With fresh cherry season well underway, many consumers are once again delighted to find an abundance of this popular fruit in the produce aisle.
Sales of fresh cherries are up 0.7% to $1.07 billion for the 52 weeks ending March 20, 2022, according to IRI OmniMarket Integrated Fresh data. Conventional cherries represent the lion’s share of retail sales, ringing in $1.05 billion in sales for the same time period. Taking a much smaller piece of the pie, organic fresh cherry sales were almost $18.4 million in the last year.
While grocers have long used bountiful displays in-store to drive sales of fresh cherries, the rise in online shopping, curbside pickup and delivery has necessitated creating excitement for the digital shopper, as well.
German-based Aldi and Lidl, two hard discounters with wildly loyal shoppers, are enticing online shoppers to purchase fresh cherries in different — though equally compelling — ways.
Aldi U.S. is based in Batavia, Ill., and the website’s fun facts include:
- Cherries contain a good deal of antioxidants, specifically anthocyanins, which may help fight cancer.
- Eating 10-12 cherries a day may reduce your risk for developing gout by at least 35%. Gout is a type of arthritis that causes swelling, inflammation and tenderness in the joints and feet.
- One cup of cherries has as much potassium as a small banana. Potassium consumption is crucial to keeping blood pressure under control and limiting the risk of high blood pressure.
Aldi’s website further offers advice on choosing red cherries that are firm and with the stems attached. It also provides a calendar of the fruit’s availability and a link to the Aldi store locator for customers who want to pick their own cherries in-store.
Lidl takes a sweet-talk approach with its digital shoppers. The U.S. headquarters is based in Arlington, Va., and its website offers a tempting recipe for cherry clafoutis, made with fresh cherries.
“This cherry-filled wonder may sound fancy, but it’s more than a funny name. Clafoutis (cla-foo-tee) is the dessert that custard and pie lovers dream about. Seriously,” the website said. “Creamy custard and fresh cherries star in this delicious, 40-minute dish. Is there anything better than that? We don’t think so.”
