Visual Merchandising of Refrigeration Displays
Improving sales and the profit margins on fresh food items is vital to the success of your venture, if you are a food retailer.
Effective merchandising techniques will result in higher sales and more profits. Poor merchandising tactics will result in lower sales, and contribute to a higher volume of food waste as a result of slow sales.
The techniques and tools you employ will either boost profits or quickly eat away at them.
| Merchandising refers to the methods and practices that are used to promote products and encourage customers to purchase them. |
For example, placing higher priced items at eye-level and the cheaper, generic items on the bottom shelf is a form of merchandising that helps move the items with higher profit margins.
The Challenge of Merchandising Fresh Foods
Fresh foods present unique challenges, but there are some ways to effectively merchandise these products. Even with fresh foods, the goal is to sell inventory, reach a higher rate of sales and turnover while limiting the amount of spoiled and perished food.
- Fresh fruits and vegetables tend to have a short self-life. They are ripening even before they get to your store, and every day that they sit in a bin on your sales floor they are closer to being over-ripe, and good only for the garbage.
- Fresh meats and seafood face the same challenge, but these items will also quickly show discoloration and produce off flavors. For department employees these items must often be removed from the shelf and converted to value-added sauced meats or seafood entrees like stuffed mushroom caps.
- Baked goods often become stale and dry even before the expiration date is reached. Bakery shops are left either taking deep discounts or completely throwing the food away. The same goes for cakes and desserts with icings and cream fillings.
But there is an answer to the above challenges.
You can buy protective food lighting as well as retrofit open-refrigerators with night covers to help counteract all of these problems.
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Regular fluorescent lights emit UV-A and UV-B radiation which accelerates the ripening (and spoiling) of fresh foods, causing them to discolor, off-flavor and produce off odors. Grocers have little choice but to either discard the item or use the food in some other product offering. On a weekly basis, many hours are required to the monitoring and trimming of cases.
Merchandising for Color, Shopper Appeal and Product Freshness
PROMOLUX lighting for fresh food cases are formulated using a premium mix of rare earth phosphors for superior color rendering and product protection. PROMOLUX lights will display your fresh foods in a manner that is appealing and highly attractive, without damaging the foods you are trying to sell.
Not only will fresh meat and seafood look better under these special lights, but they will actually last longer. Perishable foods will not dry out or discolor, but will remain fresh and moist and ready for your customer to purchase. Fresh foods will last longer, look great and taste like they should, full of their natural flavors and juices. Your customers will satisfied.
Not only will you save money on food shrinkage, you will also save money by reducing the time required to maintain the displays.
Retrofitting for Energy and Product Savings
Grocery stores and local food marts can improve product appearance and integrity by easily installing ECONOFROST night covers on all types of open refrigerated cases, merchandisers and freezer island cases.
Night covers offer retailers a versatile and convenient way to save energy, improve freshness and shelf life of perishable products without creating a barrier for shoppers and sales.
Night covers are pulled down to cover the open part of the case at night. They help make open cases more energy efficient, saving you money on utility bills and help to ensure products last longer and retain their shopper appeal.
ECONOFROST night covers are easy to use, and will save you the greatest amount of money over the course of their life time as they offer the longest serviceablility, performance and durability of any night cover product.
With ECONOFROST you are sure to see a substantial reduction in product waste and operating costs.