SALINAS, CA - A chance to celebrate the mothers in our lives should always be met with joy and lots of fresh berries. I don’t make the rules! As we round the corner to Mother’s Day and retailers are prepping their holiday sets, I turned to Naturipe Farms for the latest berry deets.

“On the merchandising side, we’re leaning into the association between Mother’s Day and berries to drive consumers to purchase more berries,” CarrieAnn Arias, Vice President of Marketing, told me. “I mean, how many Mother’s Day brunches are accompanied by a delicious fruit salad? Setting up a display with several types of berries that brings to mind eating them all together can really help solidify this association. On the marketing side, we’re leveraging our social media to target retailers and consumers alike with vibrant pictures of our delicious fruit so that berries are top of mind when they go to the store or to restock their shelves.”

Naturipe is also highlighting its Mighty Reds™ Strawberries, an extra-large strawberry. Imagine those on top of a Mother’s Day dessert!

“We’ll be seeing a good crop of our jumbo Mighty Reds Strawberries for a limited time throughout May—just in time for Mother’s Day and National Strawberry Month!” CarrieAnn added.

With Mother’s Day in many ways being synonymous with berries, Naturipe always sees an uptick in sales around the holiday.

“We always recommend retailers put berries at the front of the produce section in large displays with seasonal or holiday-related designs,” CarrieAnn went on to say. “Our products also have easy-to-read labels that are clear and really make the fruit the star of the display.”

Once Mother’s Day passes, we round the corner to another key promotional window in the year.

“With kids getting out of school, we’re expecting to see an increase in parents purchasing berries at the store for at-home lunches and snacks,” she said. “Spring and summer are also the seasons most strongly associated with berry availability from consumers’ point of view, so as our domestic crops come into season, we’ll likely see that consumers are meeting that supply with increased demand. We’ve also seen consumers increasingly reaching for larger pack sizes, and that’s likely to continue this year.”

In addition, Naturipe is excited to have a strong start to its southeast blueberry season, where promotable volumes are coming out of Florida and Georgia. California’s blueberry season is also kicking off, and as you may have guessed, strawberries coming from California are plentiful right now as well!

AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you up to date on the latest in all things fresh.

Naturipe Farms