The citrus season is here and the message from citrus growers is ‘buy WA citrus’!
To celebrate the beginning of the season the WA citrus committee set up a stall at the Canning Vale fruit and vegetable markets in Perth this week to promote and distribute the new point of sale material to retailers.
Recently the State’s peak industry body Fruit West, with the citrus leadership group, commissioned an independent study into the recognition and effectiveness of citrus labels and to explore consumer behaviours in purchasing citrus.
One of the big revelations was that due to year round supermarket supply of oranges consumers are NOT aware of when local Citrus is IN Season. Helen Martin is the Chair of the WA Citrus Promotion Committee, she also grows citrus with her husband Shane in Bindoon.
Helen shares, “Focusing on seasonality with new point of sale material, we hope to excite, engage and renew consumer’s awareness this year.”
One of their key promotional strategies is supplying point of sale material, like fruit pins, posters, shelf wobblers and balloons, in a ‘show bag’ for distribution to independent retailers and supermarkets to boost awareness of the WA citrus season and increase purchases.
The citrus industry decided to make branding WA citrus a priority, after foreseeing an increase in volume of grade two fruit entering the market. Imported citrus from the Eastern States is a major threat to the local industry and Mrs Martin says maintaining a consistent supply of fruit to
retailers is the key to slow down imports.
According to the research, there is a preference for WA fruit over eastern states and foreign fruit and they will buy WA specifically if branding is clear.
The research sought to test the appeal and relevance of the familiar blue ‘birthmark’ sticker which been used intermittently over the last decade. According to the research, the majority of respondents (66%) indicated their support for the birthmark logo. The logo is liked because the message to buy from Western Australian farmers’ is easy to recognise/understand and simple/ straightforward.
The WA Citrus committee hopes shop owners will use the branding in their stores to let shoppers know the WA season is now open and they should be asking for, or perhaps demanding, locally grown fruit.
