CMI Orchards is gearing up for another year for its Daisy Girl Organics brand. With organic apple production estimated to be up by 15%, CMI is looking to expand distribution even further during the 2017 season.
According to George Harter, Vice President of Marketing at CMI, Daisy Girl is riding a wave of sales momentum. “For the second year in a row, Daisy Girl is the #1 selling branded organic apple package in the U.S.,” said Harter.
Harter says the organic apple harvest in Washington is just getting underway with strong prospects for the coming year. “We have a number of Daisy Girl orchards just coming into production. We’re seeing strong increases in our organic supply that will fuel retail distribution and promotions beyond the 9,000 stores that carried Daisy Girl last season.”
Harter says Daisy Girl has proven itself as a winner at retail. He cites Nielsen scan data for the past season showing Daisy Girl™ as the #1 selling branded organic apple package overall and holding the #1 sales rank by variety for packaged organic Gala, Fuji, Red Delicious, Ambrosia, Granny Smith and Rosalynn.
He added, “We are a little disappointed because our Daisy Girl Pink Lady pouch bag was only #2 in U.S. organic sales in 2016 for this variety, so we’ve got some work to do this season on Pinks.”
According to Steve Lutz, Senior Strategist for CMI, the company introduced the two-pound organic pouch bag to lower the retail price point for consumers, while upgrading the packaging to change the shelf presentation from a commodity product to a high value branded item.
Lutz cites Nielsen data showing that branded organics in total are driving overall category performance. “This past season, branded organic apple packages, generated a 26% year-over-year sales increase. During the same period, unbranded and private-label organic apple bags showed a decline of 10.2%.”
Harter added that with the smaller size profile of the crop in Washington State this year, retailers should expect to see significant sales gains in organic bags.
For more information:
Linda McFarland
Tel: +1 509 888 3418