Creating interest on the fresh produce shelves has always been a priority. Some products in their natural state may taste wonderful and be packed with vitamins but be simply plain unattractive. Celeriac has even capitalised on this factor with the ‘Ugly One’ brand which extolls its lumpen appearance
However, no-one has ever doubted that the shapes, colours, and even aromas, together with the changing vista created by seasonality, makes them still the flagship image at the front of the store.
The reality is, with consumers spoilt for choice, most regard the majority of fruit and vegetables available year round as common place. Few if any bother to ever contemplate the delicate shape of an asparagus spear, or marvel at the crystaline-like structure of a head of Romanesque
There are of course exceptions, probably led by cherries where a combination of eye appeal and seasonal impulse purchase defies the rules, and the same can be said for the first arrival of British soft fruit.
But if ease of handling and protection has always been the primary concern, polybags, nets, overwrapped trays, and the clamshell punnet still reign supreme - alongside the ubiquitous sticker which first appeared on apples with a PLU number. It is now used on everything from individual potatoes to onions.
Nevertheless, they are still being joined by many other tailor designed containers: bubble shapes to protect cauliflower heads; tubes and pyramid shaped bags offering cherry tomatoes like sweets; and even Christmas apple packs which owe their origins to the bushel box.
Plastic film has been developed to create its own atmosphere and add shelf life, and the time is not too distant where labels that think for themselves by changing colour from red to green as maturity develops will add their impact, so customers will no longer test melons or stone fruit by pressing the skin.
It is all a question of emphasis, which relies more and more on a combination of labelling and packaging to attract attention, create wider choice and add value by segmenting the range.
Labelling - once seen as a mere legal requirement - has also moved on. Simply telling the customer what is inside is no longer enough.
Historically some products, particularly apples and pears, lettuce and potatoes, have long been identified by variety. And over the past decade more and more are following suit, creating an enormous amount of public knowledge, if consumers bother to read the labels.
Apart from merely printing the name of a seasonal arrival, the variety itself has been brought into greater prominence on specially designed labels incorporating exclusive varieties as sub brands .
Tomatoes have even reached a point where it could be argued there are now so many choices expanding the concept beyond salad, beef, cherry, plum and vine, that they might have even reached a point where there may be consumer confusion.
Other uses have been to reintroduce traditional, long forgotten and ‘rediscovered’ identities or methods of production - in particular apples and potatoes, although the concept has extended as far as crops like earthed up celery.
‘New season’ is a term which is now commonly used, although evidence suggests that this may vary according to the retailer concerned, who is more focussed on what is considered to be the appropriate marketing period.
But whatever the product - new or old - labelling and packaging has also presented a marketing opportunity for retailers to proclaim additional quality, as exemplified by sub brands such as Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, Tesco’s Finest, or Asda’s Extra Special range.
Alongside have come examples of retail marketing departments exercising their imagination to the point where flowery descriptive language seems more adapted to a high class menu. ‘Organically cultivated...from the Heavenly heights of the Himalayas’, is a good example.
Providing more and more information could also be seen as a reaction to the wider changes affecting purchasing patterns.
Convenience is king, as any inspection of the prepared salad sector will show, where product combinations beyond salad leaves are endless, and the pillow pack has been joined by the lidded bowl and sachets of dressings. All reflect a trend which has now spread to combinations of other green and root vegetables with almost as many variations.
The microwave is back in fashion with Ready to Cook baked potatoes, mushrooms and peppers with fillings. Sprouts arrive ready trimmed, representing the other end of the spectrum to those sold ‘au natural’ on the stalk and a popular line at Christmas.
Not far behind, fresh cut fruit is moving in the same direction and is already on the shelves in a variety of fruit salads and apple sliced snack packs, with many more doubtless still to come.
Yet perhaps ironically, the public’s appetite for food is being constantly whetted by the stream of cookery programmes and recipes pouring out almost daily from the media.
One result has been there is now far more preparation and culinary information included on, or in, packs. The next generation, as it opens the pack on the draining board, knows how to bake a Bramley or a rhubarb tart without even having to consult Delia Smith!
And taking this hunger for knowledge further there are even websites available, often funded by forward thinking growers organisations, offering more help and extra ideas. Packs themselves carry cookery book offers and even on some occasions include free associated ingredients such as mayonnaise or olive oil.
Mixed presentations, once confined to the stew pack, have expanded to embrace dual coloured mini cauliflower heads, berry fruit, apples and pears sold together, and a tomato selection which ranges from the latest chocolate coloured fruit to a striped variety known as a tiger.
Labelling has also at last allowed a real choice when identifying fruit maturity, probably at the same time destroying the myth that the English had a passion for hard top fruit. Pears that crunch is probably a prime example.
The use of ethylene triggering has produced not just initially a whole new dimension to ready ripened fruit, but several variations which include mixed packs for shoppers who only make it to the store once a week. Instantly edible avocados and mangoes have subsequently been joined by melons, pears, peaches and nectarines, with some being stickered ‘save till later’.
On the surface this may not appear to impact a great deal of UK fruit production. But if the customer has to choose between a selection of something which is highly edible juicy fruit, or what turns out to be rock hard and immature early season English top fruit or even strawberries, it is not hard to spot which way they will head.
Fresh fruit has always been up against the confectionary industry with its massive promotional budgets and never ending range of goodies. But over the last few years the industry as a whole has been able to fight back through capitalising on the public awareness of Five-a-Day and the provision of Fruit for Schools.
In support there has already been the introduction of Kids packs, often finding value in smaller sizes which were once almost unsaleable. Brands like Asda’s Garden Gang, Sainsbury’s Blue Parrot range, and Waitrose Food Explorers has helped extend the message past fruit into snack products such as carrot batons.
As any self respecting packer will tell you, part of the formula to get customers to buy apart from BOGOFs (Buy One Get One Free) has been the arrival of coupon offers. These now cover everything from childrens’ lunch boxes, incentive competitions aimed at families offering holidays abroad and day trips to theme parks, to grand scale community support contributing to purchasing sports and classroom equipment.
And while fresh produce by its nature has not become embroiled in the recent government versus retail debate over labelling, many supermarkets have already set out their own stalls beyond helping to clarify what constitutes a Five-a-Day portion.
The small print on Tesco apples, for example, identifies that fruit has been Glycaemic index tested. It refers to the fact that a typical apple contains 3% calories, 17% sugar and less than 1% each of fats, saturates and salt. A modern spin of the old saw ‘An Apple a Day’ perhaps?
And not far behind is the message that each retailer in its own way is keen to be shown to be supporting the environment. The LEAF mark is already well established, and beyond this are more ore packs carrying messages like ‘compostable’ or ‘disposable’.
However, what has been a particularly strong influence is the retail desire to reflect to the public its relationship with English producers themselves. It is a far cry from when suppliers’ names were a closely guarded secret.
While initially appearing on the pack, the label now often includes the broad location the crop is grown. Perhaps a forerunner to a time when regional produce will become more firmly established.
Now faces and places using high quality four colour printing, which first appeared on shelf barkers, are being transferred to the packaging itself. Smiling growers are now shown usually against a rural background, as opposed to a packhouse, and in some cases have even been further named because of their devotion to duly developing new products.
And what will the future hold? Branding itself remains in the hands of the big battalions, although there has been acceptance of the Little Red Tractor. And through the tenacity of the industry itself, the adoption in several instances of the Union Jack.
There are already signs that terms like ‘Vitamin Enhanced’ is already creeping into the vocabulary. Taking carrots as an example in the United States, such a labelled product is already available.
In the UK, there has been greater awareness identifying ‘superfood’ such as red, blue and black berries which are high in antioxidants. Avocados have already been sighted in Sainsbury’s carrying a sticker defining specific varieties as being lower in fat.
It would seem that as long as there are competitors to face and customers to attract, the art of presentation will live for ever.
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