an easy way to get many servings of fruits and vegetables, not only for themselves, but their kids too. Building a ‘juicing destination’ at retail and merchandising juicing ingredients like apples, carrots, kale, and more together is a great way to attract these shoppers and encourage those purchases. Fresh Blenders apples do the messaging for you, and are a great value offering to attract this important shopper segment,” said Pepperl.

Another change for the Fresh Blenders brand, which launched back in 2015, is the move to one 5 lb pouch bag for conventional fruit, and a 4 lb pouch bag for organic fruit. Only one variety of apple is packaged in a Fresh Blenders bag, and the variety name is labeled with a sticker on the outside of the bag for easy recognition by the shopper. For more information, visit the company’s Fresh Blenders page here.

Stemilt Growers