WENATCHEE, WA - Your shoppers want ‘em, and Stemilt has ‘em! As retailers look to arm their customers with the flavorful apple varieties they desire, the grower has reported ample opportunities to promote the category this season given the large national—and Washington State—crop.
“Quality is outstanding with a range of sizing available on core varieties,” Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s Marketing Director, shared with me. “Bagged promotions are ideal for moving volume, and Stemilt’s kid-focused 3 lb Lil Snappers program and 5 lb Apple Lovers program are performing well at retail because of their ability to market intent to shoppers. The 5 lb pack works for conventional or organic and serves as a value offering at retail.”
Helping its partners harness all the apple category has to offer, Stemilt prides itself on aligning with retailers to create exciting displays and promotions that can help sell volume at retail. The apple maven offers a wide variety of merchandising opportunities to support retailers with their promotional efforts.
“Since the Gala variety is currently tighter in supply, shifting promotions to other core varieties like Cosmic Crisp®, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, and Fuji is a good tactic,” Brianna advises. “Multi-variety promotions are still the key to success at retail, and we want to see at least one monthly. Organics is another area where promotions should also occur once a month to continue growing organic share of the apple category.”
As Stemilt reported, pricing is currently down from last year due to the larger apple crop and last year’s very short supply of apples.
“It’s the tale of two different seasons,” Brianna noted. “We want to keep working with retailers to grow their apple volumes considerably over last year because the crop and quality warrant that.”
Another way retailers can ensure category success is by promoting Stemilt’s EZ Band, a convenient 4-pack for organic apples.
“We are seeing more trialing of this package at retail, and it’s a great paper-based package to sell larger organic apples in. Our apple crop at Stemilt presents retailers with a great offering that matches consumer demand,” Brianna added. “Honeycrisp volumes are up significantly, SweeTango has an extended season, and we’ve grown our supply of both organic and conventional Cosmic Crisp. High-flavor varieties are what will help delight consumers and lead to the next purchase, and we are excited to have opportunities to build apple fans with varieties like those this season.”
For more updates on the apple category and beyond, be sure to keep an eye out for the ANUK logo.
