Heading into 2025, it’s game time for produce marketers. With potential FDA curveballs, a TikTok timeout, and generational shifts changing the playing field, fresh strategies are crucial to stay ahead of the competition.
Fortunately, the produce department is ripe with opportunities. Over the past year, consumers have delivered the reassuring message that fruits and veggies are non-negotiables despite economic challenges. Ipsos, a market research firm, reports that 51% of Americans spend the same amount on fresh produce, and 35% spend more to prepare healthier meals at home.
In 2025, marketers can level up fresh produce beyond essential status by leveraging trends and positioning the department as a must-visit for macro trends like innovation, flavor, nutrition, and convenience. Insights into timely consumer preferences and lifestyle habits offer a strategic starting point.
Drafting Gen Z and Alpha to the Team
Pending social media bans might affect digital marketing options, but companies must invest in a consistent and creative online presence to maintain generational relevance.
Digitally savvy Gen Alpha is entering its teen years, and 2025 welcomes Gen Beta (the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Alpha) to the sidelines to influence the family grocery list. The always-online lifestyles of these newer generations tighten the timeline to build affinity in relatable ways.
One example of a shift from traditional to digital tactics is choosing who inspires consumers to eat more fruits and vegetables. Previously, fresh produce marketing succeeded with the help of celebrity spokespeople, physicians, nutritionists, or chefs who shared health benefits and recipe tips. These are still trustworthy sources, but additionally Gen Z and below are more heavily influenced by the personalities they discover on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, or social games.
Newer generations watch creators like Mr. Beast, the Paul brothers (of Prime energy drinks), and Emma Chamberlain (of the coffee range) launch food and beverage products tailored to the preferences of their online communities. This can help fans feel like they’re part of the journey and future innovations.
While the fresh produce category has natural limitations, the challenge is identifying who consumers need to hear from and how they can play an authentic long-term role. It’s no longer simply about transactional influencer marketing.
Highly engaged creators can command equally high compensation. As a result, Forbes predicts more brands will turn to efficient yet effective solutions such as user-generated content (UGC) communities and employee-generated content (EGC). Both offer authentic ways to build consumer engagement and trust.
For example, a diverse group of flavor-seekers could propose on-the-go produce, dip, or seasoning combinations for the chance to launch the winning concept with a retail partner. Or a retailer could enlist their own digital “flavor consultants” within the produce section to curate traffic-driving ideas and displays.
Building a sustainable program with the right partners and giving consumers ways to interact can pique interest and reinforce fruits and veggies as must-haves.
Produce Department MVP’s: Flavor and Quality
Speaking of flavors, food market research platform Datassential reports that consumers now rank quality and great taste above price when evaluating value in grocery settings. To grow the perception of produce beyond health-inspired “essentials,” marketers can double down on messaging about quality and taste to drive preferences within the produce aisles.
Begin the year by auditing the copy on websites, social media channels, and point-of-purchase materials to find opportunities to share more of the attributes consumers seek. Direct language emphasizing quality and taste and creative storytelling about people and places, farming practices, sustainability efforts, or the careful selection process can help. These topics could also inspire dedicated social media videos or content series.
Food Business News reports consumers are obsessed with crunchiness, and this attribute is driving more innovation in the center store. This is also a perfect feature to promote within the produce aisle. Social videos can highlight experiences and snack ideas that satisfy the quest for crunch, sweetness, juiciness, and even “swicyness” (sweet and spicy) to help shoppers visualize how produce can delight them around the store’s perimeter. ASMR videos that entertain and soothe viewers with hyper-focused sounds are still widely popular on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Categorizing products by these sortable themes online and educating consumers about how and when to find fruits and veggies that maximize each sensation with seasonality throughout the year can maintain their interest.
Convenience: The Winning Assist
Consumers who balance work and family cannot get enough convenience, and this attribute carries multiple meanings in the fresh produce category. According to Deloitte research, convenience is one of the few purchase drivers that has sustained its high value under inflation pressures over the past six years.
Unlike other grocery categories, consumers don’t always expect innovation in the produce aisle, but that’s where brands can surprise them with convenient meals and snacks.
More return-to-office plans for 2025 mean packing lunches and planning easy dinners that meet Americans’ preferences for convenience, quality, flavor, and nutrition.
For example, air fryers remain a popular meal preparation method. Consumers are finding more “ready-to-fry” choices in the freezer aisle; however, fresh-cut veggies, like potatoes or squash, and vibrant medleys labeled specifically for air frying can inspire new family-friendly ideas.
Packaging also increases consumer perceptions of convenience. Deloitte’s research finds shoppers value packaging with labels to help them understand their fresh food purchases (61%). They also perceive that packaging helps fresh food stay fresh longer than unpackaged fresh food (57%).
The Produce Playbook: Ready, Set, Grow!
The key for 2025? Make fresh produce the first pick during grocery trips. Marketers can keep fruits and veggies at the top of the draft by emphasizing flavor, quality, and convenience to emerging generations by capturing their attention in more places they turn to for inspiration. After all, it’s not just about being a healthy choice; it’s about creating a serious case of FOMO for shoppers who don’t make a beeline for the produce aisle.
- Tristan Simpson is the founder and CEO of tristan michele marketing, a full-service, fractional marketing firm specializing in the fresh food industry.
