Sun World International believes a two-tiered marketing approach may hold the key to selling more table grapes.
The leading fruit breeder is investing in consumer research as it looks for new ways to drive sales targets upwards.
The move comes after a relatively flat table grape campaign in the US and Mexico last year, which saw category growth of just below 0.25 per cent.
Sun World intends to collaborate with retailers on promotional strategies and analyse key consumer trends, as it looks to add value to the category.
“As a category leader, we feel a responsibility to our customers and growers to go beyond just selling grapes and help create profitable growth in the category,” said Sun World executive vice president of sales and marketing Gordon Robertson.
Robertson said Sun World has already uncovered a key tactical shift among retailers gaining market share, which involves creating two tiers in the category.
“One segment is focused on value and the other is on proprietary varieties,” Robertson explained.
“While some [end consumers] are focused on value, others want to enjoy great flavor like Sun World’s Scarlotta Seedless brand red grapes and are willing to pay a premium price.
“We support our customers in this strategy by ensuring all of our proprietary varieties have unique PLUs and GTINs to assure accuracy at the register.”
