This advertisement by Standard Fruit, preserved in The Packer’s Ideas in Merchandising, 1968-1972, stood out to me because of its emphasis on the company’s service rather than its product.
In a commodity business, that focus makes all the sense in the world. If the consumer can’t tell the difference between one supplier’s product and the competitor’s product, what is the incentive for the retailer to buy one versus the other?
So instead of pitching a better banana, Standard made its people the pitch. According to the ad, its salesmen were always on the road to learn more about their business and their customers’ businesses, and they knew all about the growing, harvesting and shipping of their product. They also stayed abreast of trends in marketing and research and had merchandising suggestions at the ready as well.
Who wouldn’t want to work with someone like that? The same belief Standard was selling then holds true today – service is a differentiator. And of course that applies to retailers as well as suppliers.
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