Profits fizzing up across the drinks chillers
Winner – Spar Renfrew
Best Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year – supported by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
Interview with Saleem Sadiq, store owner of Spar Renfrew
ENSURING that soft drinks sales continue to bubble upwards is no small feat when it comes to a convenience store.
Not only is there a wide variety of sub-categories to stay on top of within soft drinks – energy, zero sugar and flavour variants, to name a few – there is also the added challenge of making sure there is enough stock to satisfy the thirsty consumers of Scotland.
Even with these hurdles to overcome in the field, Spar Renfrew has proven time and time again its readiness and professional ability to meet the demands from its local residents and deliver a soft drinks range that stands above other stores in the area.
Store owner Saleem Sadiq said: “Soft drinks are massive for us in this shop. There have been recent weeks where we have seen the section outperform alcohol in sales, which is quite strange for the area we serve.
“Obviously, we’re very pleased about this but we are noticing a shift with our shoppers. They are moving more towards these healthier and more affordable options.
“More and more, customers are going towards sugar-free drinks, so we are seeing these more health-conscious consumers coming along.
“But it also spells good news for us as retailers, as the profit margins are significantly better in the soft drinks section. So, overall, profits are up for the store.”
A proactive approach to the section and an aim to ensure the latest products are on the shelf delivers a soft drinks section that’s hard to resist in Spar Renfrew.
With this in mind, Scottish Grocer Awards judges saw fit to name Saleem as the Best Soft Drinks Retailer of the Year at the Scottish Grocer Awards 2024, noting the team’s expertise when it comes to the multiple sitings across the store to help drive up sales.
Of all the subcategories that encompass the soft drinks market, Saleem said that energy drinks has to be by far and away the winner for him.
He said: “While we are seeing shoppers looking for healthier options that are sugar-free or caffeine-free, our energy drink section is huge for our store.
“It’s unbelievable how much it has taken off in recent years. The last time I went to look, about 20% of my total sales for the store last year came from the energy section alone.
“This is also with an age limit on the drinks in store, too. No one under the age of 16 is allowed to buy an energy drink in my store.
“But even with this, our sales are constantly going up, especially with Monster Energy drinks and the sheer number of flavours that are on offer there.”
And Saleem is sure to cater to every taste possible for consumers, with a soft drinks range of around 500 SKUs, every shopper is sure to find something that is to their tastes.
Every kind of consumer is considered here, whether it be young adults seeking an energy drink or fruit flavoured drinks for younger school children. Shoppers are always guaranteed to find their favourite in the store.
But Saleem is always keen for them to try out something new and ensures that NPD gets some pride of place in his store to encourage shoppers to give it a go.
Saleem said: “Spar is very good when it comes to getting new lines in and I always feel confident that I’ll have access to these new products.
“Take Prime, for example – a few years back, it was a challenge for every retailer to get those drinks in. But, with Spar, I was able to get plenty of pallets for my customers, even though we had to put a limit on the number of Prime drinks that families could buy from the store.
“Now, we have this new Mas+ by Messi range and, because Spar has these exclusively, we will be one of the first to get these drinks in to sell.
“But it’s true for any new drink or product in general, Spar will have it and that means that I’ll be able to roll it out in my store.
“And we’ll try this with any new product really. We will buy in a good amount of stock to ensure no one is disappointed and make sure we give it a good shot to sell in the store.”
Saleem also isn’t shy to get in on the action with more recent promotional activity to help bring some theatre into his store and draw more consumers to the soft drinks category.
He pre-ordered his POS kit for the current Monster Energy and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competition as soon as it was announced, to help further boost his energy drinks sales.
Saleem said: “Since we have a bigger store, we can bring in a full display unit for these kinds of promotions to really help draw attention to it in the store.
“The Monster Energy UFC promotion will get pride of place in our store close to the checkout and, with our deli section in store, we also have the option to dual-face this, too.
“And more students and gym-goers tend to come in to my store for the deli, so a promotion like this is perfectly geared towards them.”
Even with brand-wide promotions running, Saleem always makes sure his customers can get a good deal across other soft drinks brands via his Snappy Shopper delivery platform.
Through this, his customers can always find offers on high-in-demand soft drinks options they can add to the shop. Saleem said: “We are always promoting some sort of soft drink on Snappy Shopper.
“We’ll look to see what is popular in store, like zero sugar options with Coca-Cola Zero or Pepsi Max or Irn-Bru, and we can promote these at a discounted price.
“It means customers can get a good deal and it also keeps these drinks in a prime position, which makes them stand out more on the app and means shoppers can find them easily.”
Saleem remains confident in his investment into the soft drinks category for time to come and is ready to make the most out of emerging consumer trends within the space.
He said: “I do believe soft drinks is a constantly growing and evolving market, and you need to be on top of it to stay ahead of the market.
“It has been on par with my alcohol sales for some time now, which in some ways is quite surprising but actually, it’s quite good as well.
“Health-wise, it’s much better for everyone and, from a personal point of view, it’s great for trading as we do make about double the profit on soft drinks than we do on alcohol. So, long may it continue!”
