There was no new tariff news this week for fresh produce, but it was certainly a topic of conversation at SEPC’s Southern Exposure March 6-9. Online grocery’s growth and fresh produce deflation were good signs for the industry this week that maybe consumers are planning to buy and eat more fruits and vegetables.
Online grocery’s surge February 2025 online grocery sales surge 31% versus year ago – Produce Blue Book
Brick Meets Click’s Grocery Shopper Survey for February shows massive year-over-year gains in online grocery, with the biggest coming in delivery. David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, says it reveals large latent demand being unlocked by discounts. Retailers are clearly finding their online investments are paying off, as consumers repeat using it or say they plan to. February 2025 online grocery sales surge 31% versus year ago – Produce Blue Book
Produce deflation Fresh produce sees deflation, as overall inflation cools – Produce Blue Book
Business and consumer media noted that February’s Consumer Price Index came in at 2.8 percent year-over-year, which was lower than expected. Notable for our readers was year-over-year deflation (-0.3 percent) in fresh produce as a category. Fruit was up 1.9 percent, but vegetables were down 2.5 percent. We hope retailers can bring in more shoppers to the produce department with more deals.
SEPC’s Southern Exposure
The annual event was held in Orlando, FL, last week and lived up to the “Produce Means Family” theme. I ran a list of items that stood out on the expo floor, and SEPC released its photo gallery (which you need several hours to search through), but kudos to them for quantity and quality. Also, the Power of Produce session showed how important social media is to consumers when shopping for fruits and vegetables. As you would expect, it’s being led by Gen Z and Millennials, so it’s a trend that will soon become the mainstream. Your company probably already has a social media plan, so keep revising it to make it more effective.
Southern Exposure expo floor finds? – Produce Blue Book
FMI’s Power of Produce 2025 shows produce gains at Southern Exposure – Produce Blue Book
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPGPLCcjCA8RKedCdpNuShoRapyED4DoDe8YPZpr5N7-DoXB5pEvvAcv87cqB-Nbg?pli=1&key=NDNVaENYZndiTnlwNXNLRXRQa05pVUI3SkJubmpB
A Produce Blueprints Glimpse at 2025
We hope you’ve been reading and finding useful our Produce Blueprints series examining the industry’s most pressing issues of 2025. We’ve had articles on extreme weather events, high prices impacting suppliers and consumers, an evolving labor pool, and the integration of artificial intelligence among other trends, with perspectives from industry leaders. You can find any in the series by clicking on the “year ahead” tag. year ahead Archives – Produce Blue Book
PACA
There’s never any analysis from us on PACA items, but we’ll note USDA dropped many this week. You can see any you’ve missed with the PACA tag. paca Archives – Produce Blue Book
There was no new tariff news this week for fresh produce, but it was certainly a topic of conversation at SEPC’s Southern Exposure March 6-9. Online grocery’s growth and fresh produce deflation were good signs for the industry this week that maybe consumers are planning to buy and eat more fruits and vegetables.
Online grocery’s surge February 2025 online grocery sales surge 31% versus year ago – Produce Blue Book
Brick Meets Click’s Grocery Shopper Survey for February shows massive year-over-year gains in online grocery, with the biggest coming in delivery. David Bishop, partner at Brick Meets Click, says it reveals large latent demand being unlocked by discounts. Retailers are clearly finding their online investments are paying off, as consumers repeat using it or say they plan to. February 2025 online grocery sales surge 31% versus year ago – Produce Blue Book
Produce deflation Fresh produce sees deflation, as overall inflation cools – Produce Blue Book
Business and consumer media noted that February’s Consumer Price Index came in at 2.8 percent year-over-year, which was lower than expected. Notable for our readers was year-over-year deflation (-0.3 percent) in fresh produce as a category. Fruit was up 1.9 percent, but vegetables were down 2.5 percent. We hope retailers can bring in more shoppers to the produce department with more deals.
SEPC’s Southern Exposure
The annual event was held in Orlando, FL, last week and lived up to the “Produce Means Family” theme. I ran a list of items that stood out on the expo floor, and SEPC released its photo gallery (which you need several hours to search through), but kudos to them for quantity and quality. Also, the Power of Produce session showed how important social media is to consumers when shopping for fruits and vegetables. As you would expect, it’s being led by Gen Z and Millennials, so it’s a trend that will soon become the mainstream. Your company probably already has a social media plan, so keep revising it to make it more effective.
Southern Exposure expo floor finds? – Produce Blue Book
FMI’s Power of Produce 2025 shows produce gains at Southern Exposure – Produce Blue Book
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPGPLCcjCA8RKedCdpNuShoRapyED4DoDe8YPZpr5N7-DoXB5pEvvAcv87cqB-Nbg?pli=1&key=NDNVaENYZndiTnlwNXNLRXRQa05pVUI3SkJubmpB
A Produce Blueprints Glimpse at 2025
We hope you’ve been reading and finding useful our Produce Blueprints series examining the industry’s most pressing issues of 2025. We’ve had articles on extreme weather events, high prices impacting suppliers and consumers, an evolving labor pool, and the integration of artificial intelligence among other trends, with perspectives from industry leaders. You can find any in the series by clicking on the “year ahead” tag. year ahead Archives – Produce Blue Book
PACA
There’s never any analysis from us on PACA items, but we’ll note USDA dropped many this week. You can see any you’ve missed with the PACA tag. paca Archives – Produce Blue Book
