Harj Dhasee, one of our expert retailer columnists, talks about how he’s focusing on his fruit and veg this summer

To tie in with our new Nisa ‘Store of the Future 2’ format, we’re getting in more wicker baskets, putting all our fruit and veg in baskets and adding some wicker floor stands.

We’re expecting the new wicker impulse units in this, or next, week and aim for it to give the section a more organic feel.

The summer is a great opportunity to push fruit and veg. We’ll create impulse sales a bit more by having oranges, apples and bananas on a stand and do a ‘buy two-for-£1’ deal.

We do a multibuy on our apples, three-for-£1, and people seem to be taking that offer over the option of buying a chocolate bar.

We’ve got an OK fruit and veg range at the moment – just the basics – but we’re looking to add more and see what works.

There’s a massive change within the whole market, going from processed food to fresh fruit & veg. A healthier, cook yourself attitude is really growing among customers, so from a retail point of view the focus should be on pushing that.

People are now shopping for the following two or three days and are cooking a lot themselves rather than picking up quick meals. They’re looking for inspiration to be healthier.

If you look at Instagram, for example, people have gone from posting pictures of what they’re eating at restaurants to what they’re cooking at home. We’re looking to take advantage of that.

We’ve also noticed a rise in our deli products, and we’re selling a lot more olives, ham etc.

Ready meal sales are still steady, but we’re seeing a change in that more people are demanding more fresh product. Our local meat offer is getting stronger as well.

On apples, we get around a 25% margin on the three-for-£1 deal, which is still good on a promotion and on local meats we earn 35%. There’s definitely more margin in local, so I’d like to shift more volume to local.

What are you focussing on this summer? Need inspiration? Head to our Create Your Own Summer page.