Confectionery giants suggest ways to grab more night-in sales
CONFECTIONERY is one of the product categories that has embraced the big-night-in trend most and it, and confectionery retailers, seem to have benefitted.
At Cadbury brand-owner Mondelez International trade communications manager Susan Nash, quoting Kantar Worldpanel and Nielsen research findings, said: “Evening snacking is worth £5.2bn, with a growth rate of 2.8%. Chocolate is the biggest category by value in the evening, followed by biscuits, crisps, fruit, and candy, mint and gum. Mondelez International operates in a majority of the evening snacking top 10.”
The firm’s top merchandising tips for retailers who want to maximise their share of big-night-in sales include:
• Chocolate, crisps and drinks are all popular choices with shoppers who are planning to stay at home that evening. Display category-leading products from each of those categories in special night-in bays (but soft drinks only, no alcohol lines are allowed under Scottish regulations).
• Consumers value product variety to ensure all tastes are catered for and to make their night extra special, so ensure you stock a range of snacks with different tastes and textures to accommodate for this.
• Stock up with the Cadbury bitesize and candy confectionery ranges in hanging bag formats as well as those available in single countlines, it will make merchandising of your fixture much more efficient and will also drive shelf presence and brand stand-out.
• Display products in the right place, best-sellers should be placed 1m – 1.4m high.
• Split chocolate and sugar confectionery on the fixture. Group sugar confectionery in two sub-categories: traditional and family favourites. Data has shown that where bags are divided into these distinct areas, sales increase by 37%. Traditional products include Maynards Wine Gums, Bassetts Jelly Babies and Cadbury Chocolate Eclairs and family favourites include Maynards Pastilles.
• Use secondary sitings to make sure that consumers see the products as only 13% of people visit all the aisles in c-stores.
• Also ensure that displays are prominent and well-stocked towards the end of the week to capture top-up shops before the weekend when the big night in is likely to take place.
At Mars Chocolate UK, trade communications manager Bep Dhaliwal also sees the big night in as continuingly important. She stressed, among other things, the importance of sharing-sized packs of confectionery to meeting the demand generated by the now well-established trend.
“The rise in popularity of the big-night-in occasion has led sharing packs to play an increasingly key role in the confectionery market,” she said.
“This includes bitesize packs, where Mars has four of the top five lines, to large block sharing. These packs provide the perfect chocolate treat for a night in with friends and family and it is no surprise that our £1 Treat Bags, including Maltesers, Galaxy, Minstrels and M&M’s as well as our large Galaxy £1 block lines have seen fantastic growth and a positive increase in sales in recent months.
“By siting popular sharing products such as M&M’s and Minstrels alongside savoury snacks and soft drinks retailers can promote impulsive purchases and promote additional basket spend in store,” she said.
Mars’ top merchandising tips include:
• Ensure you use all POS available to you, such as dumpbins and counter units. These are guaranteed to raise awareness and generate sales.
• Bestsellers should be displayed in the best locations for example at eye level on a wall display.
• Multi-face key lines to help ensure strong availability and attract shoppers to make those all-important impulse purchases.
• If you have limited space you can still benefit from the buzz of the Big Night In – make sure to use handy equipment such as Mars’ Slenda Glenda to display your bagged confectionery around store to drive impulse purchases when your customers are preparing for a big night in.
