CMI’s Steve Lutz Says September is a Prime Opportunity to Promote Apples
WENATCHEE, WA - Supermarkets looking to get a jump on this year’s early apple season may be in luck. According to Steve Lutz, CMI’s Vice President of Marketing, this opportunity offers retailers an easy way to boost sales prior to the traditional October peak.
Harvest dates in Washington State have been pushed forward by as much as three weeks due to an early bloom and consistently high temperatures through the growing season. Early season sales reports from the Washington State Tree Fruit Association show that shipments to date are 12 percent higher than the early crop in 2014, and over 300 percent higher than the same time period in 2013, according to a press release.
“Washington had an early crop last year as well,” said Lutz. “This year is even earlier and the category data from last year shows that retailers who seized the opportunity enjoyed peak season sales levels several weeks before their competition.”
Looking at Nielsen scan data results from last fall, the earlier harvest has enabled retailers to build out full apple assortments sooner. As a result, Lutz says, supermarkets that seized this opportunity generated “significant sales gains.”
“The top 20 chains in September grew apple sales by 6.5 percent with a category contribution of over 9 percent,” Lutz continued. “The apple category average for the total U.S. was an increase of just 1.6 percent in sales with a category contribution of 6 percent.”
The early season provides supermarkets who capitalize on the early season with an additional four weeks of peak season dollars and volume because they can reach the seasonal plateau of 8 percent category contribution to total produce by mid-September, rather than the early to mid-October average.
“We’re so much earlier than normal – it’s just a great opportunity for retailers to energize their sales right after Labor Day,” Lutz added. “The opportunity to bring in the apple shopper is right now, not October.”
CMI is already well into harvest on Galas, Honeycrisp, Reds, Fujis, and organics, with Grannies on the way next week. Now is the time to push the apple category further than ever before.
