With short Honeycrisp supply, Stemilt says retailers need to shift promotion plans

With the 2024-25 Honeycrisp crop in shorter supply, Stemilt Growers says the current rate of movement is greater than the supply can sustain.

Retailers should shift promotion plans from Honeycrisp to other varieties including Cosmic Crisp, SweeTango, SugarBee and Envy to relieve industry pressure on Honeycrisp volumes, Brianna Shales, marketing director for the Wenatchee, Wash.-based packer, grower and distributor of tree fruit, said in a news release.

Shales shared that an analysis conducted by Stemilt of U.S. grocery ads on Honeycrisp showed a 25% increase in ads during the last 12 weeks, compared with the same 12 weeks in 2023. Shales said some of the retailer promotions helped move a large national Honeycrisp crop in 2023 at the end of the season, but she recommends retailers shift from this current ad trajectory since this is a shorter season this year for a national Honeycrisp crop.

A November storage report revealed a 32% decrease year-over-year in Honeycrsip holdings.

“The national holdings report affirms that the industry doesn’t have the volume of Honeycrisp to support the current Honeycrisp rate of movement, and we certainly can’t support a 25% year-over-year increase in ads featuring this variety,” Shales said. “We have to start pivoting to other apples and there are many high-flavor varieties available now. Core varieties, Cosmic Crisp and Pink Lady all have opportunities to keep retail dollars growing with multi-variety ads.”

According to the USApple Industry Outlook 2024 report, the Honeycrisp crop had a 51% increase in 2023 leading to a 16% decline in prices year-over-year. Stemilt said Nielsen retail scan data shows that the average price per pound on Honeycrisp was $2.19 per pound in September and October, compared to $2.50 per pound in the same timeframe in 2023. This shows Honeycrisp volumes continue to gain year over year even though the supply has shifted down with the new crop.

“Shifting away from Honeycrisp promotions and bringing retails up are needed adjustments for this crop,” Shales said. “Consumers have long proven their loyalty to Honeycrisp, so it needs to be part of the mix, but this crop is ripe with opportunities to shift the promotion attention and consumer apple purchases towards high-flavor varieties that have good supplies and great qualities to drive consumer demand. There is an array of varieties available now, including SweeTango apples and new crop Cosmic Crisp.”

Stemilt said many retailers hit new highs with the share of Honeycrisp dollars and volume to the category in 2023 that are not going to be comped this year. Shales advised retailers to return to multi-variety promotions on apples and highlight varieties with a larger supply, like Cosmic Crisp, to make category gains.

“Cosmic Crisp is up a remarkable 57% year over year, and Stemilt has coined 2025 as the ‘year of the Cosmic Crisp,’" she said. "We are ready to help retailers promote this rising apple in fun and creative ways to officially make it part of their top performers in the category."