Although mango sales rank far below mainstream fruit, the commodity outranked other tropical fruits, reaching 14% of U.S. households a year, the National Mango Board reported.

Foodies, natural and organic shoppers and Hispanic shoppers kept the category alive with 55% of dollar sales. These buyers bought the fruit two to three times a year.

The board identifies "heavy" mango buyers as a key source of potential growth. These shoppers accounted for almost two-thirds of dollar sales, with 3.9 average mango store trips a year. If these buyers purchased the fruit just one more time a year, annual sales would increase by US$391 a store.

Mango buyers were also inclined to spend more money overall and to add other fresh fruits to their cart. Mango shoppers spent US$80 on average during grocery store trips while other produce buyers spent US$57.

Mango buyers were also 9.9 times more likely to add avocados to their cart, 7.8 times more likely to buy pears and 7.2 times more likely to buy stonefruits.

Statistics from the study were organized by Nielsen-Perishables Group and based on shopper behavior using loyalty card purchasing data from more than 30 million U.S. households.

Other data collected by the group showed that tropical fruit sales increased 9.9% in 2012.

Mangoes accounted for 43% of tropical fruit sales, followed by kiwifruit at 20%. Pineapples and bananas are not included in the tropical category for the purposes of analysis.

www.freshfruitportal.com