Sunkist Growers revamps Cara programme

Sunkist Growers, one of the leading suppliers of Cara Cara oranges, has announced a redesign of its packaging options and merchandising offerings based on consumer trends and insights to better drive the category.

”Health continues to be top-of-mind as consumers repeatedly seek out products that play a role in supporting holistic lifestyles, and ‘The Pink Orange’, Cara Cara, is no exception,” the group noted.

Orange on the outside and pink on the inside, Caras get their pink interior from the antioxidant lycopene.

“Cara sales have increased in both dollars and volume this year versus last season,” said Cassie Howard, senior director of category management and marketing. “In the 3lb bag, the number-one selling pack size, we have seen increases by almost 20 per cent year-over-year.”

To better comprehend the ever-changing behaviour behind today’s consumers, Sunkist has newly commissioned studies shedding light on key purchase motivators and recommendations needed to fine-tune the overall experience for citrus shoppers.

Sunkist said it was able to apply these insights into action, customising packaging, merchandising and shopper-marketing programme offerings to each retailer’s unique goals and consumer requests.

“We’ve been watching the Cara shopper closely over these last few seasons,” Howard continued. “We know that consumers prefer to shop in-stores for produce, especially oranges, stressing the importance of eye-catching designs and engaging displays.

”Consumers want to be heard, and we’re listening to the feedback and applying real-time changes, revamping our messaging and packaging to own the Cara category and be more easily-recognisable in-stores for shoppers.”

Sunkist’s new ‘all pink’ packaging and matching merchandising for Caras will be making its debut this citrus season.

The new bag designs were tested amongst orange shoppers, with the consumers gravitating towards the pink bag and ’The Pink Orange’ as a simple and straightforward identifier for the Cara category.

Nearly half of these respondents also indicated that the new design elicited fun and excitement, and 58 per cent said they would definitely buy this product if available today.