Topfruits Naturprodukte is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The owner-managed mail order company primarily addresses the 'health market' and offers its customers a wide range of nuts, dried fruit, seeds and other natural products. Despite the supposed drop in purchasing power, owner Michael Megerle has not yet seen any weakness in demand for his products. "In general, the demand for natural products with a low degree of processing is growing."
The Topfruits Naturprodukte team with Mr Michael Megerle (2nd from right).
The company serves a wide range of customers in Germany and abroad with private label packs of a wide variety of products and types. According to Mr Megerle, there have also been strong fluctuations in the nuts and dried fruit sector in recent years. "As a supplier that generates over 90 per cent of its sales in online retail, we were able to record a strong push in the first Covid year of 2020. The following sales year, 2021, was also very good. In 2022 and 2023, however, some of the sales achieved were lost. In the current financial year 2024, we are back on track with slight growth compared to the previous peak year 2020, albeit with significantly higher costs. These are primarily due to the cost drivers of personnel, packaging, shipping and delivery costs."
Following the global logistics problems during the pandemic, the situation has now eased somewhat, although freight costs have also stabilised at a significantly higher level than five years ago due to factors such as truck tolls and high fuel and energy costs, Megerle continues. "The same applies to parcel shipping fees. Here, parcel costs have increased by around 30 per cent compared to 2019. However, as we deal with relatively high-priced products, the logistics costs have so far been relativised. The lower the prices and margins of the product to be marketed, the higher the percentage costs for transport."
Topfruits also offers packaging and private label products for retailers, including special blends.
According to Megerle, it could become difficult to meet the increasing demand in the future. "We are observing a greater willingness on the global market to pay accordingly for high-quality products. The flow of goods is already focussing on regions such as South East Asia, or in the EU on Scandinavia or Southern Europe, where top quality goods are better rewarded. Accordingly, we in Germany must be careful - also against the background of the negative economic development - that we do not become a second or even third choice market in future and that certain products may no longer reach us in the required quantities. The negative development could also have an impact on the purchasing power of the population, which in turn would contribute to the retail sector as a whole suffering and losing demand."
Megerle Online and the associated Topfruits brand were founded in 2004 by Michael Megerle and emerged from a fruit trading company founded in 1956. The company is currently managed by Michael's son Jochen Megerle, the 3rd generation of the Megerle family. Today, the company has a modern site in Ubstadt-Weiher with 1800 square metres of floor space.
Future vending machine potential
Even as an established trading partner, it is important to constantly adapt to the changing needs of the sales market. "Although our customers in the reseller sector keep telling us about high customer satisfaction, praise for the products and an overall increase in demand, we are also exploring new, potential markets. For example, we are already conducting sales tests with selected natural products in vending machines. In my view, this is an interesting business that we believe still has good potential. We are observing that special and high-quality products with a slightly higher price can be marketed well via this channel," concludes the statement.
For more information:
Michael Megerle
MEGERLE Online GmbH | Topfruits Naturprodukte
Großer Sand 23 
D-76698 Ubstadt-Weiher
Tel: +49 7251-3876-10
Email: [email protected]
www.topfruits.de