Health, nutrition, diet, and sustainability all spell organic produce and the demand for it is growing stronger each year. Consumers are the driving force and primarily the biggest reason for its explosive growth.

There are customers who are loyal to organic produce mainly because of their healthy lifestyle. They want organics and are willing to pay the premium prices. It's the non-organic shoppers who must be groomed and educated about the positive qualities of organic produce. The less they are confused, the more they will step over the line.

Increased farm production of organic produce has vastly enhanced the availability of inventory. This has been a great advantage to retailers and the primary reason for the need to expand display space at the store level.

Consumers are increasingly interested in healthy living and organic food, and retailers should take full advantage of this trend by capitalizing on it. Additional sales can be captured with influential merchandising displays.

It's the non-organic shoppers who must be groomed and educated about the positive qualities of organic produce.

One of the most best ways to influence customers is in the visual merchandising of the organic section in the produce department. The product presentation should attract customers and persuade them to make purchases of the entire category line. 

Here are three active merchandising areas in the produce department that will put your organic promotional items in full view of shoppers: 

#1 - Entrance Displays

It's a common merchandising practice to display the leading conventional advertised items at the entrance to the produce department. That gateway into the department is where the visual impact grabs the attention of shoppers and persuades them to make purchases. Those entrance displays sell a lot of produce, but unfortunately they often exclude a growing category. That display location seems to give organic produce items the cold shoulder. Rarely, or not at all, are organic items ever massively displayed in the entrance position. And that's where opportunities are at the highest point for product exposure. That's the best location to increase organic produce growth repeatedly. 

#2 - End Cap Displays

The second-best location for organic produce exposure is on an end cap. This location can easily increase impulse purchases of organic items by up to 25 percent. Whether the items are advertised or not, close to 30 percent of unplanned purchases are made by shoppers on endcap displays.

#3 - Stand-Alone Auxiliary Displays

A third location for generating organic sales is with an auxiliary stand-alone floor display. It doesn't need to be very large in size but should have an attractive visual appearance to draw shoppers over to it. The display could be set up using some wooden crates, a bin, or small fixture of your choice.

It's obvious that displays with posted signs will get the most customer activity since displays lacking signage do not draw as much customer attention.

A prominent organic sign program will better serve customers. Here are three primary strengths of a good sign program and what it can do for growing the organic category:

Communicate—signs reach out to customers to promote, suggest, and advertise items.

Identify—signs describe items, define sections, and describe supplier sources.

Inform—signs offer education, usage instruction, recipes, and price information.

Good signage on a display that covers these three points can increase impulse customer sales by 18 to 20 percent. And those signs will work for you 24 hours each day without taking any time off for a break, lunch, or vacation. They are your best silent-selling technique to lure customers over to the organic produce section and auxiliary displays.