A new initiative to stop shoppers squeezing avocados to test the fruit's ripeness has resulted in a halving of bruised fruit and higher avocado sales.

Research conducted earlier this year had found 97 per cent of customers gave avocados a squeeze to test ripeness before buying, which was leading to brown marks on the flesh once the fruit was cut open.

To improve quality and ensure customer satisfaction, the avocado industry, through levies paid to Horticulture Innovation Australia, employed a marketing firm to come up with other ways consumers could determine whether avocados were ripe at the point of sale.Produce Marketing Australia chief executive John Baker was tasked with the challenge and said making sure ripe fruit was always available in supermarkets was the first step.

"The second was to then segregate the fruit on display according to the stages of ripeness," he said.

Shelves were colour-coded according to whether the fruit was ripe or not, and the strategy was completed by signage telling customers which fruit to buy according to when they wanted to eat it.

"For the ripe fruit it's 'buy now, eat now' and for the not-so-ripe fruit it's 'buy now, eat later'," Mr Baker said.

Squeeze-stopping measures trialled in supermarkets

While all the major supermarkets, including Coles, Woolworths, IGA, Costco and Aldi were consulted, the scheme was trialled in independent supermarkets throughout regional New South Wales, regional Queensland and Sydney in the first half of the year.

Mr Baker said the system was cost-effective and could be implemented by each store independently.

"We trialled it remotely without any contact other than over the phone and sending the tools to these stores," he said.

"This system for retailers can be implemented for around $50 — that's the display pads and the customised header cards."

An online retail training program was also developed to teach store staff best practices for ordering, receiving and storing avocados, as well as educating them on the ripening process.

Trials bear fruit

The trials resulted in a 60 per cent reduction in bruising.

"That's because there's a lot less squeezing and people were choosing fruit that wasn't being bruised multiple times before someone actually selected it," Mr Baker said.

"You're never going to eliminate people squeezing avocados — I think it's one of those lifelong habits — but it's certainly created a significant reduction in squeezing."

The other, more unexpected result, was a 30 per cent increase in the amount of fruit sold.

Mr Baker is adamant that low avocado prices, as a result of record production during the trial period, did not skew the results.

"We trialled it when consumers were paying $5, $6 and up to $7 a fruit in January and February and into March as well as at this time now when you can buy two avocados for $5 when they're on special," he said.

"Regardless, there was a 30 per cent increase in sales in that early period when the price was really high and the same increase now."

Hopes for nationwide rollout

The system is now being promoted to all grocery retailers and has already been adopted by Independent Grocers Australia (IGA), which is supplying 600 stores with the signs and shelving boxes.

Mr Baker said while the uptake was slower among the major supermarkets, some had already adapted some of the measures.

"Coles see the merits and what they've got is their own header cards to explain to their customers the different ripeness stages for avocados," he said.

"Retailers have said to us, if something's going to give them a 30 per cent increase in sales, they're more than keen to do that."