In the last 12 months AIG has doubled the sale of fruit and vegetables in two of the community stores we manage, and we believe this is primarily because of how we price in stores.
Contrary to popular belief that fruit and vegetables don’t sell in community stores, AIG is proud of increasing sales of fruit and vegetables in all of the stores we manage in the last 12 months.
According to Steve Smith, the CEO for AIG, the quality, price and presentation of the fruit and vegetables makes a big difference to how much is sold. “When we cut up the fruit and display it in a way that is appealing, more people buy it. The same goes for the quality, we buy premium quality and the price is reasonable, it makes a big difference”.
This time last year
In September 2019 Bagala and Timber Creek community stores combined ordered 1.5 tonne of fruit and vegetables through Simon George and Sons suppliers. Exactly one year later, we ordered 2.4 tonnes. That is a just under a double in volume which we think is a massive achievement.
The sales figures in both stores for the same period show how popular fruit and vegetables have become. In September 2019 fruit and vegetable sales totalled $4,310 for the month. In September 2020 that figure jumped to $10,557. When you factor in a significant reduction in the price of fruit of vegetables in 2020, the sales figures show a more than doubling in the amount sold in the stores.
Cheaper fruits and vegetables in lockdown
There is no doubt community lockdown from April to June this year had a positive impact on the amount of shopping done in community stores. When people in Barunga and Timber Creek couldn’t leave their communities to shop in Katherine for example, they shopped in their local store instead which increased sales.
In response to the lockdown AIG decided to sell fruit and vegetables at ‘’cost price’’ which lowered the price considerably. We made a commitment to the people of Timber Creek and Barunga that we would match the shelf prices of Woolworths in Katherine, so people could buy their fruit and vegetables with confidence. And they did. Consumption of fruit and vegetables increased when the prices went down, and this trend continues despite lockdown being over.
COVID supplement payments
Another potential reason for bigger sales of fruit and vegetables is COVID Centrelink supplements which are due to end in March 2021. It stands to reason that if people have more money in their pocket, they will spend more at the community store.
It will be a telling after March, to see what the consumer trends are, and whether people will return to shopping in larger towns nearby instead of their community store. We don’t believe there will be much change because our prices of fruit and vegetables match Woolworths in Katherine, and in the long run it is cheaper to shop at the store. Same (if not better) quality, same prices, no driving.
Changing shopper behaviour
Regardless of why fruit and vegetable sales have increased, we believe it is important to reflect on how important that is for the nutritional gains of the community as a whole. We believe stores should be operated as a social enterprise and take the sale of healthy food seriously. Doubling the sale of fruit and vegetables in 12 months is a huge achievement and we look forward to the challenge of keeping it that way.
