Apples and innovation go hand in hand at Columbia Marketing International. Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing, said emphasis on brand development, organic sales and category management will keep the company and its customers at the top of their game.

The company is headquartered in Wenatchee, WA, and is among Washington’s leading tree fruit producers. CMI markets a full apple manifest. “Our volume will be up this year overall,” he told The Produce News. “The biggest changes will be organics and our proprietary apple brands.”

Columbia Marketing International has developed an apple branding program designed to increase volume sales. (Photo courtesy of Columbia Marketing International) Lutz said conventional retailers have developed focused sales strategies to move organic product. “CMI organic production is close to 15 percent of the total organic volume coming from the state of Washington,” he said. “Last year was a short crop, so with a production rebound this year, as well as some additional acreage becoming available, we anticipate an increase of 30 percent in CMI organic supplies. CMI has had spectacular success with the ‘Daisy Girl Organics’ brand. Introduced three years ago to increase the premium image of bagged products, ‘Daisy Girl Organics’ has become the No. 1 selling organic apple brand in the United States.”

CMI expects significant volume increases for its Ambrosia, KIKU and Kanzi apples. “Ambrosia has been a strong winner for retailers, moving up during fourth quarter of 2013 to become a top 10 apple,” Lutz stated. “Our KIKU and Kanzi volumes will be up substantially as well. So we’re really looking forward to having greater availability for our retail partners.”

Consumer brand development continues to be a focus. In addition to “Daisy Girl Organics,” CMI moves apples, pears and cherries under a variety of brands, including “Hero,” “Orchard Fresh,” “Nature’s Candy” and “Sweet Gourmet Pears.”

“The newest program is our ‘Queen Bee Honeycrisp’ brand, which will roll out this fall,” Lutz commented. “In addition, we expanded the introduction of our successful ‘Sweet Gourmet Pears’ program. We tested this program last winter and had spectacular success, so we look forward to the roll out. We are also emphasizing the ‘Hero’ brand snack apples program.”

On the retail side, Lutz said apples are the most complex category in the produce department. “With an average of more than 35 unique items per store per week there are so many ways for retailers to boost sales. At the same time, with this complexity, there are a lot of ways that poor retail execution can lead to underperformance,” he noted.

“For example, a good way to look at retail performance is to measure apple category sales based on the contribution to total produce sales. This measure essentially equalizes for stores with different produce department sizes or variances in population density. The apple contribution for the top in retail banners in the country is 7.8 percent of total department sales. The bottom 20 retail banners average only 6 percent. In an average produce department, that’s a difference of nearly $600 in sales per store per week. So it is critical that retailers focus on getting the assortment, pricing and promotion strategies right.

“If you look specifically at Ambrosia, it’s a top 10 variety. Yet retail scan data shows that many supermarkets apparently view it as an ‘in and out’ apple like some of the other niche varieties. As a result, those retailers miss out on an opportunity to establish repeat customers willing to spend more on every apple transaction simply because they prefer this variety. When Ambrosia disappears from the shelf, so do the Ambrosia sales.”

As the apple category continues to evolve, Lutz said it will become increasingly important for retailers “to focus on emerging varietal and package opportunities. These are the products that are driving category growth.”

CMI plans to continue emphasizing its high-graphic, high-clarity pouch bags. “We now have multiple pouch bag options for every major variety as well as the branded apples like Ambrosia and Kanzi,” he added.

CMI’s ownership group continues to expand production with new acreage as well as re-work existing acreage. “The goal is to grow fruit on the superior strains of the best apple varieties that will allow us to maximize land productivity while delivering fruit with outstanding eating quality,” Lutz stated.

The apple harvest is already under way with Galas and early Fujis, and Ambrosias will follow soon. Lutz said, “This has the potential to be a spectacular crop for both retailers and consumers. Temperatures have cooled so we’re hopeful that this will promote development of color.” He expects a good range of key retail sizes will be available this season.

McDougall & Sons, one of the CMI grower-owners, is opening a brand new packing facility this fall. “The McDougalls started with a blank piece of paper and basically worked on designing a state-of-the-art facility from the ground up,” Lutz said. “It covers over 450,000 square feet. This new facility will allow for McDougall to convert their existing apple facility to a dedicated organic packingline.”