Fresh avocados are one of the most successful categories in fresh produce. Nearly 60 percent of U.S. households purchase avocados each year and spend $23.91 on average, driving annual household purchases of over $1.6 billion, according to The Hass Avocado Board’s newly released Shopper Segmentation Study. The study was based on data from The IRI Consumer Network, analyzes the households that are buying avocados and reveals the underlying purchase behaviors that are driving this category.
The segments for the study was conducted by ranking avocado purchasing households by each household’s total annual avocado spend (high to low), and then dividing this ranked list into four equal segments. The top-spending quartile (25 percent) is designated super heavy households, while the remaining three segments are referred to as heavy, medium and light households. Discerning the differences in purchasing behaviors between these households is one of the keys to unlocking the potential of the avocado category.
This segmentation found that a very large proportion of avocado purchases are made by one shopper segment, the Super Heavy segment. While comprising only one out of every four households, super heavy shoppers account for nearly three out of every four avocado purchases. Additionally, super heavy households purchase avocados twice as often as heavy households, and spend twice as much per avocado shopping occasion. This means that the super heavy segment is a particularly influential and important part of the avocado category.
The remaining three segments each account for a smaller share of avocado dollars than their respective share of households would suggest. As the second-highest spending quartile (25 percent), heavy households account for 18 percent of avocado purchases. Combined, super heavy and heavy households account for 91 percent of all avocado purchases at retail. Based on their high level of engagement in the category, super heavy and heavy households are more apt to respond positively to marketing efforts to increase their purchases even further.