Category Management | Candy
Rutter’s will continue to assertively merchandise candy, gum and mints “just about everywhere in the stores,” from inline and perimeter displays to counter racks and coolers.
Periodic promotions offer two-fers on gum and mints and mix-and-match pricing on all king-size and standard items. The company is also testing promotional strategies such as bundling and volume pricing options to drive consumers to the stores instead of just relying on the usual impulse sales to grow confection baskets. “Early signs point to positive results driving standard sales up more than double in our test stores,” Bortner said. Even with recent price increases, chocolate candy dollar sales have grown by double digits over the last year at FastBreak Convenience Stores, said Tim Cote, senior buyer for the chain, which operates 33 stores in Oregon and California. The increase in unit volume is lower, somewhere in the low single digits.
fast facts: • Candy, gum and mint sales rose 13.2% to close to $6.4 billion for the 52 weeks ending Feb. 26, 2022, per NielsenIQ. • As prices rise, retailers are looking to promotions to help attract impulse buys.
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CSTORE DECISIONS •
May 2022
Without the support of manufacturer promotions during the COVID-19 pandemic, non-chocolate confection sales have achieved only a small increase in both dollars and units. The biggest change Cote has seen is the decrease in customer trade-up from standard to king-size bars. Both gum and mint sales have risen slightly over the past four months. Gum packaged in travel cups are the top sellers in that sub-category. “I expect to see gum and mint sales continue to struggle because they are tightly related to tobacco sales,” Cote explained. “As tobacco sales continue (to) fall, gum and mints will be in lockstep.” To encourage impulse purchases, FastBreak uses shippers to supplement inline and peg board candy displays. Aggressive promotions include two-fers and coupons on the shippers distributed in-store. “We also hold little contests to reward staff members for promoting the products,” Cote added. Despite widespread supply chain issues, Cote noted that in-stocks of turn goods are pretty good and are, in fact, improving quickly. But regarding line extensions and promotions, he expects those will come into play by Q3 of this year due to supply chain interruptions. CSD
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