CMI Orchards Expanding Organic Apple Distribution as Daisy Girl™ Leads Sales
WENATCHEE, WA - With its organic apple production estimated to be 15% higher, CMI Orchards’ Daisy Girl Organics™ brand is looking to expand distribution even further before the year is out.
“For the second year in a row, Daisy Girl is the #1 selling branded organic apple package in the U.S.,” said George Harter, Vice President of Marketing, in a press release. “It really shows that organic consumers continue to respond to the Daisy Girl brand.”
Washington’s organic apple harvest is just starting up, and Harter said that prospects for the year look strong.
“We have a number of Daisy Girl orchards just coming into production,” Harter added. “We’re seeing strong increases in our organic supply that will fuel retail distribution and promotions beyond the 9,000 stores that carried Daisy Girl last season.”
Harter added that, with a smaller size profile of the crop in Washington State this year, retailers should expect to see significant sales gains in organic bags, commenting, “Mother Nature set us up for success this year and we’re ready to drive organic sales like never before.”
He observed that co-mingling issues meant organic and conventional apples could not be displayed side by side previously, while packaging eliminates this issue.
"Our most successful retail partners have discovered that putting a strong organic brand like Daisy Girl pouch bags in a premium up-front position is driving consumer conversions and strong sales gains,” he said.
On the note of packaging, CMI cited Nielsen scan data for the past season, showing Daisy Girl as:
- Top-selling branded organic apple package overall
- Top sales rank by variety for packaged organic Gala, Fuji, Red Delicious, Ambrosia, Granny Smith, and Rosalynn
- #2 for Daisy Girl Pink Lady pouch bag in U.S. organic sales in 2016 for the variety
Senior Strategist Steve Lutz stated that the company introduced the two-pound organic pouch bag to lower the retail price point for consumers, while upgrading the packaging to change the shelf presentation from a commodity product to a high-value branded item.
“We saw an immediate sales lift with the Daisy Girl two-pound pouch,” said Lutz, commenting on his belief that the biggest sales impact is coming from the Daisy Girl brand itself. “At first we thought the smaller package might be driving success, but after evaluating the data for competitive products, it was very apparent that the sales success was being driven by the Daisy Girl brand.”
Lutz cites Nielsen data showing that while Daisy Girl Organics are leading, branded organics in total are driving overall category performance. “This past season, branded organic apple packages, led by Daisy Girl, generated a 26% year-over-year sales increase. During the same period, unbranded and private-label organic apple bags showed a decline of 10.2%.”
Citing pricing as a key factor in driving sales, he continued, “If you look at performance on just a per-pound basis, the Nielsen data shows that branded organic apple packages like Daisy Girl deliver a price premium over unbranded organic bags of $.90 cents per pound. Effectively, we’re trading consumers up from a generic to a premium brand. Everybody wins.”
With sales reflecting a strong consumer response to the two-pound organic pouch bag, and harvest kicking off, AndNowUKnow will keep an eye on this and other growing brands in the produce department.
