3 minute read
Choice Market Takes on Tech
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.
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.
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
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.
The latest pandemic surge may have faded, but many of the habits Americans developed over the past two years remain, including how they snack.
Not only are customers snacking more, but they show an increased desire for larger packs of jerky and more individually packaged snack items.
Meat snacks fi t well within the way consumers want to eat today, which includes a desire to eat with more purpose, and not necessarily by following a diet.
SALES CLIMB
Snacks across segments are showing double-digit growth as more traffi c returns to c-stores postpandemic.
Dried meat snacks recorded $2.20 billion in sales, leaping by 19.6% for the 52 weeks ending March 20, 2022, according to total U.S. convenience store data from Chicago-based research fi rm IRI.
Within the dried meat snack category, jerky dollar sales of $967 million were up 21.8% year over year, but were eclipsed by “all other” dried meat snacks at $1.20 billion, up 18% for the period.
Salty snack sales reached $6.26 billion, a gain of 15.1% for the same 52-week period. Within the salty snack category, potato chips led the way with sales of $1.90 billion, up 14.8%. Tortilla/tostada chips rang in at $1.34 billion, up 18.4%. Sales of bakery snacks were $960 million, an uptick of 17.1%.
Dried fruit snacks recorded sales of $138 million, a whopping 35.1% annual increase. Snack bars, granola bars and clusters recorded sales of $782 million, a 21.4% gain.
