Understanding the choices and behaviours of fresh avocado shoppers helps retailers create market strategies, build loyalty and grow sales of the fruit. In fact, in the rapidly evolving retail landscape, market dynamics are heavily influenced by shopper characteristics and behaviour.
A recent avocado shopper segmentation study by the Hass Avocado Board (available for free download here) highlights how a small subset of US avocado-purchasing households known as Ultra shoppers have the strongest impact on the category. The study is based on household purchase data from the IRI Consumer Network.
8% of households account for 35% of total purchases
Ultra shoppers – who represent 8% of avocado-purchasing households – were found to be the biggest spending segment. And this segment also account for 35% of total annual avocado purchases in the US. Ultra shoppers exhibit purchase behaviours that far exceed those of other segments and this sees them exert a disproportionate impact on the avocado category.
Ultra shoppers: 183 trips a year to the retailer
Ultra shoppers spent an average of 100 dollars per household annually, twice that of Mega shoppers and 17 times that of Moderate shoppers. This annual spending was driven by a higher number of purchase trips and a higher spend per trip to the retailer.
Ultra shoppers also visited retailers more often and were more likely to purchase avocados during their trip than any other shopper segment. On average, they made 183 trips per year to the retailer purchasing avocados on 14% of their trips. Conversely, Moderate shoppers made 153 trips and purchased avocados on just 2% of their trips.
The impact of Super and Mega shoppers
The Ultra segment is not the only high-valued segment in the avocado category. Mega and Super shoppers also have a disproportionately large impact on purchases.
Each segment represents 8% of avocado-purchasing households but Mega shoppers account for 18% of avocado purchases, while Super shoppers account for 13%. Together, Ultra, Mega and Super shoppers represent 25% of all avocado-purchasing households and 66% of avocado purchases (in dollars).
