Valentine’s Day offers a solid opportunity to increase fresh department sales. Get your customers in the mood for love with these merchandising tips from NCG’s fresh department staff.
Prepared Foods
Food is the universal love language — and the opportunity to offer convenient and delicious Valentine’s Day deals for your customers to create lasting memories has never been better.
Focus on promotions your customers can purchase to share a meal such as a heart-shaped pan of lasagna along with a small garlic bread. Meatloaf works, too, or offer an intensive charcuterie board, where cheese and cracker creations are just as much a work of art as they are delicious. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, mold Florentine burgers or crab cakes into heart shapes and package from two to four in a package. Bundle the deal with a fresh salad and you’re set. And don’t forget to cross-merchandise sides with meat department promotions. Herb-roasted potatoes, oven-roasted veggies, or sautéed corn and bell peppers work well here.
Pull out all the stops on desserts. Anything chocolate will be especially popular! Chocolate fudge bars, chocolate-dipped macaroons, chocolate-dipped strawberries, decorated cupcakes, pies and tarts or even heart-shaped berry scones are all good bets for Valentine’s impulse items. Check out some of our suggested recipes.
Start your promotions at the beginning of February; ten to twelve days will be enough to inform customers about your special offers. Engage marketing staff to promote special offers through all available advertising channels, your co-op’s website, social media and printed materials.
–Linda McCann, Prepared Foods Retail Programming Manager
Produce and Floral
There is no higher volume Valentine’s Day produce item than strawberries. Whether sliced atop ice cream, dipped in chocolate or simply served along with champagne, strawberries symbolize love and that “something special” you do for your sweetie. Start your holiday planning with strawberries as the centerpiece of produce promotions.
Unfortunately, the mid-winter timing of the holiday can make great price points and supply difficult. Start talking to your distributors early and let them know how many berries you can sell if the price is right. If organic is unavailable, or retails much more than $6.99 per package, consider bringing in conventional berries. Remember that if your customers can’t find strawberries at your store, they will go to a competitor.
Build a promo display that incorporates strawberries, chocolate, flowers and wine. Make sure to cross-merchandise whipped cream with berries. In an unrefrigerated display, use a small barrel or bucket of ice for the cream. Build additional case stack displays of strawberries in the deli and adjacent the check stands the day before and on Valentine’s Day as space allows. Getting product in front of shoppers who may have missed it in the produce department is key to growing basket size.
We recommend ordering Valentine’s flowers no later than the first week in January, or even earlier for roses (typically booked in November or early December). Don’t forget extra packets of “flower food.” Floral displays near the entrance and at the ends of registers will generate impulse buys, and advertising any great pricing two weeks out lets customers plan to come to you for their floral needs. Be sure to take a look at NCG’s new Floral Retailing Playbook and associated floral offerings from our supplier partners.
Fun merchandising pro-tip: Extend your promotion and grow your floral and strawberry sales by promoting Galentine’s Day on February 13. This celebration of female friendship has grown in popularity and could be fun to call out and promote alongside Valentine’s Day.
–Joshua Crone, Produce Retail Programming Manager
Meat and Seafood
Valentine’s Day promotional planning for retail meat departments should aim for emulating that restaurant experience from home.
The traditional favorite proteins include tender beef steak cuts and premium seafood — which both tend to carry a substantial retail price. Lower the perception of cost for these proteins is by bundling them together — portion cut and offer them at a single-unit retail price.
Often, the person purchasing these items for Valentine’s Day is not the primary cook in the relationship. Help them out by offering value-added proteins when possible, such as pre-seasoned or marinated items, or sell items in an oven-ready container with on-package, easy-to-follow cooking instructions.
Lobster, shrimp and crab will be your seafood heavy hitters during this holiday but “do what you do best” in offering and promoting certified chemical-free and sustainably sourced. Product attributes only help sales if customers know about them. Promote your differentiators with aggressive signage and on-packaging labeling.
Surf and Turf promotions are a perennial favorite. You may want to mix it up a bit and offer a portion-cut, pre-seasoned boneless rib roast, strip roast or a chateaubriand (beef tenderloin roast). Include a side in the deal with co-op prepared foods like heat-and-eat scalloped potatoes, a few unique dipping sauces and infused butters for any seafood items included.
Promoting this event a few weeks out is crucial to its success. Consider A-frame signs positioned outside the co-op along with social media, flyers and in-store signage.
–Greg Johnson, Meat, Seafood and Food Safety Programming Manager
