WENATCHEE, WA – The latest video from Stemilt’s Fruit Tracker™ Fast Facts series shows apple sales surging this fall. The quick informative video provides analysis of Nielsen retail scan data from October 2016, showing apple volume and dollars up considerably from the same time in 2015.
“October was a great month for apples,” said Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s Communications Manager, in a company release. “Retailers sold 4.5% more pounds of apples on average than the year prior, and for more money, with a 5% increase in dollars of apples sold.”
Gaia, Honeycrisp, Fuji, Granny Smith, and Red Delicious were the top five apple varieties, a list largely unchanged from September 2016; the exception was the late-harvesting Granny Smith, which shot ahead of Red Delicious. Honeycrisp had the highest average retail among apple varieties—at an impressive $2.40 per pound. The average retail price for apples was a respectable $1.57 per pound.
SweeTango® was the best-selling apple variety of the month, selling 10 pounds more on average than the same time the previous year, with an impressive 25.8 percent increase in dollars.
“SweeTango® movement was very strong this season. The flavor profile of SweeTango® is unlike any other and it continues to win more shoppers over each year, as well as becoming an apple that consumers are seeking out every fall,” said Shales.
The apple category represented 7.7 percent of total produce department sales this October, more than a tenth of a percent higher than the same time in 2015. Bulk apples sales accounted for 70.5 percent of the category; bags made up the remaining 29.5 percent.
Check out the full video below:
With winter fast approaching, Stemilt recommends that retailers continue aggressively promoting apples, setting multi-variety ads every month and building displays that prominently feature key club varieties.
Stemilt’s signature apple variety Piñata® is a particularly strong candidate for a display that performs well throughout winter, into spring, the company stated.
“The New Year is the ideal time to promote Piñata® apples in stores, and the fantastic quality of this year’s crop of Piñata apples will help retailers sell this star apple quickly,” noted Shales. “Piñata® was featured in over 7,000 supermarkets in the U.S. alone last season and has a consumer following unlike any other club apple available.”
Piñata’s® is a cross between two European heirloom varieties, Cox’s Orange Pippin and the Duchess of Oldenberg, and the Golden Delicious, all of which combine to give the Piñata a classic apple flavor with a tropical twist. It’s a high-sugar, high-acid variety that consumers can enjoy fresh or cooked up in their favorite confections, and the apple’s high-graphic, tropical-themed cartons and signage are ideal vehicles to promote Stemilt’s signature variety to consumers.
For more on the apple market as we enter the winter season, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
