Oranges 



Sales of medium-size oranges were approximately 50 percent greater when 

 offered in displays of packaged fruit or in combination package and bulk dis- 

 plays than when offered in bulk displays, as shown in the tabulation below. 



Type of display l/ 



Sales 





Number of units 



100 percent packaged in polyethylene 



2/ 657 



1 426 





Combination packaged (polyethylene bags) 



! 2/ 636 



l/ Oranges priced and packaged in units of 1 dozen. 



2/ Sales from displays containing packaged oranges were different from 

 sales from bulk display at 1 percent significance level, but no significant 

 difference in sales was found between the 100 percent packaged and the combi- 

 nation displays. 



Differences in sales between displays containing packages (all fruit in 

 packages and combination package and bulk) and the all bulk display were found 

 to be statistically significant at the 1 percent probability level. The dif- 

 ference in sales between the display of packaged fruit and the combination 

 package and bulk display was not statistically significant and may have been 

 due to chance variation. 



Direct costs for labor and materials were slightly higher (0.2 cent per 

 package) for prepackaged oranges than for bulk oranges (appendix, table 9)« 



For packaged grapefruit, however, the direct costs for labor and material 

 were slightly lower (0.12 cent per package or unit of 6) than for grapefruit in 

 bulk (appendix, table $). Merchandising prepackaged grapefruit was found to 

 be less costly than selling grapefruit in bulk, because the additional time 

 incurred in handling the bulk fruit when placing them on display and at the 

 checkout exceeded the added cost of the packaging material and backroom prep- 

 aration for the prepackaged fruit. 



Thus, considering costs and sales results, it would be advantageous to 

 retailers to offer grapefruit and oranges in 100 percent packaged displays or 

 combination package and bulk displays, rather than bulk alone. 



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