Cosmic Crisp apple earning big dollars for early adopters

Cosmic Crisp® apple’s meteoric growth is the big story in the latest round of April Superfresh Category Management®.

This amazing apple, like Honeycrisp, took root in the west and has quickly spread eastward. As we also saw with Honeycrisp apple’s rise to dominance, retailers who bet on Cosmic Crisp® early have earned big dollars and delighted customers. Those who have not, risk a significant category sales gap to the rest of market.

Cosmic Crisp® retail pricing is aligning with Honeycrisp pricing. “We are hearing retail success when Honeycrisp and Cosmic Crisp apple are price aligned. Cosmic Crisp and Honeycrisp apple have set the bar for what customers are willing to pay for a premium apple,” says Catherine Gipe-Stewart, Communication Manager. Over the latest 4 weeks, Cosmic Crisp® retail was at $2.47/lb nationally, close to Honeycrisp at $2.66/lb (Nielsen data ending April 24, 2021).

April Nielsen data shows that in its sophomore year, Cosmic Crisp® apple is very strong at #11 over the latest 4 weeks. Cosmic Crisp® brought in $4.5 million in sales during April. With sales dollars building off this momentum, Cosmic Crisp appears poised to soon run down McIntosh and Ambrosia in dollar sales.

“There is still time to promote Cosmic Crisp this season,” says Catherine Gipe-Stewart, Communication Manager. “Superfresh Growers will have volume into summer. The flavor and crunchy bite of Cosmic Crisp stay fresh all season long. This is an amazing summer apple, great for grilling, adding to burgers, lemonades, and summer fruit platters. Since Cosmic Crisp doesn’t brown, having slices on a plate look fresh all afternoon.”

Cosmic Crisp® apple is grown in Washington State, and was bred and developed by Washington State University. The apple was first released November 2019.