<p>A new report from Columbia Marketing International, Inc. (CMI), shows that the top performing retailers in the apple category are generating up to three times more revenue even after equalizing for store size, according to a press release. The report analyzes key differences between top and bottom performing retailers in U.S. markets and identifies key strategies that the leading chains are using to drive apple sales and volume growth.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">"We looked at three years of apple category performance data for retailers all over the U.S," according to Steve Lutz, Vice President of Marketing for CMI. "There are some fairly basic approaches used by top retailers to drive apple sales that the guys at the back of the pack miss. It appears that the specific tools consistently used by top supermarkets can be implemented by just about any retailer of any size, but are missed by low performing supermarkets."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The research indicates that when consumers shop for apples, they actively shop but ultimately purchase a single variety. Lutz said that the most successful retailers strategically use variety selection, shelf position and merchandising in order to shift consumers' attention away from low priced varieties and entice them to switch towards higher priced mainline and niche brands such as Ambrosia or Kiku. These most successful retailers also offer much greater variety to consumers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">“When you drill down on the store specific data, it is very apparent that decisions made at the management level are influencing category sales success or even failure,” said Lutz. “One national chain had three banners in the bottom 10 nationally in apple performance primarily as a result of corporate directives in terms of assortment, pricing and promotion. With some fairly simple shifts, they could have an immediate positive impact on their apple sales performance.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">The latest report has been released and is available for CMI retail customers.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.cmiapples.com/" target="_new"> CMI </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
