Kellie McManus, Produce Manager at Canyon Market in San Francisco, shares her strategies on keeping sales strong throughout the summer season. Kellie has been creating some amazing store displays to attract and wow her customers, keeping them excited and coming back for more. Kellie has been able to grow her produce department sales to almost 50% of total store sales. The average is between 25-30% for most grocery retailers. Here are Kellie’s tips to increasing sales and foot traffic for the summer months:

Must Have Items: Stock up on must-have summer produce like watermelons, little gem lettuces, mixed summer squash, figs, stone fruit, bunched basil, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, avocadoes, and mixed seasonal peppers. All these summer items are in high demand and guaranteed sales. Talk with your customers regularly to see if you are keeping up with what is in demand and items you might not be carrying.

Cross-Merchandise: Use this opportunity to cross-merchandise with other departments! Communicate across departments and find opportunities to work together to build some fun, seasonal displays in unexpected areas in your store.

Get Creative: Keep your customers excited and coming back for more! Take chances with building fun displays. Kellie suggests taking Little Gem lettuces out of the wet rack and incorporating them into a charming focal point display with other items like mixed summer squash and petite sweet peppers creating a unique eye-catching display.

Maintain Displays: Keep displays clean and fully stocked. Regularly cull out any blemished or wilted items. Tidy, abundant displays will attract customers and drive sales.