Category Spotlights

Mangoes, the stronghold of the specialty fruit category, realized the most significant dollar gains of all specialty fruit varieties in the 52 weeks ending Jan. 29, 2011. Although mangoes are unfamiliar to many consumers, the opportunity for continued growth is substantial. Mangoes have worldwide popularity, are extremely responsive to promotions and are a terrific product to showcase during the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

Mangoes: Year in review

Mangoes account for 37.3% of specialty fruit sales. Comprised of conventional and organic mangoes, the category sold an average of $151 per store per week nationally, up 19.1% during the 52 weeks ending Jan. 29, 2011, compared with the previous year. Despite an average retail price increase of 5.1%, mango volume sales grew 13.3%.

Conventional mangoes comprise 97.8% of category sales. Organic mangoes, though a smaller percentage of the category, had significant sales growth compared with last year, up 16.9%

Mango sales reached a peak of $303 during the week of May 2, 2010, coinciding with the Cinco de Mayo holiday.

Mango sales are very responsive to promotions. Nearly half (49.3%) of all mangoes were sold while on promotion in the past year. Comparatively, 33.1% of volume was sold on promotion from the specialty fruit category overall. In addition, the average lift due to promotions was 198.1% for mangoes – more than one and a quarter times the specialty fruit average of 157%.

Consumers continue to look for prepackaged produce to serve as healthy and convenient snacks. The increase in distribution points of packaged mangoes reflects this trend, up 144% between 2005 and 2009. By comparison, bulk mangoes increased by 8% during the same five-year period.

Evaluating regional differences in mangoes, the East region led sales with $208 per store per week. Mangoes in the East also had the largest contribution to specialty fruit category sales at 40.5%, compared with the national average of 37.7% dollar contribution to specialty fruit.

The Central region had the most significant mango sales increase of 21.8%, while the West region had the smallest dollar increase, though still substantial growth, of 18.2%.

The South region, which had the lowest dollar sales of any region, also had the smallest dollar contribution to specialty fruit at 34.5%.


Category Management Toolbox: Shopper loyalty card data

Mangoes are the most consumed fruit in the world, according to the New York-based Mangoes from Mexico Packer and Exporter Association. Despite global popularity, consumption of mangoes and other tropical fruits remains low in the U.S. To drive successful strategies and increase domestic consumption, retailers need to understand how consumers shop the tropical fruit category: How many shoppers buy tropical fruit and how often; do shoppers buy multiple varieties at a time; and do tropical fruit buyers have larger basket rings overall? Answers to these questions are crucial to developing tactics to keep these consumers coming back, as well as to target and earn new consumers.

Through a partnership with consumer-centric analytical services company Spire LLC, Monroe, Conn., the Perishables Group quantifies purchase dynamics across a broad shopper base. Loyalty card data is collected from about 30 million U.S. households spanning nearly a dozen retail chains.

A look at the new FreshFacts Shopper Insights powered by Spire reveals that household penetration, or the number of shopper households that bought a specialty fruit item in the latest 52 weeks ending Jan. 29, 2011, was 26.2%. This was the third-lowest household penetration of all fruit categories, leading pineapples and cherries.

Consumer insights The Cinco de Mayo holiday is around the corner. Hispanic holidays like Cinco de Mayo provide unique opportunities to generate excitement and trial for mangoes. Hispanic and Asian consumers are the most frequent purchasers of mangoes, with white Caucasians indexing low for mango purchases. Using a popular event like Cinco de Mayo can introduce mangoes to these opportunity consumers who represent a large percentage of the population. Here are some tips and tricks for winning over these opportunity shoppers: Create a specialty fruit category designation, highlighting the various fruits with signage, decorations and recipe cards. Educate consumers on mango ripeness and how to cut a mango. Educate by variety; most consumers don’t know green mangoes are actually ripe. Provide interesting mango recipes that relate to the Cinco de Mayo holiday, such as mango salsa and cocktails. Use meal solution displays to provide all recipe ingredients, including mangoes, in one prominent location. Place mangoes in a primary location (first in flow) in the produce department. A 2009 study by the National Mango Board, Orlando, proved that merchandising in a primary location strengthens mango performance. An optimal display alone may not suffice, especially if it’s located in the back of the department or away from the main flow of department traffic. Partner with suppliers to provide in-store demos. In the 2009 National Mango Board merchandising test, sales spiked for two weeks following the demo.

Further investigation of the tropical fruit consumer gleans insights into how consumers purchase. On average, consumers bought specialty fruit 2.5 times during the 52 weeks ending Jan. 29, 2011, and this held steady from the previous year. However, the average volume of specialty fruit purchased during each trip doubled. This is encouraging news for the category, indicating that consumers are stocking up on more tropical fruit when they do buy. The opportunity lies in enticing consumers to maintain strong volume of specialty fruit purchases but to buy more frequently. Encouraging purchases through usage ideas, nutritional information and creative signage may help draw consumers’ attention to the category more often.

Although a relatively low percentage of the produce department shopper base, specialty fruit consumers are important to the department because of their large purchase value. The average basket size containing specialty fruit is $79.92; this is more than $15 higher than the average fruit basket size of $62.79, and it’s the fourth-largest average basket size of all fruits.

Specialty fruit consumers tend to prefer one specific type of specialty fruit. Of all specialty fruit baskets, just 5% contain two or more varieties of specialty fruit such as mangoes, kiwis and coconuts. Compare this with stone fruit, where nearly one in five consumers buys multiple stone fruit subcategories, and it’s clear an opportunity exists. Making a home for specialty fruit in the merchandising set, like what is seen with stone fruit, could increase the number of multiple tropical fruit purchases. Increased promotions across specialty fruit categories, as well as specialty fruit recipe ideas, could aid consumers in seeing what the entire category has to offer.