6. Bananas
> Company name: Dole Food (NYSE: DOLE)
> Market share: 34%
> Average price: $1 per lb.
Dole Food has the largest market share in a number of products, including iceberg lettuce, celery, cauliflower and packaged fruit products. One of the company’s most surprising number one positions is in bananas, where it has 34% of the U.S. market. In 2010, Dole sold approximately 153 million boxes of bananas. It
is also the largest brand for bananas in Japan.
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7. Colgate Toothpaste
> Company name: Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL)
> Market share: 44.7%
> Average price: $3.50
Colgate-Palmolive’s flagship product, Colgate, is in heated competition with P&G’s Crest for the number one toothpaste in the U.S. On the global scale, Colgate has a more comfortable lead, controlling 44.7% of the market, according to the company’s press release for first quarter 2011 results. This is an increase of 0.6% from the year before. One six-oz. tube of Colgate sells for between $3 and $4. Colgate recently announced that it had raised prices in North America in the fourth quarter, after cutting prices each quarter since 2009.
8. Tropicana Orange Juice
> Company name: PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP)
> Market share: 28.2%
> Average price: $1
Although PepsiCo is not the leader of the soft drink market, it is the leader of the orange juice market through its Tropicana brand. Tropicana controls 28.2% of the U.S. market for orange juice and orange juice blends sold in supermarkets, according to Beverage Digest. Although a 12 oz. carton of Tropicana orange juice only costs about $1, Tropicana beverages, which include orange juice and other fruit juices, earned Pepsi approximately $5 billion in 2009. Despite being the industry leader, Pepsi is feeling the heat from Coke’s Simply Orange. To regain lost market share, it is pursuing a makeover.
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9. Cheerios
> Company name: General Mills (NYSE: GIS)
> Market share: 12.6%
> Average price: $5
Cheerios have been General Mills’ top-selling brand since 1951. They are also the most popular cereal in the U.S. As of 2008, Cheerios had a market share of 12.6%, according to Nielsen. As of 2011, one in eight boxes of cereal bought in the country were Cheerios. A single box of Cheerios costs about $5.
10. Starbucks Coffee
> Company name: Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX)
> Market share: 32.6%
> Average price: less than $3
Starbucks, which was founded in 1971, is the largest coffee and snack shop in the U.S., holding a 32.6% share of the market, according to a 2011 report by analyst group IBISWorld. Built around one of the most simple of products — a cup of coffee — Starbucks has grown into an international behemoth, and it continues to get bigger. In fiscal 2010, the company’s revenues increased to a record $10.7 billion. This is quite a feat for a store where the average price of a beverage is less than $3 and 90% of drinks cost under $4. The company sells an average of 8.2 million coffee drinks a day in the U.S, according to The Boston Globe.
Charles B. Stockdale
