Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 to October 15, and for food retailers it should be less a marketing calendar entry and more a mirror check on the produce department.
Fresh fruits and vegetables sit at the center of the Hispanic shopping trip and this year the stakes around getting that department right are higher than the celebratory banners suggest.
The numbers explain why. Hispanic households spend about $16 billion annually on produce and shop the category an average of 92 times a year, yet produce is actually losing ground with this consumer year over year, according to research presented at the West Coast Produce Expo.
That is a warning sign wrapped inside a growth opportunity. A shopper who visits the produce aisle nearly twice a week is not walking away because she stopped cooking. She is walking away because retailers have relied on her loyalty instead of earning it with the right items at the right price.
The Plan to Improve Sales
Affordability is the piece of the retail puzzle that grocers cannot skip this year.
Inflation fatigue has not disappeared and Hispanic households, many of them multigenerational and cooking from scratch daily, feel every penny increase on staple items.
The good news is that winning on price does not require discounting the whole department. Category experts point to a short list of high velocity items, cucumbers, avocados, onions and Roma tomatoes among them, that drive a disproportionate share of Hispanic produce sales.
Nail the quality and price on those five to fifteen core items and the rest of the basket follows. This is where smart retailers should consider putting their Hispanic Heritage Month promotional dollars, not just on themed end caps but on sharp, defendable pricing for the items shoppers buy every week regardless of the calendar.
A Great Opportunity During Hispanic Heritage Month
New assortment matters just as much as price. Hispanic Heritage Month has become the moment when chains debut private label lines and supplier partnerships built specifically for this shopper.
Southeastern Grocers recently used the occasion to launch SE Grocers Plantain Chips and Export Soda Crackers developed with Hispanic suppliers, while spotlighting more than 60 vendors across its stores.
Cardenas Markets and Tops Friendly Markets are pairing vendor partners like Goya, La Preferida and Ole Mexican Foods with in-store events and community giveaways.
Related Article: Heritage on a Plate: Hispanic Produce
The Strategy for Fruits and Vegetables
The lesson for produce specifically is to extend that same energy into fresh. Ready-to-cook marinades, fresh salsas and bagged sofrito blends built around the core items give shoppers a reason to add incremental dollars while sticking to their budget.
Promotion strategy should follow the same logic. Multi-buy pricing on staples, recipe-driven bundles that pair a protein with the produce needed for a traditional dish and loyalty offers tied to frequent produce trips all reward the shopper for behavior she already exhibits.
Cross merchandising fresh items with pantry and center store, avocados near chips, cilantro near proteins, roma tomatoes near tortillas, drives basket size without requiring deep discounts across the whole department.
Hispanic Heritage Month gives retailers a permission slip to invest in storytelling, but the shopper does not need a new story as much as she needs the produce case to work for her budget every shopping trip.
Retailers who treat September and October as the start of a year-round commitment to affordable, well-merchandised fresh produce will keep the shopper who is already walking through the door 92 times a year instead of watching her not so quietly drift away.