Aug 4, 2015Ambrosia and Honeycrisp lead top 10 sales dollars
According to Robb Myers, vice president of sales for CMI, the data shows that consumers continue to look for highly flavored apples like Ambrosia.
“It’s pretty impressive when you consider that in the top 10 selling apple varieties nationally, only Ambrosia and Honeycrisp generated dollar increases. Ambrosia and Honeycrisp–that’s pretty good company,” said Myers.
Myers said a big part of the sales increase is a result of a longer Ambrosia domestic season for CMI as well as a strong import season for Chilean grown Ambrosia.
There is still room for incremental Ambrosia growth according to Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing for CMI. “The Nielsen data shows that during the most recent four weeks, only about 50% of supermarkets carried Ambrosia,” said Lutz. “It’s quite remarkable that only half the retailers in the country are carrying one of the hottest selling apples in the category. In a year where cherry sales are down, generating incremental apple category dollars with Ambrosia is an easy win.”
Lutz also noted that consumer response to summer Ambrosia promotions have driven strong results for supermarkets . “Ambrosia are really generating a strong lift when retailers promote them,” said Lutz. “Nielsen scan data shows that of the top 10 selling apples in June, Ambrosia was no. 1 in volume lift on promotion, at over 82 percent. It really shows that consumers recognize the value of Ambrosia, and are willing to spend more for a great tasting premium apple.”