Australia’s largest supermarket chain Woolworths is promoting taste testing of its fresh produce offer, while fixing prices of some items.
Woolworths fresh foods general manager Pat McEntee told the Herald Sun store managers were being encouraged to provide fresh fruit and vegetable samples to customers so they could check freshness and try new varieties.
Some stores had put up signage on new season produce stands to urge shoppers to ask for taste tests, the newspaper reported.
The supermarket chain will also apply fixed prices to a number of fresh produce items, including; truss tomatoes, Red Delicious apples, 1kg bags of brown onions, and carrots, and 4kg bags of brushed potatoes. The prices would remain fixed for a year and were set lower than the average price recorded over the previous year for the corresponding product.
Woolworths’ main competitor Coles has no plans to incorporate similar strategies, company spokesperson Jim Cooper told the newspaper.
The fixed prices at Woolworths were more than some current specials, he said, and were limited to pack sizes or varieties that were less popular at Coles.
“For instance field tomatoes are significantly bigger sellers at Coles than truss tomatoes, while Pink Lady apples dramatically out sell Red Delicious.”
