There's potential in them pies

A new report from Nielsen in the United States outlines the opportunities and pitfalls to pie sales.

The pitfalls lie in seasonality. Pie sales tend to spike during the holidays, then fall off.

The opportunity is in those fallow periods when people aren’t buying many pies...but might if prodded.

“Retailers that think about pushing pies solely around the holidays are leaving more than a few slices of opportunity on the table,” goes a cheeky line from the report.

Consumers, in fact, love pies and have a deep sense of nostalgia for the baked creations. In 2012 pie sales grew faster than most other in-store dessert categories, including cookies and cakes. So the opportunity is there for grocers who want to cash in.

Mini-pies in particular are popular. Sales grew 22 per cent in the U.S. last year, according to Nielsen. So too are individual pie slices, with sales up 18 per cent

Read the full story here.