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Pear Bureau Northwest Honors Wegmans As Pear Retailer Of The Year

Pictured at the award ceremony during PMA Fresh Summit on Saturday were Steve O’Malley, Wegmans' produce and floral group manager; Charlie Gardner, Wegmans' pear produce category merchant; Bob Koehler, regional marketing manager, Pear Bureau Northwest; and Dave Corsi, Wegmans' VP of produce and floral operations.
Pictured at the award ceremony during PMA Fresh Summit on Saturday were Steve O’Malley, Wegmans' produce and floral group manager; Charlie Gardner, Wegmans' pear produce category merchant; Bob Koehler, regional marketing manager, Pear Bureau Northwest; and Dave Corsi, Wegmans' VP of produce and floral operations.

Last updated on October 28th, 2015 at 03:35 pm

On behalf of the 1,600 fresh pear growers of Washington and Oregon, Pear Bureau Northwest has named Wegmans Food Markets the 2015 Pear Retailer of the Year for its merchandising performance and sales increase in the pear category. The award was presented at the Pear Bureau’s booth at PMA Fresh Summit in Atlanta over the weekend.

Not only does Wegmans offer all 10 varieties of pears during the year, it also implements several proven merchandising strategies to improve their sales and volume over the prior year. Maintaining strong sales requires implementation of a complete program throughout the season and, according to Kevin D. Moffitt, president and CEO of Pear Bureau Northwest, Wegmans successfully offered their shoppers what they wanted this year.

“Wegmans displays conditioned pears that are ready to eat in a few days instead of ready in a week,” said Moffitt. “Recent consumer research shows that over half of all pear consumers will eat their pear within the first two days of purchase. And, we know that ripe pears can outsell unripe pears by as much as 19.5 percent at retail. The research supports this choice by Wegmans and contributed to their exceptional performance.”

Moffitt also shares more pear category best practices that Wegmans utilizes, including carrying two green pears, like Bartlett and Anjou, all season; providing the choice of two sizes of bagged pears for busy shoppers; adding secondary pear displays to increase visibility and impulse purchases; and promoting recipes and pairing ideas when sampling pears.

“The practices implemented by Wegmans continue to put them at the top of the pear category performance, and we are proud to recognize their outstanding efforts,” said Moffitt.

Dave Corsi, VP of produce and floral at Wegmans, accepted the award on behalf of the Rochester, New York-based company.

“Wegmans is honored to receive this recognition from USA Pears. The pear category is a vital part of our fresh fruit offering. When comparing other fruit segments, the pear category has outperformed any other throughout the past year. It’s a solid performer, but at the same time we still have opportunity for further growth. Over the years, the Pear Bureau has provided great tools to educate our customers about the quality and eating characteristics of the many pear varieties. Without their assistance, we would not be equipped to provide the best in flavor, understanding the optimum level of ripeness and varietal differences, to our customers.”

The Pear Retailer of the Year Award was established by Pear Bureau Northwest in 2011. Past honorees include Demoula’s Market Basket (2011), Meijer (2012), Ingles (2013) and Publix (2014). The Pear Bureau’s team of regional marketing managers selects the annual recipient based on sales performance, creativity and best practices in pear merchandising, and overall excellence in supporting the pear category.

Pear Bureau Northwest partners with grocery 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 and third-party research to show retailers how they perform vs. their competition.

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