National Pear Month is right around the corner, and the opportunity for retailers to make category gains this pear season is here. With volumes bouncing back from last year’s down crop year, Stemilt Marketing Director Brianna Shales sees areas of growth in the early season and beyond.  

“This year’s pear crop is on a positive trajectory in comparison to last season, but with the volume that the industry has now, we should be seeing double-digit sales gains in the U.S.,” said Shales. “Bag retail is what’s going to drive volumes, but we’re not capitalizing on it as well as we could. The price per pound is lower this year, at $2.12 compared to $2.16 last year. The supply is here to promote pears, especially varieties like Bosc and Red Pears that are in great quality, ripe and ready to delight consumers this winter.”  

Shales continued to say that the pear category is up 7 percent in pounds sold for the total U.S. compared to last year. She called out the Midwest as an example of a region that has reacted to the realities of the crop and is keeping pace with the volume increase. 

“The Midwest is up 27 percent in volume and 21 percent in sales,” said Shales. “This is what you want to see at the start of a larger crop year. Their retail price on pears is $1.98 a pound, 10 cents down from last year. Their dollar gains are in the double digits, and their bag sales are up 46 percent YOY because they’re using lower retails to drive volume as a means for improved category performance.”  

The Northeast, South and West are trailing behind the U.S. in percentage of bags sold in the category and could be taking advantage of volume and dollar opportunities, said Shales. Looking ahead, she said National Pear Month is a natural tie-in for pear promotions. Stemilt items such as conventional and organic Lil Snappers kids’ size fruit and mixed variety Prism Pear bags are also available now as vehicles to encourage movement.  

“The performance of pears this season is positive, but there’s still room for growth because of the drastic difference in the size of the crop versus last year,” said Shales. “Quite literally, there’s room for pears to grow. We compared last September to this year and found that we’ve increased the number of stores selling pears by the week. The No. 1 variety, conventional Bartlett, was selling around 26,300 stores last year. This year, they sell in 27,600 stores. We have grown distribution for pears, and with a larger crop, that’s a bright spot for the season ahead!”