Berry category deep dive with Nicole Grant and Rose Palacios of Driscoll's

We're delighted to welcome as our guests for this week's episode Nicole Grant, director of customer development, and Rose Palacios, director of shopper marketing and merchandising — both from Driscoll's — for a deep dive on the berry category. Rose and Nicole discuss how broader industry trends are showing up in berries, including private label and supplier brands; value and premium options; conventional and organic product; smaller and larger pack sizes; in-store versus online sales; and more. Given the increasing number of SKUs in the category, Nicole and Rose advocate for increased space for berries and lay out the process of making that business case to retailers. They note that key metrics vary by retailer, and along with growing sales there may also be pressure to increase units (which can influence pack size strategy), market share and more. Rose and Nicole also observe that there's a significant opportunity for category education of the many newer people on sales floors post-COVID, and they give examples of how Driscoll's can come alongside retailers if that's an area they see as a way to get better. Nicole and Rose also share how they got into produce, the kinds of projects they handle in their respective roles, and how their teams collaborate. Hope you enjoy the conversation!

For more episodes featuring marketing and merchandising perspective, check out this curated playlist for plenty of thought-provoking discussion. 

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• Produce Manager Perspective

Podcast Background

This podcast is designed to cover all things produce retail: strategy, partnerships, planning, training, leadership, communication, merchandising and beyond. Scroll through our episodes list to find conversations with vice presidents and directors of produce, merchandisers, produce managers, retail dietitians and more.

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The Produce Retail Podcast is hosted by Ashley Nickle, a former trade journalist turned consultant. Have an idea for a topic or a guest? Give her a shout on LinkedIn. 

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