Company Blog

Apple’s and Orange’s

by Adam Zack — March 22, 2017

Black Grapeless Grapes $1.48

The three most important keys to great sales are: 1. Presentation 2. Presentation 3. Presentation. Customers buy with their eyes. If food doesn’t look great, no matter how it tastes, they are far less likely to buy. You can always let them taste the delicious Ugly Rice Salad and get them to purchase it, but with hundreds of choices of fresh foods you can’t even sample 10% of the delicious but hideous items that may be put out. Fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, salads, hot foods – they all need to look tempting. That’s why packaging and signage is a billion dollar industry. It tells the story of the beautiful food. But how about what is written on the packaging and signage? Because so much of our commerce is food, everyone can relate to it. And since it’s so widespread, nowhere is the misuse of grammar and punctuation more prevalent. These are real signs seen in our grocery stores:

Banana’s 59¢
Open Sunday’s 11:00-4:00
Jam’s and Jellies
Black Grapeless Grapes $1.48
Pop Tards 2.69
Yumbo Jams 3 lbs/$1
Rot Chicken 7.99

Just like the presentation of food, the presentation you put forth in your store and social media reflects your attention to detail. Powdered sugar sprinkled on cannoli, a dash of paprika on a deviled egg and the glaze on a fruit tart are comparable to correctly spelled ad words, proper use of the apostrophe in social media posts and correct grammar in company news releases. We are an industry of hard working, hard headed DIY people, but insisting that those hard workers have someone proof read their posts and signs will ensure that presentation won’t make you look like the fool.