WENATCHEE, WA - Two apples are gearing up to hit the buy-side, and Stemilt Growers has the tools to help them take the category by storm. The category innovator is ready to help retailers rock apple sales by providing high-quality, flavorful Piñata® apples for the summer season, while also detailing how its Rave® apples will continue the momentum in early August.

“Fortunately, we can bring this apple to consumers all summer long thanks to Piñata’s great storing capabilities,” noted Brianna Shales, Senior Marketing Manager. “We reserve fruit with high starch reserves, color, and great quality indicators for this time of year as we know they will provide consumers an excellent eating experience. It will taste like the apple just came off the tree!”

The Piñata variety is grown both conventionally and organically in Washington state. Stemilt has a long-time partnership with Chilean-based Frusan and Argentina-based Patagonia Fruits to import this variety to the States, a press release explained. Frusan, Patagonia Fruit, and Stemilt each hold the fruit to the highest of standards, so retailers can rest assured knowing that each Piñata apple will have constant quality and flavor throughout the summer.

“Retailers will have a wide variety of both conventional and organic Piñata apples sizes to choose from and bulk promotions are a great way to move the category during the summer months,” remarked Shales. “We suggest running Piñata as part of multi-variety apple ads and using the apple’s fun messaging and graphics to share its uniqueness.”

High-graphic cartons can be built for prominent displays in high traffic areas of the store. A little tip that Stemilt offered is that if store frequency is down and online grocery traffic is up, ensure the product listing is up to date as it shows the consumer exactly what they are purchasing.

“It is very important that the retailers keep all product listings current, especially if their online traffic is increasing,” explained Shales. “If they need help pushing Piñata on their online platforms, Stemilt has all of the resources they need.”

Stemilt’s marketing team can provide digital banner ads, key messaging, and photos to ensure product listings have the essential information needed to create successful promotions. Stemilt can also help retailers with their digital channels and provide video, photos, and more.

“Piñata is such a fun, tropical apple with a flavor profile that many seek out,” Shales stated. “Many people can turn to this variety to use for snacking, cooking, or baking and we have plenty of digital resources that can help retailers push this apple through check out stands.”

And by the time that summer starts to end as August rolls around, Stemilt has just the apple to continue driving sales growth.

“Rave’s unique timing does amazing things for the apple category,” Roger Pepperl, Marketing Director, said. “Due to its Honeycrisp parentage, it brings a premium quality apple to the market weeks before other varieties come off the tree. Rave is in store for a limited time. And because of that, there is absolutely no time to waste when this apple hits the market. It has a high demand and incredible flavor profile, so consumers seek it out.”

Rave is harvested in late July and brought to market starting in early August, filling a gap for when Honeycrisp sales begin to dwindle. With apple crop projections as its highest yet, Stemilt believes that Rave can be carried in-store well into October. Pepperl suggested in the release that retailers run two Rave ads via both print and digital formats, with retailers starting the apple crop with an August Rave ad and following with a second ad in September. This gives the apple category momentum as it heads into prime fall apple months.

According to Nielsen data cited by Stemilt, Rave added an average of 48 lbs per store per week to an average U.S. produce department that’s already selling 854 lbs of apples per week from mid-August to the beginning of September.

“Rave is outrageously juicy with a refreshing snappy zing,” Pepperl said. “It has the same juicy bite as a Honeycrisp and carries the same quality. The data reinforces how it can fill Honeycrisp gaps, and bring a nice spark to the apple category starting in August.”

As Rave has grown in popularity across the Midwest and East Coast, 65 percent of Rave apple sales came from households that weren’t buying apples during the August-September timeframe the year prior.

“Retailers that deploy the 4 P’s of marketing with Rave see great results,” Pepperl explained. “Rave comes off the tree with great color, quality, and flavor. Build an impactful display with our high-graphic cartons, price Rave to increase trial, and promote it twice in its short season to see great results. Not only did this apple leave the consumer with a delightful eating experience, but it has helped expand the apple category as a whole. We’re so excited about what Rave has brought the apple category and will continue to bring in the future. Between the premium quality, flavor profile, and overall goodness of this variety, Rave takes any retailer’s apple category to the next level.”

With Stemilt at your back, there’s nowhere to go but up!

Stemilt Growers