Window Shopping

I realized recently just how dependent I am on convenience foods. There’s very little in my house that’s not ready to eat or doesn’t require minimal cooking. One evening when my wife was out of town, I came back from the gym and started looking around my kitchen for something to eat.

Not wanting to drive to a restaurant or cook something, I figured I would be relegated to eating a bowl of cereal or a bag of chips. But instead, I was able to have a fresh-cut salad in a single-serving package – which I had bought on sale for 50 cents – a microwaveable noodle dish with veggies and a side of broccoli and cheese.

I had a full meal with healthful ingredients and had spent less than the cost of going out for fast food or takeout. And, I had purchased those value-added items on a whim while grocery shopping, not as part of my shopping list. As I cleaned up after dinner, I noticed the packages all had one thing in common – they all had large viewing windows to see the product inside.

I’ll impulse-buy quite a few products when I’m shopping. Oreos and Doritos usually end up in my cart, for some reason. Neither clearly displays the product, but they’re consistent and I know I’ll have a positive eating experience – if a guilty one.

But fresh-cut produce is a more difficult sell. It doesn’t last as long, the taste isn’t always consistent and the price point can be high. Processors are working on extending shelf life through a number of technologies, and quality assurance measures can ensure consistent taste and texture. Having both of those areas figured out can greatly contribute to impulse shopping with the use of viewing windows in packaging, and if the price is right consumers won’t think twice about trying a new product.

The staff at Fresh Cut is working on updating our “viewing windows.” In the coming months, you’ll find an updated Web site, a new e-newsletter and a variety of interactive offerings including educational Webcasts, digital editions of the magazine and video and photo galleries. You can already follow us on Twitter (@FreshCutMag) for news updates and insights into the editorial process.

These multimedia efforts are just another way that we at Fresh Cut can provide the best information on the fresh-cut produce segment in ways that are relevant to our readers. The e-newsletter launches in January, and I look forward to your feedback and input into that and other interactive projects.