An impulse king, chocolate confectionery plays a unique role in local retailing and delivers significant sales and profits for every independent store in Scotland. SLR takes a look at the market to examine where retailers should be focusing their attention as they seek to optimise revenues from the category.
by Émer O’Toole
The chocolate market is changing and evolving over time with an increasing focus on larger pack formats, hanging bags and innovation, despite the fact that it’s countlines that built the category. However, the key manufacturers appear to have focused a lot more energy on developing their high margin countline offering recently, and this is great news for retailers.
PMPs reassure shoppers they are getting the best value for money, and provide the perfect chocolate treat for night in with friends and family. They’re also a great way for retailers to grow sales in store and attract the attention of customers. In the convenience channel, PMPs are important for the independent retailer as they offer transparency, ensuring the customer knows you are as good value for money as the multiples and discounters. Mars’ range of popular PMPs includes its £1 Treat Bags, with Maltesers, Galaxy Minstrels and M&M’S all available at a set price, as well as the large Galaxy £1 block lines, all of which has seen impressive growth in recent months. As the trend for staying in continues, more than ever before consumers are actively seeking out brands they know and love that also offer good value for money. Galaxy Milk Chocolate is a prime example of this in action — Mars says it is currently the nation’s second favourite brand in the large block category, valued at over £200m, and is available as a £1 PMP all year.
- Focus on getting the main confectionery display merchandised well, with strong availability of core lines.
- Multi-face key lines – this helps to ensure strong availability and attracts shoppers to make those all-important impulse purchases.
- When merchandising pouch lines, core favourites such as M&M’s and Maltesers should be displayed in a prime location, for example, at eye level on a wall display.
- Ensure you use all POS available to you, such as dumpbins and counter units — these are guaranteed to raise awareness and generate impulse sales.
- Site products such as M&M’s and Maltesers alongside savoury snacks and drinks, to promote additional basket spend in store for customers looking to fulfill their big night in shopping mission.
Retailers looking to raise awareness and boost sales in store should ensure their core confectionery display is always merchandised in line with how a shopper navigates the fixture. Position chocolate and treats close to pay points, on gondola ends, in dump bins and using branded displays. By offering products in these locations, customers on treat missions are more likely to grab products on impulse and engage in less structured buying thought processes.
Offer a range that covers all need states such as self-eat, sharing and gifting. Use manufacturers’ POS material and make the most of brand investment — have displays in store so that customers are aware of new products. For example, Cadbury’s new Dairy Milk Big Taste Toffee Whole Nut comes in a 43g bar that combines the textures of whole nuts with toffee smothered in chocolate. Cadbury has also recently launched DinkyDeckers, bitesize portions of Double Decker bars — and is ideal for the ‘little and often’ consumer trend.
With chocolate confectionery, the possibilities for consumers are almost endless. Maximise the use of promotional stock and use in-store theatre, and a tactical use of POS materials to drive additional sales, especially in high-footfall areas.
