California strawberry season is ramping up, and the Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission says promoting the millions of boxes of strawberries that will be reaching produce aisles over the coming months can pay off in a big way.
“California strawberry production will increase rapidly in early April, with excellent quality and strong supplies projected to support Easter and Mother’s Day ads, as well as promotions from April through June,” said Chris Christian, the commission’s senior vice president of market insights.
“Easter and Mother’s Day are two key benchmark time frames for gauging California strawberry production, and weekly shipments from mid-April on are expected to be above the three-year average,” Christian said.
In 2024, strawberry promotions generated a greater sales lift on a smaller discount than all other berries, Christian said, with 43% volume lift on average 26% promoted discount.
Market research from the commission’s “State of the Strawberry Category Report,” released at the end of 2024, shows:
- Strawberries accounted for more than half (59.4%) of the fresh berry category’s volume sales.
- Strawberries outpaced all other berries in year-over-year volume growth at 10.9%.
- Across the U.S., the fresh berry category sold more than 2.6 billion pounds of fruit, generating $11.6 billion dollars in retail sales for the 52 weeks ending July 14.
- During the 52-week period, strawberries outperformed all other berry varieties, with volume growth of 11% over the prior year.
- Strawberries held a 60% share of category volume and contributed 153.6 million pounds in incremental sales.