Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Sales at Retail

Joe Watson VP of Retail, Foodservice & Wholesale International Fresh Produce Association headshot "The July results drive home that seasons and seasonal are pivotal in fresh produce retailing. Fourth of July is one of our biggest holidays and we knew that the Friday timing of the holiday impacted June sales. It is encouraging to see vegetable pound sales back in the black on strong holiday results. This is also a powerful reminder to celebrate all primary, secondary and self-invented holidays, like Summerween.

At the same time, cherries are a great reminder of the power of seasonal in produce retailing. Cherries delivered an additional $17 million in July sales to reach $396 million for the month. Peaches are another powerful reminder of produce’s ability to drive sales with seasonal items.

- Joe Watson, IFPA’s VP of Retail, Foodservice and Wholesale

July 2025

What's New

More Optimistic Consumers Open Their Wallets for July Fourth

U.S. consumer sentiment continued to increase in July. The University of Michigan reported a significant rebound in June 2025 and further improvement to 61.7 in July. This marks the highest level since February 2025 on improved economic conditions and eased trade tensions.
Consumers’ July Fourth celebrations drove gains across departments, including fresh produce.

Do you also manage your floral department?

Check out our dynamic supermarket flower sales data and monthly analysis.

Learn More

More at-home meals, bargain hunting and efforts to minimize food waste have led to record grocery store visits. Up from 200 trips in 2021, American households now purchase groceries an average of 222 times annually, according to Circana. Year-over-year, trips grew 4.7%.
Circana’s shopper survey found that 96% of Americans remain concerned about today’s food costs. This has led to 65% more closely watching their grocery spending, 30% stocking up on good deals and a growing popularity of private brands. Across food and beverages in Circana’s MULO+ universe, private-label sales rose 6.8% in dollars and 2.2% in units over the past year — outperforming manufacturer-branded items.
Consumers are also shifting purchases to everyday low-price formats. Supermarkets, known for their hi-lo pricing, generated 39.7% of all food and beverage dollars YTD, down from 44.0% in 2021. Channels that grew share include mass, club and e-commerce.
Brick Meets Click/Mercatus reported that the online grocery market reached $9.8 billion in July, growing at an impressive 27.6% year-over-year, thanks to gains across delivery and pickup. Retail media is booming with CPGs pouring billions into data-driven platforms like Walmart Connect, Instacart and DoorDash.