Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach

Perreault−McCarthy: Basic Marketing: A Global−Managerial Approach, 14/e

Retailers, Wholesalers
and Their Strategy
Planning

Text © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002

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wanted more choices in the

hard-to-manage produce department. So she looked for products that would help her retailer-customers meet this need. For example, the funny

looking, egg-shaped kiwi fruit with its fuzzy brown skin was popular in New Zealand but virtually unknown to consumers in other parts of the

world. Caplan worked with a number of small farmer-

producers to ensure that she

could provide her retailer- customers with an adequate supply. She packaged kiwi with interesting recipes and promoted kiwi and her brand

name to consumers. Because of her efforts, most supermar- kets now carry kiwi_which has become a $40 million crop for California farmers.

Because demand for kiwi has grown, other larger whole-

salers now handle kiwi. But that doesn’t bother the Caplans. When one of Frieda’s specialty items passes the

point on the growth curve where it becomes a commodity with low profit margins, another new and novel item replaces it. In a typical year,

Frieda’s introduces about 40 new products. The Frieda’s label, which was redesigned in 1998, is on 400 products_like Asian pears, kiwano melons

(from New Zealand), sun-dried yellow tomatoes, and hot Asian chiles. A few years ago, some skeptics said that specialty

wholesalers like Frieda’s would bite the dust because online market exchanges, like Produce.com, would make them obsolete. However, Pro-

duce.com is out of business and Frieda’s is growing faster than ever_in part by taking advantage of its own website and in part by providing value-

adding services that get supermarket buyers to think beyond just getting the lowest bid on some commodity. The Caplans recently estab-

lished a retail operation,

place