Pride of Prima launches second season in stores, doubling volumes year-on-year
Prima Fresh’s pre-packed apricot line, Pride of Prima, has landed in Australian retailers this November following positive reviews on its initial launch in 2023.
“The feedback we received from Coles was, you’ve brought [the apricot category] back to life, which is a really nice sentiment,” says national sales manager Jackson Bennett. “They were very impressed.”
The Pride of Prima brand markets a range of French apricot varieties including Wonder Cot and Magic Cot in 500gm clamshells, protecting the fruit to maintain consistent quality.
“I feel as though apricots respond better to packaging,” Bennett says. “They’re quite a delicate piece of fruit so they can get marked on shelf, they can get punctured, they can deteriorate, and the customers end up walking away.”
Bennett says there’s also benefits in the pricing structure, which differs from the price per kg model for loose fruit.
“When we moved to a 500gm punnet, it gave consumers a more consistent experience with pricing,” he says. “It’s a psychology effect people know exactly how much they’re going to spend on the product then and there.”
The Pride of Prima brand was launched in 2023 on a trial basis across selected Victorian Coles supermarket stores. Sales quickly took off and it was promoted to full ranging, adding New South Wales stores mid-season. Pride of Prima punnets were also stocked in a larger 1.5kg size in Australian Costco stores.
Bennett says feedback from both retailers and consumers was extremely positive following the initial season.
“Every bit of feedback we did receive was really positive about the eating quality and presentation of the fruit, and that does make a big difference,” he says.
Post-season results showed Pride of Prima packs were the second best performing stonefruit SKU in Coles stores behind black plums and had the lowest wastage rate of any other stonefruit line in Coles. Costco also reported strong performances on the category.
“We’ve received commitments from them both, and we’re really going to be able to hit the ground running with a proper launch in all stores this year, rather than starting on a trial and watching it build,” Bennett says.
Bennett expects Pride of Prima will move around 300 - 350,000 punnets this season, doubling on last year’s volumes as it enters more stores across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
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