Apple Season up 9%, retailers stocking English

The latest apple season was surprisingly good, about 9% larger than the previous year, and the entire crop of dessert apples was sold three to four weeks earlier than forecast, which was ‘excellent’ according to Adrian Barlow, English Apples and Pears. “Ultimately our sales to multiples were four percent higher. With first of all a lot of support from UK retailers. I think our campaigns have been extremely successful in terms of impacting on consumers, persuading consumers to buy English and to look for English.” 

As a result retailers are increasingly stocking English when it’s available, Barlow said, although returns to growers were not as high as they would have liked. “They were paying 15% more than they could have obtained from suppliers from the continent, so that was really really good. The hope is to restore prices to more normal levels through the next season. Although the prices retailers are selling for are lower in terms of multiples, the returns to growers are at the lower end of the market, but one has to take into consideration the fact supply chain costs are that much reduced, therefore the net return to growers is that much better than anticipated.”

Sales to online retailers are increasing, with forecasters certain they will continue to grow. “There are opportunities that are different than those that apply when you’re selling in store. Looking at the way you promote products online and working with organisations may ensure you realize the potential,” said Barlow. Packaging is important too. “Making sure you have a secure and robust pack to protect the product, but it doesn’t need to show off the attributes, would be one example.”

The greatest challenge remains consumption when it comes to apples, according to Barlow. “The Bramley apple, since 2012, when we had a bad crop was a good example. We had a reduced supply so couldn’t meet demand. It’s very easy to turn the market down, but then we got to 2013 when we had a good crop. We’ve got to then raise the market and it takes time to do that,” notes Barlow. “Last year it was very difficult until about April. This year, from August 1 our sales are up 21% in volume sales though. We’ve had a very successful PR campaign. We started early because we wanted to be certain we weren’t knocked off the media because of the Scottish Referendum.” 

A lot of work was done, including a twitter party, to promote Bramley, and it ended up trending to the number 3 spot, beaten only by political issues in terms of popularity with twitter users. “We also had two weeks of coverage on Heart FM, and a huge amount on various digital platforms. We launched our own new website Love English Apples, very much consumer facing, as opposed to the the usual business facing website.”

Small quantities of early season varieties were to be available in early October, with major varieties appearing around 15 September, Gala from 20 September and Braeburn from shortly before Christmas. “At the moment things are looking pretty good. There’s been a little bit of hail damage, obviously the cold winds have not been at all welcome but all they’ve done is delay the season. I reckon we’re about a week behind last year,” said Barlow. “We won’t have as many large apples as last season which is a good thing because you can’t sell those on the UK market.” 

UK market share also got a boost this season. “We’re going to continue to increase our share of the UK market by about 5 percent, and we’re seriously looking at exporting, but it is a case of having the right product. The overseas market in general want large red apples.” Discussions have been ongoing with Defra, UKTI and others, according to Barlow. “We have opened markets this year in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and we’re anticipating further markets being added to that during this coming season so it’s all looking quite good.”