Kosher Grape Juice Maintains Strong Sales, Kedem Retains Leadership

It is no secret that shelf stable grape juice is in decline nationally, as is orange juice, largely due to the infusion of so many new entries in the beverage category. In fact, sales of bottled water is expected to top soda sales in 2016 for the first time in history, Kosher Today reports.

Despite these trends, according to data from AC Nielsen, Kedem Grape Juice was the third bestselling brand nationally in the last 12 months behind Welch’s (non-kosher) and Nestles Juicy Juice.

The decline in sales has affected the two large national brands. In New York, the data shows strong sales for Kedem. With the 64 ounce being the size of choice, for the 52 weeks ending April 30th, Kedem recorded 17.26% the total dollar sale and more than 25% of the total unit sale. Welch’s Non-Kosher had less than 10% of the 64 ounce concord unit share with sales declining by 27% in the first quarter.

This past Pesach, Kedem had to contend with a new competitor, the Welch’s-Manischewitz co-brand. While the new brand is said to have made some inroads, the Kedem brand did even better than Pesach 2015, perhaps because of all the new kosher independent stores where customers have a strong loyalty to the brand.

Ironically, the kosher version of Welch’s turned out to be on average 30% cheaper than its non-kosher brand. Typically the kosher certification adds to the cost making the kosher grape juice more expensive.

Irrespective of the competitive environment, the good news is that kosher grape juice sales remains strong despite the historic shifts in the beverage category. Several retailers told Kosher Today that stores with good sales numbers for grape juice tend to have good sales numbers overall.

Kosher Today

{Matzav.com}