Big night in: the bigger the better

Getting it right in the Big Night In mission means working diligently across a number of categories, combining great value products and cross-category merchandising with promotions to increase basket spend.

The term ‘Big Night In’ has been a part of convenience retail for so long now that it feels as though it’s always been there. Even the supermarkets have started introducing dedicated Big Night In bays, emblazoned with point of sale material. It was local retailers, of course, who first recognised the benefits of cross-category merchandising – itself a precursor to mission shopping.

Integral to any Big Night In display are confectionery, savoury snacks and drinks (in Scotland we unfortunately can’t advocate the buying of food with alcohol thanks to our legislation). Each element plays an important part, with suppliers recognising the sales potential in sharing packs. And there are plenty other areas that can be incorporated with POS materials, from pizzas to food to go products and desserts.

Starting with confectionery and Ferrero is expanding its Kinder brand with the introduction of a new range of bite-sized chocolate confectionery. The bite-sized segment represents one fifth of the total confectionery market and within this chocolate sharing bags are worth £469m and growing at 7.7%.

The range includes: Kinder Choco-Bons, Kinder Chocolate Mini and Kinder Chocolate with Cereals Mini.

All include individually wrapped bite-sized chocolates, with the larger sharing options featuring a convenient re-sealable tab.

Levi Boorer, Customer Development Director, comments, “Kinder continues to bring incremental growth to the confectionery category and there is now an exciting opportunity for us to move into a new sector, attracting additional shoppers to the brand. This move marks an important new chapter for Kinder and forms an integral part of Ferrero’s future plans.”

Sweet treat

Bert Croll, Sales Director, Lees of Scotland says the success of Big Night In has even reached into the baked treats category. “The big winners in Big Night In are products that can be easily shared with family and friends such as the Lees Snowball tubs and the multipack Teacake and Snowball ranges.”

And don’t forget the role that Ferrero’s other major brand plays in the Big Night In occasions. The company has extended its Ferrero Rocher range recently, with retailers able to stock a number of variants.

According to Neilsen data, chocolate is the biggest category by value in the evening, followed by biscuits, crisps, fruit, and candy, mint and gum.

Heading into 2015, Mondelez International expects sharing bags to be every bit as important to the success of the chocolate category over the next year as it has over the last 12 months, with innovation being a key driver.

Candy bags too contribute considerable value to the confectionery category at £570m. Mondelez International candy bags are worth over £109m with brand favourites including Maynards and Bassetts. Furthermore, Cadbury brands make up over £241m of the total chocolate tablet sectorthis 43.4% share due to the launch of innovative products including Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations.

The company is therefore in a good position to impart with advice.

“Retailers should make shopping for the ‘Night In’ occasion a convenient experience for the shopper,” says Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager at Mondelez International. “By positioning sharing products from different categories in a dedicated ‘Big Night In’ bay, retailers can encourage consumers to buy all the products they need for the ‘Big Night In’ from their shop.”

Nash adds that chocolate, crisps and drinks are all popular choices with shoppers when planning to stay at home that evening. “We recommend making the most of this sales opportunity by displaying category-leading products from within each of these areas in unique sharing bays,” she says.

In-store theatre plays a big part in Big Night In and to make the most of the opportunity, retailers should look to provide a well signposted ‘Big Night In’ display, that incorporates confectionery, savoury and drinks categories. “This will help maximise sales for retailers and will also encourage customers to purchase multiple sharing products from different categories. This can drive cross category trial and purchase in store, which builds the size of shopper baskets”, says Nash. “Retailers should 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.”

The Cadbury bitesize and candy confectionery ranges come in hanging bag formats as well as various products available in single countlines. This, Mondelez argues, supports retailers to make merchandising of their fixtures much more efficient as well as driving shelf presence and brand stand out.

Recent innovations from Cadbury include the Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations: Marvellous Mix Ups sharing bag, which bring together combinations of family favourites in two variants – Oreo, and Maynard’s; both combined with Cadbury Buttons.

On the sweets front and Wrigley’s Starburst and Skittles have a long history of success in sharing format. In January of this year, Skittles launched a brand new limited edition range, Skittles Blue Moon, which see a blue sweet join existing purple, yellow, red, green and orange sweets. Available in both 55g single bag and 175g sharing pouch formats, this limited edition launch is perfect for the ‘Big Night In’ occasion. Starburst, meanwhile is back on TV with a brand new advert, which shows just how ‘Unexplainably Juicy’ Starburst is. The creative will see viewers transported to the ‘Land of Intensity’, a secret corner of the world where Starburst fills its chews with intense juiciness

Tom Jarratt, Customer Marketing Director, comments: “A complete night in solution covering the needs of all ages is crucial. Remember to focus on products that are ideal for sharing such as Starburst ‘Tear and Share’ Pouches, which are great as they are individually wrapped and offer a variety of flavours for everyone to enjoy. Building a clear display that communicates the ‘Big Night In’ occasion will also draw shoppers into the fixture and cross category promotions will certainly encourage incremental purchases.”

Another option for retailers is Swizzels, which boasts a wide variety of PMP products as well as leading variety packs that fulfill consumer needs when it comes to a big night in.

Sarah-Louise Heslop, Marketing Manager, says: “Gums and Jellies is one of the most important categories within sugar confectionery. The strong growth of the Squashies range makes Swizzels the fastest growing manufacturer within Gums and Jellies.”

The range sees Love Hearts, Drumstick Lollies, Double Lollies and New Refreshers transformed into a softer gum version. Heslop says sales have grown continually since launch and a bag of Squashies is sold on average every 2.6 seconds. Squashies are available in a variety of formats from £1 price marked packs to countline bags to meet all consumer eating occasions. The £1 price-marked bags make it easy for customers to work out how much they can spend, and also offers value for money for their big night in.

Another key trend for a big night in is an increasing number of consumer choosing larger products: products over 100g are worth £287m and seeing a healthy +5% growth. “Variety packs are an important part of this, with one in three variety bags being sold in convenience stores,” says Heslop. “The Loadsa sharing bags range from Swizzels is perfectly suited to the big night in occasion: the £1 price marked range has recently undergone a redesign to ensure it stands out on shelf and appeals to consumers.”