On April 13, The Greenery looked back on the 2014-2015 sales season with its Sweet Sensation growers. Although this season saw an uncertain start due to the closure of the Russian market, the targets set beforehand were comfortably met. One of these targets was high turnover in stores. By promotionally supporting Sweet Sensation with tastings in stores and promotions in retail magazines, consumer interest went up sharply, and sales have been well above what was expected.
Ton van Wiggen, sales manager pears, said that a number of retailers at home and abroad have included the Sweet Sensation in their product range. Sales at these retailers were good and sometimes better than expected. Ton was also very satisfied with the price level, which was clearly higher than that of the standard varieties. Ton summed up the past season as follows: "In the past season, Sweet Sensation has laid a good foundation for a strong market position in the future. For the upcoming season, more retailers have shown an interest, and a growth in volume is expected at the current buyers."
Bert Wilschut, product manager Sweet Sensation, then briefly talked about cultivation and improvement tests which will be continued next year. The pruning tests and the mechanical pollination will be continued. In addition, they looked into properly cooling the product last season.
In the coming years, the market for Sweet Sensation will continue to grow worldwide. Demand for year-round availability is also increasing. In 2014, the first Sweet Sensation pears were exported to China. In order to adequately meet demand, additional trees will be planted in various locations, including Chile, Argentina and South Africa.
The meeting was closed by chairman Michiel Appelhof, who handed the Sweet Sensation trophy to the growers with the best quality Sweet Sensation pears. This year, the trophy went to Mr G. Van Dijk of fruit cultivation company 't Wed Werkhoven. No less than 85% of the fruit he harvested met the strict quality demands of Sweet Sensation.