Date category growing, Bard Valley Date Growers report shows

Yuma, Ariz.-based Bard Valley Date Growers reports that the retail date category grew $6 million to $114.7 million in 2020.

According to a baseline and distribution study developed for the company, Bard Valley Natural Delights’ brand commanded a 42% share of volume and a 44% share of dollars of the date category.

“We wanted to have a deeper understating of sales trends driving the growth of the date category,” Neil Merritt, director of North American sales at BVDG, said in a news release. “We can utilize the findings to plan and drive successful seasonality programs and create material to help retailers capture additional sales.” 

According to the release, Natural Delights medjool dates drove more than a third of the category volume growth at 34%. Additionally, velocity for the brand increased 5.4%, which the release said generated turns 400% greater than the next leading brand. 

Bard Valley has offers a number of unique merchandisers and package sizes available to help retailers build sales, according to the release.

“With the Ramadan holiday beginning April 12, it is important for retailers to know the 2-pound package drove category volume growth during the second quarter, which coincides with the Ramadan holiday,” Merritt said. The study indicated that the 2-pound package was up 18% compared with the prior year, driving 56% of category volume growth, according to the release.

“Retailers can realize double digit unit and dollar increases with our mini pallet and half pallet for the 2-pound package,” Merritt said in the release.

April 1 is the ideal time to start merchandising medjool dates to maximize sales for the Ramadan holiday, he said in the release.

“This is an ideal time to start to promote dates with displays and merchandisers in high traffic areas,” he said.