Online retailer believes popularity for ‘retro’ cherry flavour has boosted fresh sales, while warm weather has led to bumper crops of berries and apricots
Cherry sales have more than doubled at online retailer Ocado with searches for ‘fresh cherry’ are up 72 per cent.
Ocado said the cherry flavour has been trending over summer, with sales increases rising across cherry-flavoured drinks and a knock-on boost to fresh sales of the product.
“Cherry has gone from a retro flavour to a modern must-have – popping up across categories in fun, nostalgic and often unexpected ways,” said Ocado senior fruit buyer, Ben I’Anson.
“This surge in cherry flavoured products has translated to growing success in the fresh cherries category, as customers have a newfound appreciation for the fresh fruit.”
Meanwhile CEO of Ocado, Hannah Gibson, identified warm weather as driving consumer demand across summer fruit categories, including apricot, strawberries and cherries.
“It’s been a brilliant summer for cherries which we’ve really got behind this year - sales are up 2.5x year-on-year,” Gibson wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
“We’re in the midst of another hot spell and this summer, mother nature has given us some real treats in the world of fruit. Strawberries hit our virtual shelves early this season and at great quality. We had a bumper crop of British apricots during the peak season.”
She also pointed to new season British plums and greengages as recent launches on Ocado.com.
“Amazing work from all the growers and suppliers for working so hard to get these amazing products to our customers - we know that hot weather can also make growing conditions more challenging,” said Gibson, tagging suppliers including BerryWorld, Worldwide Fruit and J.O. Sims.
