Commodities to keep an eye on Berries are a $12 billion category and yet there is continued unit (+4.6%) and volume (+6.2%) growth. Great credit to the consistently high quality of berries year around as well as to the innovation seen in this segment, including new items, new sizes and new packaging. Grapes have had a very strong year and especially a few very strong months. While units and volume are up a few percentage points for the full year, the second quarter saw an increase in volume of nearly 12%. That makes me wonder about the influence of social media about the wild population of frozen grapes coated in Kool-Aid and other candy coatings/flavors. Mandarins have had a very strong start of the year, even trending in the top 10 during months where sales traditionally start to taper off. On the vegetable side, we're seeing that the deflationary conditions in potatoes have led to a strengthening of demand. Even during the height of inflation last year, we still that strong base demand for potatoes keeping sales close to flat. But the more favorable prices are certainly adding to that. Source: 210 Analytics " This means in-store callouts like 'made fresh daily' or 'ultimate freshness' are important, along with proper shelf rotations to not feed into this belief. " Tweaking the marketing formula While produce at retail is holding its own - and then some - there's always room for improvement. Marketing, Parker said, is one big example. " (The category is) still pretty rudimentary when it comes to marketing. " ▼ Scan for peeling videos on YouTube USA Distributor darksideequipment.com Tel. 303-883-7203 14 - SEPTEMBER 2024 supermarketperimeter.com dezign56 - stock.adobe.comhttps://youtu.be/CLEuOvacJUU?si=5SrnRSeKaHHFWiDK https://youtu.be/iAR0OGjwhZ8 http://www.darksideequipment.com