WENATCHEE, WA - Kanzi® apples are hitting the U.S. from the Southern Hemisphere in peak numbers this week. CMI, exclusive importer, announced that Kanzi® will continue to arrive into August to coincide with the final sales months of the Southern Hemisphere import apple season.
“Kanzi® volume increased 104% as more than 4,500 stores nationally jumped on this hot new apple,” Robb Myers, Vice President of Sales for CMI, said in a press release, commenting that a strong domestic Kanzi® program has established the apple with consumers and built demand for this intensely-flavored apple.
Myers said Kanzi® apples imported from New Zealand and Chile help energize category sales for supermarkets at the most challenging part of the apple season.
“This is the time of year where supermarkets are fighting to hold customer transactions in the apple category. Even in summer, apples are important to overall produce department sales because they are the second largest fruit category at retail," Myers said. "We’re seeing something totally new–high quality, branded apples like Kanzi® helping retailers boost consumer transactions at the traditional low point of the apple season in the weeks before our new crop begins to hit the stores.”
The company noted that, according to Nielsen data over the last 52 weeks, “no other apple in the top 30 varieties came close to matching the growth rate of Kanzi®.”
“When customers discover Kanzi® apples, they keep coming back for more,” Myers said. “We see it time and time again. CMI’s import season should overlap nicely with our Washington crop–coming off the trees in September. Getting your customers hooked now will keep them coming back for more throughout the apple season.”
Myers reported that imported Kanzi® are continuing to arrive in the U.S. and are available for a limited time.
