California-based Sun World International has found that retailers are reporting grape category growth, market share growth, and improved margins through a key strategy of running black only grape ads. 

The most recent sales data from the 2017 domestic season shows black grape category share has grown from 6.3 to 7.1 percent over the past five years, and Sun World anticipates this growth will continue, if not accelerate.

Today, top-performing retailers have a 10 percent share of category for black grapes, the company said.

This is a trend demonstrating the best practice of promoting black only grape ads to drive category growth.

“Currently, we see 40 percent of all grape sales are on promotion,” Sun World executive vice president Gordon Robertson said.

“Customers that are running black only ads are seeing category lift and improved margins. These ads are not intended to replace a red or green ad, but to be a best practice of balancing the amount sold on promotion while improving sales and margin.”

Sun World noted that its Sable Seedless brand grapes are known for their Muscat and tropical flavor profile, while its Midnight Beauty brand grapes "fill the early-season gap and impress with large berry size and full-bodied sweetness."

Adora Seedless grapes, meanwhile, compete with other late-season black grapes "with delicate sweetness and exceptionally large size, giving them the description of a “two-bite” grape."

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