Superfresh Growers® Details Navigating the Apple Market and Which Varieties Are Seeing Promotional Volumes; Catherine Gipe-Stewart Comments
YAKIMA, WA - At the beginning of every year, consumers take stock of the habits they want to initiate in the following months. More often than not, eating healthy is one of those habits. To support the shoppers flooding into brick-and-mortar stores, buyers need to have up-to-date market info regarding some top categories for healthy eating. One such category is apples.
To make sure I have the ins and outs down, I spoke to Catherine Gipe-Stewart at Superfresh Growers®.
“The overall apple market is steady for now, but it is tight in some places,” the Director of Marketing noted. “We foresee the crop continuing to tighten on more varieties as we head into spring and summer. Nonetheless, we do have promotional apple volumes. In this crop year, we have truly appreciated retailers’ willingness to be flexible to take advantage of what this years’ crop has given us. We still have a good amount of volume for the 2022 crop, but it may be that a different variety or size is more promotable than had been in previous years.”
Take for instance apple varieties like Cosmic Crisp® and Autumn Glory®, for which the company has promotional opportunities.
“We are working with our customers on finding solutions to their needs in a year where we have to brainstorm and think outside the box a bit,” Cat explained. “Would changing size or grade open up more volume options? Instead of promoting a variety that may be tight at the moment, would subbing in a different variety be an option? Cosmic Crisp and Autumn Glory are two varieties we have increased supply on, and we’ve been able to plug those into some key promotional spots.”
Pink Lady® apples also have huge promotional opportunities as we near Valentine’s Day, and the grower reports a strong supply as we near the holiday.
Another February ad opportunity can be found in Evercrisp®. Superfresh Growers is entering its second year of growing and selling this sweet and juicy apple, which holds a powerful crunch and combines the best features of its parent varieties, Honeycrisp and Fuji. This variety will be sold in bulk and bag starting in February.
“It’s also time to start planning Granny Smith ads for St. Patrick’s Day, and we have a nice supply prepared for March ad demand,” Cat added.
Superfresh also has promotional opportunities for Honeycrisp, Gala, and Golden Delicious, as well as a variety of organic apple varieties.
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