Category advice from Warburtons
A SLICE of toast is an elegant thing, simple yet satisfying, brilliant for a hurried breakfast or as a late night snack on a cold winter evening.
It’s for this reason that bakery is one of the heroes of the breakfast occasion and one of the category’s giants, Warburtons, has weighed in with some category advice for Scottish retailers.
A spokesperson from the firm said: “It’s no secret that breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day for consumers.
“The breakfast occasion accounts for over a third of the total consumption for wrapped bakery, which itself remains hugely popular for British families and is bought by 99.4% of UK households.”
The value of bakery is particularly noticeable among convenience retailers, as Warburtons claims the category is the most purchased in a convenience store. To help in this regard, Warburtons provided the following tips which should could see bakery sales enjoy a welcome rise:
• Availability – Brands continue to dominate wrapped bread sales in stores so it pays to make sure that there is good availability on key lines and that these are clearly signposted, in order to drive both traffic and spend.
It’s also well worth retailers thinking about the busiest time of day and ensuring that the bakery section is well-stocked and appealing to shoppers.
Regular availability checks throughout the day will also ensure some of your most important products are never out of sale.
• Maintaining Freshness – Freshness is one of the most important purchase criteria for bakery customers.
To maintain the freshness of bread and bakery products, retailers should keep these away from cold or chilly areas and instead display them in a place where the temperature is around 22°C/72°F.
• Ease of Shop – Bakery is a key reason shoppers visit convenience stores, with almost half of shoppers citing the category as a main reason to visit a c-store.
Bakery shoppers have a higher average basket spend in comparison to the average convenience shopper – £8.47 vs £6.39 – so stores can improve sales by making Warburtons products visible and easy to find. To help customers find the bakery section in store, retailers should ensure it is clearly signposted.
• Special Displays for Seasonal Opportunities – Store owners or managers should also consider using POS and in-store theatre to maximise seasonal occasions where wrapped bakery products play a key role – such as rolls for picnics and BBQs. A range of POS options – from standard four-tier shippers to small dumpbins – can be sourced from the Warburtons trade website.
