As friends and family gathered around the television to witness one of the greatest comebacks in football history, sports fans and other party goers devoured a record number of avocados. Hass Avocado Board’s new quarterly Holiday and Events report shows impressive retail avocado sales of $50 million during 2017’s Big Game week. Fresh avocado volume reached nearly 65 million units for the week, shattering sales records from the prior three years. Football fans across the country stocked up on avocados, driving an +$8.4 million gain for the week, with the largest contributions coming from the Northeast and Southeast regions. The growing popularity of avocados during the Big Game affirms its role as a stand-out avocado holiday.
“This year’s Big Game week broke records and set the bar for 2018,” says Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board. “HAB is excited to bring the industry up-to-date avocado holiday insights, allowing marketers and retailers to get a head start on next year’s holiday and event planning.”
Big Game is just one of several holidays covered by the new Holiday and Events Report. Each quarter, Hass Avocado Board will release a holiday report covering avocado sales trends for the most recent holidays and events of the year. In addition to Big Game, the 2017 first quarter report covers New Year’s, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.
Avocado retail dollars were strong during all first quarter holidays. Following the Big Game, St. Patrick’s Day ranked second in avocado dollar sales at $43 million, an increase of +17 percent vs. prior year. This strong dollar gain can be attributed to significant regional price increases during the holiday week, driving a +31 percent increase to $1.24/unit nationally. All regions exhibited double-digit price increases, offsetting widespread volume declines and contributing +$6.2 million to the category.
Valentine’s Day may traditionally be associated more with chocolates than avocados, but the rapid growth of avocados for the holiday suggests love is in the air for this healthy fruit. At the national level, retail volume and dollar sales for this holiday week have advanced steadily over the past few years, with 2017 units up +68 percent and dollar sales up +41 percent over 2014. On a year-over-year basis, Valentine’s Day 2017 continued to see gains at the national level and across most regions. Southeast drove volume growth, adding +1.5 million units to the category, while Northeast drove dollar gains with incremental sales of +$1.2 million.
New Year’s started 2017 off with a bang, ringing in avocado sales in excess of $36 million and is a strong category performer. Retailers rang in +$1.1 million in incremental avocado sales during New Year’s week, up +3 percent vs. prior year. Six out of eight regions contributed to the holiday dollar gain, with Southeast leading the regions, contributing 75 percent of New Year’s dollar gain. Avocado volume was also up during New Year’s, +3 percent and +1.5 million units. Volume trends were more varied across the regions, with Southeast and South-Central driving 85 percent of New Year’s volume growth.
Contact:
Jill Netzel
Fusion Marketing
Tel: 818.718.8084 X212