By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Apples are the new superfruit for more than three-out-of-four Americans.

According to a survey recently conducted by SupermarketGuru.com, a leading online resource featuring consumer information about marketing issues and consumer trends, 96 percent of consumers consider apples a value-based anytime food for both adults and children.

For more than 75 percent of Americans, apples and apple beverages fill the dual purpose of being a “better-for-you” food, and a fruit that integrates easily into hectic lifestyles, survey results show.

Phil Lempert, a food, consumer and marketing trends analyst and CEO of The Lempert Report and SupermarketGuru.com, create the survey about apples on behalf of the U.S. Apple Assoc.

“Apples are a year-round fruit and consumer willingness to buy, eat and serve more apples is a vast opportunity for retailers,” Lempert said. “Merchants already display apples prominently as a stage-setter, but now they need to think further about how to tap into this mindset that apples are a ‘superfruit’ and great for a person’s health and overall wellness.”

Between December 2009 and February 2010, SupermarketGuru.com conducted a national consumer panel on its website. The SupermarketGuru.com consumer panel is an opt-in food-involved population of more than 94,000 shoppers that pre-registered with the site and submitted their confidential demographic information. In all, 1,021 chief household shoppers detailed their beliefs about apples and apple products with regard to nutrition, health, eating habits, merchandising influences and more. Respondents to the apple survey were 84 percent female.

When asked to rate 10 individual fruits separately on a scale of one- to 10 – one is most healthful, 10 is least healthful – survey respondents showed their strongest conviction for blueberries, apples and pomegranates. Sixty-four percent rated apples a one, two or three on the scale.

This high perception of healthfulness reflects consumer awareness of apples’ many nutritional attributes, Lempert said.

Eighty-seven percent of females – of which 72 percent were age 50 and older – led the survey respondents who rated apples a one on the health scale. The majority – 51 percent – spends $81 or more per week on groceries for a two-person household. However, the income group that rated apples as most healthful is defined in this survey as lower income – 28 percent of respondents who earn $25,001 to $55,000 annually per household.

“This is interesting because blueberries and pomegranates are higher-priced food options,” Lempert said. “We suspect one reason why the lowest-income tier of $25,000 and under wasn’t among the percentage leaders in this survey is the continued underserving of their neighborhoods by supermarkets – which means they have less access to fresh produce. This also fits in the paradigm that lower income households tend to be more obese.”

Nine-out-of-10 respondents answered a resounding “yes” when asked, “If you or someone you know is trying to eat healthier in 2010, have you considered apples and apple products as a regular part of a healthier diet?”

In addition, nine-out-of-10 respondents believe that apples and apple beverages are rich in plant compounds called polyphenols and antioxidants, both known to promote health; apples and apple products may help to boost weight loss efforts; and daily consumption of apples and apple products can help reduce LDL (low-density lipoprotein) or “bad” cholesterol levels and protect against heart disease.

Once the survey disclosed that evidence supports the health statement about apples, overwhelming majorities of adults who took the survey said they will buy and serve apples to their families and house guests more often.

Lempert said the survey results are good news for the nation’s apple growers.

The survey respondents “are in to food,” Lempert said. “The trends we are seeing with them are about six to nine months ahead of the curve.”

What that means, Lempert said, is that the apple industry has information that can help growers position their products more effectively in the marketplace.

“Our challenge today is to understand how to get in front of the trends,” he said.

With more than 200 varieties of apples grown in the U.S., “there is a big opportunity for apple growers to educate consumers. Clearly, consumers recognize how healthy apples are,” Lempert said.
“We see a huge opportunity to work with retailers to create more excitement when it comes to apples,” Lempert said. “Consumers today really are much more open to using apples in much different ways than we in the industry thought.”

Lempert said data from the survey can be used “as a basis of how to merchandise apples in the store.

The foundation is there to move apples to the next level.”