The Florida celery industry has done a reasonably good promotional

job in the cities included in this study. However, retailers offered

suggestions for improvement. Several pointed out that celery is a

basic item that they tend to overlook in their promotional planning.

On the other hand, some said that Florida's celery season occurs at a

time of the year when fresh produce items are generally in short supply,

and Florida celery lends itself well to promotions. Since celery is

only one of a great many items that produce buyers and merchandisers

have to deal with, frequent reminders of various kinds can serve to keep

celery visible with the trade.

 One very effective such reminder was the Mail-gram that has been

used. The nature of competition at the retail level makes "specials"

essential to firms' advertising and promotional programs. Advance

information which provides some degree of price protection enables firms

to make advertising plans for price specials. Several firms said that

they were not as concerned with the level of prices as long as they knew

they were stable and that their competition could not obtain supplies at

a lower price.

 Two retailers suggested that some firms buy California celery out

of habit, without a re-evaluation of Florida's quality. They suggested

a case-allowance program to "break the habit."

 Periodic distribution of point-of-purchase (POP) materials through-

out the season may be another way to keep celery visible. A number of

retailers said that they do not get POP materials frequently enough,

especially price-cards. Materials must be high quality, and fairly

small. While the most popular sizes are still 7" x 11" and 11" x 14",

the trend is to smaller materials. Many kinds of low-cost promotional