Bagged avocados drove the strongest fourth-quarter performance in four years, the Hass Avocado Board said in its latest Avocado Holiday Retail Recap, with 167.5 million hass avocados sold during the quarter generating $202 million in sales.
The report offers an analysis of promoted and non-promoted volume (in pounds) and dollar sales, pricing trends, lift metrics and promotional efficiency across various-sized bulk and bagged avocados.
HAB said Halloween generated the highest unit sales growth rate of any avocado holiday of the year, which surpassed the Super Bowl and Cinco de Mayo. Halloween added more than 4.5 million units to the category, which contributed to total incremental sales of more than 15.3 million units for the year.
Bagged avocados helped fuel category sales and generated significant promotional lift in multiple regions across Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve, HAB said. Bagged avocado promotions generated an average of more than 18.1% lift in volume sales and accounted for more than 3.4 million actual promotional volume lifts.
The board other key highlights from the holiday retail recap include:
- Halloween — Retail avocado sales hit a four-year high during Halloween, reaching 45.8 million in units and $55.5 million, up more than 10.9% in units and more than 22.5% in dollar sales over the prior year. Regionally, the Great Lakes led in volume growth, increasing more than 43.2% in unit sales over 2023. Bagged avocados held 28.1% of the unit share during the holiday, contributing 1.5 million units to the category.
- Thanksgiving — Thanksgiving sales reached the highest point in four years, topping 36.8 million units and $45.1 million. The average selling price rose more than 10.3% to $1.23 per unit. Although small avocados (4046) held the largest share of unit sales, bagged avocados had the strongest promotional performance with a more than 13.5% lift in volume.
- Christmas — During Christmas, dollar sales grew by $8.3 million to $52 million while unit sales rose by more than 1.1 million units to 42.7 million. The Northeast region posted unit sales of more than 7.1 million, a greater than 25.8% increase from the prior year. Small avocados (4046) captured nearly half the unit share of total sales during the holiday week, with help from holiday promotions.
- New Year’s Eve — New Year’s Eve retail sales totaled $49.5 million and 42.2 million units, a more than 11.7% increase in dollar sales and a 7% decrease in units over 2023. The total U.S. average selling price increased by greater than 20.3% to $1.17 for the holiday week. Bagged avocados held a 26.6% share of unit sales and a greater than 9.8% growth rate in unit sales, while other PLUs declined.