A recently published consumer purchase behavior study by the Hass Avocado Board in Irvine, CA, examined trends in avocado volume and avocado dollar sales at retail for 13 key holidays and special events throughout the year.

The study confirms that “a significant amount of volume” is sold during holiday and special events periods, HAB Executive Director Emiliano Escobedo said in an interview with The Produce News March 24. In 2013, for example, 26.5 percent of all avocado volume sold in the United States took place during the weeks of those 13 holidays and events, generating over 29 percent of the total dollars.

Emiliano EscobedoThe study showed increases in dollar sales for all 13 holidays in 2013 over 2012. It also showed increases in avocado volume for nine of the 13 holidays, including all of the holidays that fall during the peak months of the California shipping season.

“So the California season is really a season when retailers get behind promotions and feature the product on specials and move a lot of volume. We continue to see these holidays as important holidays for retailers and also for the industry to back them up with supply,” Escobedo said.

Volume for five of the holidays increased in 2013 over 2012 as a percentage of total annual volume. Four of those five holidays — Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Father’s Day and Independence Day — fall during the peak months of the California season.

Volume held steady for Easter and Labor Day weeks as a percent of the total but declined for Big Game week, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Even with a slight decline in percentage of total sales, Big Game week had “the highest weekly volume of the year, with 38.9 million units sold,” according to the study. Cinco de Mayo was a close second, with 38.6 million units sold, followed by Independence Day with 34 million units sold.

The report analyzes avocado purchasing patterns not just nationally but regionally, and the numbers for the California region are “very interesting,” Escobedo said.

“In 2013, we saw an increase in total volume [in California] of 2.5 percent” for the combined total of the 13 key holidays, “but there are some holidays where we saw some great growth.” Most notably, for Independence Day, “we saw a 14.6 percent increase in volume in California last year compared to 2012,” Escobedo said

California also saw volume increases the weeks of St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Labor Day and Christmas, but registered declines for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.

All of the holidays falling during California’s peak avocado shipping season saw volume increases in the California market. That is significant because the state of California is the leading consumer of avocados in the United States as well as the number one market for avocados grown in California.

In terms of dollars, avocado sales increased in the California market for all 13 key holidays.

The study is available on the HAB website at hassavocadoboard.com/retail, Escobedo said.

“This is a great tool for people who understand the significance of holidays and events to their promotion planning efforts. It is a tool for them to look at what happened the year before and plan their promotions for the upcoming year,” he said.

Another recently published HAB consumer study “indicates that retailers can run promotions on one size avocado without significantly compromising volume of the alternate size,” according to a HAB press release. That study, entitled “Understanding Retail Price To Drive Hass Avocado Sales — Avocado Price & Volume Insights,” follows up on an earlier study indicating that “product display, quality/ripeness and price are three key purchase motivators.”

The Hass Avocado Board conducts in-depth research “to help the industry understand the category and drive retail sales growth,” Escobedo said in the release.

The two recent consumer insight studies “researched the factors that influence consumers’ purchasing behaviors, pricing dynamics, and the impact [those have] on retailers’ business.”

The retail pricing study “reveals that large avocados display greater sensitivity to everyday price changes than small avocados,” the release states. “For example, as discounts deepened for large avocados, units increase significantly — more than doubling at a 45 percent discount. However, total dollar sales increase at a much slower rate and level off around a discount of 30 percent, delivering diminishing returns as the discount rises. Under the same scenario, total dollars grow only slightly for \small avocados and flatten or reverse at discounts over 30 [percent].”

The study also disclosed that changes in base price “produce only minimal interaction between large and small avocados. This low level of interaction means retailers can run promotions on one size avocado without significantly compromising volume of the alternate size,” the HAB release states.