Demoulas Recognized for Fresh Ideas

Pear Bureau Northwest, the nonprofit marketing organization that represents the 1,600 fresh pear growers of Oregon and Washington, has named Demoulas Market Basket its Pear Retailer of the Year. The Tewksbury, Mass.-based supermarket received the award for successfully implementing merchandising techniques that resulted in a 20 percent average annual increase in pear sales over the past two years.

Market Basket employed a mix of tactics that led to its success. “Proper space allocation and location was one of the key strategies that Market Basket used to see pear sales at this level,” says Kevin D. Moffitt, president and CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest. “They successfully created a destination display with multiple pear varieties offered together, in two sizes, in bulk and in overwrapped packaging. They also utilized auxiliary displays and end cap displays to help increase visibility for this high-impulse purchase fruit, and they also priced their pears competitively.They used proven and innovative tactics which demonstrated that good pear merchandising increases sales and profits.”

In addition to the award, Demoulas Market Basket staff received registration, travel and lodging for the PMA Fresh Summit in Atlanta on Oct. 14-17, courtesy of Pear Bureau Northwest.

Pear Bureau Northwest partners with retailers nationwide in an effort to increase overall success with the pear category. The organization provides marketing and merchandising expertise that is customized specifically for each retail organization, using its pear consumer research findings as well as individual store analysis using an in-house data system that measures pear category performance nationwide.

For more information, visit www.usapears.org.