With U.S. mango consumption rising rapidly, it pays to promote the tasty fruit at retail — especially this time of year.
When Jeff Fairchild got into the retail produce business more than four decades ago, mangoes ranked toward the bottom in produce department sales, he said. Today, they’re in the top 10.
Fairchild, now produce buyer for Eugene, Ore.-based Organically Grown Co., works closely with Portland-based New Seasons Market. He shared some of the merchandising strategies the chain of more than 20 stores has implemented to move more mangoes.
New Seasons Market displays mangoes at the stores’ front entrance, so they’re the first thing shoppers see when they come in.
That’s especially important during springtime, when consumers are excited to see a juicy, new fruit after eating apples and oranges all winter, he said.
And it’s early in the season, so mangoes are not yet competing for prime merchandising space with summer fruit, stone fruit or melons.
Stores will sometimes cross-merchandise mangoes with pineapples, another tropical fruit.
Mangoes are sourced primarily from Mexico from February through September. California, Ecuador and Peru provide them at other times of the year.
About 70% of New Seasons Market’s mango sales are yellow varieties like ataulfo, or honey, mangoes. The rest are green-skins like tommy atkins, kent and hadens, Fairchild said.
One thing that makes ataulfo mangoes so popular is that consumers can tell when they’re ripe by their color.
“People like that,” Fairchild said. “You can put them on a counter and watch them ripen.”
Stores have figured out how to offer a consistently ripe program, Fairchild said.
They request mangoes to be shipped like bananas — when they’re slightly green.
Mangoes arrive three times a week and are stored at an ambient temperature.
As consumers have discovered how much they enjoy mangoes, they’ve discovered how to pick out the ripe ones, just as they have with avocados, he said.
“We’ve really cut down on waste with mangoes, and we’ve improved our ability to offer people ripe fruit,” Fairchild said.
Shoppers sometimes buy mangoes at different stages of ripeness — some for now and some to enjoy later.
Mangoes have become a staple item at retail over the past seven to 10 years, Fairchild said.
“I remember, we conducted classes to teach people how to cut mangoes because no one knew what to do with them,” he said.
But that’s all changed.
“It’s become more of a daily item for us,” Fairchild said.
New Seasons Market now offers organic mangoes exclusively, as the price difference between organic and conventional has narrowed.
And consumers seem to like big mangoes, because they are easier to work with, he said.
Stores are “looking for premium size, good ripeness and a fair price,” he said.
Although peak mango season runs for about four months, Fairchild recommends kicking off the season with a big spring push when the new season gets underway.
“Our goal when they first come out is to hit them really hard with early ads and big displays,” he said.
That strategy can get shoppers into the habit of eating mangoes daily and can create customer loyalty.
In early summer, New Seasons Market promotes the category with a variety mango ad featuring varieties from India, Thailand and other Southeast Asia sources.
New Seasons Market features mangoes on ad every two to three weeks early in the season and about every three weeks during the summer, Fairchild said.