The Mission Viejo, Calif.-based Hass Avocado Board has a number of studies, webinars
and programs in the works to help boost sales and encourage avocado consumption, said
Gina Widjaja, director of marketing and communications.
Shopper Survey
The findings from a recent HAB shopper segmentation study may provide growth
opportunities within specific avocado shopper segments, she said.
The study determined that a small subset of avocado shoppers make the most significant
impact on the avocado category.
“This audience, known as ultra shoppers, were found to be the top-spending segment,
making up 8% of avocado-buying households and accounting for 35% of total U.S.
annual avocado purchase dollars,” she said.
Webinars
The board also is conducting a series of webinars to help drive avocado sales.
The most recent presentation on March 17 was scheduled to feature Tim Madigan from
The Partnering Group retail consulting firm debuting the newest resource from HAB —
the Avocado Growth eToolkit.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused online retail to explode, and it’s clear that this
shopping trend is here for the long haul,” Widjaja said.
The webinar was designed to offer key insights on the online retail landscape and
showcased how the new eCommerce Toolkit can help avocado marketers and retailers
work together to drive e-commerce growth for avocados, she said.
Industry members can subscribe to the board’s YouTube channel to catch up on past
webinars.
Webinars from the Hass Avocado Board also can be viewed on its website –
hassavocadoboard.com.
Studies
The board’s Avocado Nutrition Center funded seven studies that were published in 2021
and, as of January, had already published two studies in 2022, she said.
The latest studies were:
Avocado consumption Increased Skin Elasticity and Firmness in Women; and
The Effects of Foods on LDL Cholesterol Levels: A Systematic Review.
More information about the board’s published research is available by visiting
loveonetoday.com.
Love One Today
In the public relations arena, Love One Today, a science-based food and wellness
education program, “continues to be a leading source of the healthiest reasons and tastiest
ways to enjoy fresh avocados,” Widjaja said.
HAB makes it easy for health professionals to recommend fresh avocados to their clients
and to inform consumers that they can satisfy indulgent cravings while maintaining
healthy habits at the same time, she said.
“We partnered with Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiologist and Walk With a Doc founder, to
highlight the importance to ‘make every bite count’ in keeping with the Dietary
Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 and include resources and recipes to designate
snacking on avocados to close the nutrition gap and catch up on the recommended level
of fruits and vegetables intake,” she said.
Body Positivity
The board also will launch a Body Positivity campaign to showcase how nutrition and
taste of avocados can empower individuals to love themselves as they are, she said.
“As the conversation has evolved to be less focused on counting calories and more
focused on food quality and healthy lifestyle practices to attain a healthy weight,
snacking on nutrient-dense avocados can play a significant role,” Widjaja said.
