After the strong performance of its Pride of Prima apricots, Prima Fresh Group has expanded the brand into plums, aiming to deliver the same consistency and premium presentation that helped revive apricot sales in supermarkets.
Jackson Bennett of Prima Fresh says the move builds directly on the success of the apricot program the firm has developed with Coles.
"It actually started about three seasons ago with regard to apricots," Bennett says. "The apricot category was in a major decline. Sales and store level weren't strong, and the category just was not performing — high wastage, low sell-through."
According to Bennett, the end of the road for apricots as a category at Coles loomed.
"Coles basically came to us and said, unless we can come up with a positive solution, we're probably going to look to exit apricots as a category," he says.
Over six months, Prima Fresh developed the Pride of Prima concept: a prepacked premium offer designed to protect the fruit, highlight value for consumers, and ensure consistent eating quality.
© Prima Fresh Group
"When you tip apricots or plums loose on the shelf, they're prone to damage and over-handling," Bennett says. "At the same time, we saw that since COVID, people were buying more pre-packaged goods and they wanted something that clearly showed what they were getting for a set price."
The concept was quickly adopted by Coles and initially rolled out in Victoria before expanding into New South Wales.
"Within a week, the sales went really, really well," Bennett says. "Across the first season, we saw really positive results not only in sell-through but also a huge amount of decreased wastage."
Where apricot wastage had previously averaged close to 20 per cent, the Pride of Prima program reduced that to below two per cent.
The success of the apricots led to the next step: introducing Pride of Prima plums.
"With consumers already having such a positive reaction to our apricot brand, the sister brand gave them the confidence that they were going to get a product they'd be happy with and come back and buy again," Bennett says.
© Prima Fresh Group
The plums follow a similar approach, with fruit selected according to strict brand standards.
"For us, it's about premium sizing and good eating varieties rather than a mix of what consumers might get week to week," he says. "We select only the best variety at the time that meets our brand standards."
The plums are sold in six-fruit punnets, a format Bennett says was chosen deliberately.
"Presentation is key. People buy with their eyes, especially in Australia," he says. "Six was the perfect number. It's a great grab-and-go format and ensures every piece of fruit in that punnet is quality."
The format also offers advantages for retailers. Prepacking helps protect the fruit, reduces handling damage, and increases basket size.
"They've got an upsell unit because it encourages people to buy six plums instead of potentially buying two or three," Bennett says. "And from the supermarket's perspective, it also reduces wastage significantly."
The program has coincided with a strong stone fruit season. Bennett says favourable weather conditions have produced excellent fruit quality across the category.
"We've had extremely good growing conditions across all of stone fruit this year," he says. "The fruit did have time to experience the hotter climate, which meant higher sugar levels. I don't think stone fruit has eaten any better than it has this year."
The plum season still has several weeks to run, giving retailers continued supply as other stone fruit lines wind down.
Although Prima Fresh's focus for the Pride of Prima brand is currently domestic, Bennett says export remains a possibility in the future.
"I think it's always good to gauge your brand's potential on a domestic level prior to stretching it out to export," he says. "If you can get the domestic side of things right the first time, then you can start to look towards expanding to export."
One challenge for export markets is the brand's prepackaged format.
"The biggest barrier we've found from an export level is the pre-packaged format," Bennett says. "They typically like to prepackage it themselves overseas, whereas for us, that loses the brand continuity."
For now, the focus remains on building the Pride of Prima brand across Australian supermarkets and maintaining the consistency that underpins consumer loyalty.
"If you provide consumers with something that they enjoy and it's consistent, they'll come back time and time again," Bennett says. "That's how you build a brand."
For more information:
Jackson Bennett
Prima Fresh Group
Tel: +61 432 344432
https://www.primafreshfruit.com.au/
[email protected]
