Photos courtesy Brian Dey
Ahhh yes, the pear! It can sometimes be a “forgotten fruit," lost in the shuffle heading into fall due to the myriad of apple varieties that hit the backrooms and counters. But don't be fooled into thinking pears don't have the capability to be a good volume driver for you, because they absolutely do.
Personally, I love pears, for many different reasons: the variety of flavor profiles, the aroma of a ripe pear, and the extreme versatility of the fruit. These attributes make it appealing to many shoppers.
From a merchandising standpoint, pears look great on the counters grouped as a category as well as used in color breaks to separate all of those red apple varieties.
Here are a few ideas on fulfilling the potential of your pear category.
Victory through variety
Great pear sales can often be attributed to great variety. Different trading areas vary, of course, but the normal base varieties to include in your pear sets would be anjou, bosc and bartlett, as these cover the essence of pear flavors and textures. Red pears (my personal favorite) such as starkrimsons, red anjou and red bartlett offer splashes of color into your pear sets and catch the eyes of consumers.
Adding other varieties such as concorde, seckel, forelle and Asian pears round out the category and give your customers some really cool options outside of the mainstream. Varying your offerings will benefit sales and category awareness.
Offering bagged pears also gives the customer a quick convenience grab and a nice ring for your department. Amid the pandemic, bagged fruit continues to perform at a high level, so now might be a good time to introduce these into your sections.
Now where should I put these?
Pears can be merchandised in your counter and cooler sets, of course, but I personally have found the best success lies in merchandising pears in higher-traffic and higher-visibility areas on non-refrigerated tables and display bins.
Putting the pears out in front brings awareness to the category and creates the potential for impulse sales. Merchandising the fruit this way also allows for the natural ripening process to start and offers that incredibly fragrant floral aroma as your pears are ripening.
Now and later
No, not the candy, although that was one of my favorite candies as a kid for sure – but not the basis of our discussion here. (Well, maybe if there were a pear flavor!) When merchandising pears, you will often find that having both ripe and unripe fruit on the counters will get you the best results, sort of the same principal as avocados (which ironically enough, although not at all a pear or a member of the pear category, are sometimes referred to as “alligator pears”).
Hardcore pear eaters will want fruit to snack on now and fruit to ripen at home for later. Setting up an in-store ripening program is an easy way to make sure you have ripe fruit available at all times, and it's very simple to do.
When rotating out pears, always make sure your riper fruit goes on top, regardless of when it was received.
Care and handling
Pears can and will bruise a lot easier than other fruit will and require a bit more care in receiving, storing and merchandising than their fall harvest counterparts, the apples.
Pears can be stored in your cooler or out on a dry rack, with the purpose of storing outside of coolers normally being an in-store ripening process.
Pears are one of those fruits that normally do not carry the first in, first out (FIFO) rule, as riper fruit should always be put out first.
Try not to “mound” pears too high, as the weight will certainly damage the fruit, especially when the fruit is on the riper side. To create a nice, mass look of pears, use false bottoms to prevent deep packout, instead spreading out on the fruit to give it a full look.
Pears can still be merchandised in large displays, just a bit more strategically and carefully than other commodities.
Preventing an identity crisis
Consumers can sometimes be leery when it comes to trying a new variety or one they've heard about but haven't tried. It is a great idea to have variety-specific point-of-sale material or some kind of chart to show the customers the different flavor and texture attributes of the different options.
Ripe for growth
We touched a bit on it earlier in the column; having ripe or “preconditioned” pears is a key factor in reaching the maximum sales potential in the pear category. To ensure you always have ripe pears on hand, install a simple-to-follow in-store ripening program.
All you need is a temperature-controlled backroom (not a hot or warm dock area) and a banana, tomato or any other item that naturally gives off ethylene.
Simply open the box, pull back or open the plastic, and pull a few pears out of the center. Replace those with your ethylene source, cover up with plastic, and store on the shelf outside of your coolers.
For very hard fruit, cover the boxes with a plastic bag. The ethylene and heat buildup will hasten the ripening process. Be very sure, however, that this is monitored every day to ensure fruit is not getting too ripe. Controlling your ripening will help control your shrink.
Utilize these simple steps to show the pear category some additional love this fall, and watch your pear movement soar!
Brian Dey is the senior merchandiser and natural stores coordinator for Ephrata, Pa.-based wholesaler Four Seasons Produce. He's an industry veteran with a serious passion for helping produce teams to achieve great presentation and results in their departments.