Smart Packaging Ideas for Produce Growers Looking to Gain Ground in Retail
May 11, 2022 Faced with months of disrupted supply chains, retailers across the country are examining every aspect of their businesses to find ways to reduce costs and streamline getting food to their customers. As a result, more and more growers are wrapping and packaging crops during harvest. And many who didn’t previously have packing houses are adding them.
With that in mind, the more you can do to make retailers’ jobs easier, the more appealing you’ll be as a customer. One small but impactful way to do so is to make your packaging as consumer friendly as possible, Scott Calandra, Produce Buyer for Meijer stores, told growers in a session at Great Lakes Expo in December 2021.
Here are a few ideas to help you boost your packaging game.
Promote Your Sustainability
A clamshell or produce wrap doesn’t offer a lot of space, especially after the legally required language. So you need to carefully consider what you include.
Growers across the country are reporting that their retail customers are asking what they’re doing to be sustainable above and beyond current programs. That’s due to consumer demand.
There are different aspects of sustainability you can promote beyond eco-friendly growing methods. If you’re supplying a local chain, for example, your locally grown status carries more weight than just about any other message.
With an increased consumer demand for sustainable food, packaging companies like Warner & Warner Inc. are expanding into recycled options.
Photo courtesy of Warner & Warner
Whichever message you settle on, make sure it’s concise. Don’t make shoppers work to see your message. They probably won’t bother to read
small print, wasting the effort you put into messaging.
Another way to promote sustainability is to buy packaging that is sustainable.
Consider Adding QR Codes
Thanks to the pandemic, consumers are comfortable with using QR codes. Restaurants began guiding patrons to reading their menus online via a QR code rather than with the traditional menus. The idea was to reduce the chances of spreading infection via contact on menus. As a result, Americans grew comfortable using their phone’s camera to scan a QR code and get a link to the provided web page.
At its heart, a QR code is merely a link to a web page of your choosing. It gives you a broader canvas for communicating with consumers. You can explain the nutrients included in your crop, offer recipe ideas, and explain how sustainable minded your farm is, or even promote that you are family owned.
Consider Online Sales
The pandemic had another impact on grocery buying. Many consumers found they prefer curbside pickup or delivery over shopping at a store themselves. Online grocery buying is here to stay, multiple studies show.
Grocery shopping web pages rely on big, bold images for each product. That means photos are key to consumer purchasing decisions, which in turn means your packaging can make your produce more appealing or more unappetizing.
Sell Convenience
Another strategy is to create combinations that make life easier for busy families. Is the package microwave friendly, eliminating the need to place your Brussels sprouts or potatoes in a separate container? Or can you offer colorful roasting medleys beyond the usual?
Create Smaller Units
Single use units are on the rise. Instead of a bag filled with enough broccoli for four meals, consumers prefer single meal sizes. It reduces the chance they’ll throw out unused crops, and it makes it easier for them to plan meals.
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