CMI's Don Patella Shares October Apple Sales and Organic Growth
WENATCHEE, WA - With October’s National Apple Month now behind us, retail scan data for the category is now revealing new details about sales and volume, CMI reports.
While apple sales typically peak nationally in October, the 2015 apple category had a bit different results. According to the October monthly report from Nielsen, the apple category declined by 7% in volume and 4% in dollars. Apple category contribution declined to 7.5% from 8.2% in October 2014.
“With a shorter crop both nationally and out of Washington State, supermarkets are really forced to be creative to increase sales,” explains Don Patella, Regional Marketing Director for CMI. “Nearly all category growth is being driven by branded apples. A lot of retailers are seizing the opportunity while many others have yet to react to the unique opportunities presented with this crop.”
According to CMI, the Nielsen data shows that for the four-week period ending October 24, three apple varieties made the top 10 nationally. The three—Sweetango®, Ambrosia™ and Cripps Pink—generated increases in both dollars and volume, the data shows, with the shorter crop also impacting the Honeycrisp variety, which declined by 5.5% in volume for the month.
“The challenges in the apple category this year will be very unique,” continues Patella. “Retailers will face declining volume and inflated retails. But more importantly, shifting consumer tastes and rising quality expectations means retailers really need to think creatively about how to tap into branded apples to stop dollar erosion by driving transactions upward into premium apples.”
Patella says that growth in organics continues to be the top growth opportunity for retailers.
“Already this season organic apple sales have jumped nearly 6% while conventional apple sales continue to slide. The most successful retailers are leveraging organics to build transaction size,” Patella adds. “Nielsen data shows that for the month of October, the number one selling branded organic apple in the entire category is CMI's Daisy Girl Organics™ 2-pound pouch bag, up an incredible 81% over a year ago.”
With the company’s Daisy Girl program in its third year of performing well on the charts in 2-pound organic pouch bag sales, Patella says that organics are hot and Daisy Girl is even hotter.
