Hanging in there for big sales

The hanging bags market continues to play a key role in driving impulse sales in stores across Scotland with many of the key manufacturers helping to maintain interest with new lines and innovation.

Hanging bags are now an integral part of every Scottish local retailer’s impulse offering, helping to drive up sales and profits from a relatively small space in-store.

Innovation from the major manufacturers tends to come thick and fast when it comes to hanging bags and one home-grown company positively embracing the future is iconic Scottish producer Golden Casket in Greenock.

In line with the shift to healthier treats, the company launched a new ‘Less Than 250 Calories’ range of hanging bags last month.

The range provides the ideal low-calorie complement to the company’s hugely popular range of £onepounders.

The initial ‘Less Than 250 Calories’ range comprises 10 ‘guilt free’ bags including gums, midget gems, boiled sweets and crumbles. The range means that shoppers in need of a treat can have one with a clear conscience.

As the company points out, the fact that the bags contain fewer than 250 calories means that shoppers don’t even need to share them! RSP is 59p per bag.

Susan Nash, Trade Communications Manager at Mondelez International, says sharing bags are now the fastest-growing standard chocolate segment. The confectionery giant’s popular sharing bags are growing by 4%, driven by Cadbury and premium brand Green & Black’s.

In February, Bournville moved into the sharing bag format for the first time with the launch of new Bournville Giant Buttons. The Bournville brand is worth £15.3m, with sales growing at 6.6%, so this latest launch will help to drive sales for retailers.

Nash says: “The Cadbury sharing bag portfolio is now worth £126m and growing at 6.6% led by Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons which is the number one product in the segment. The introduction of Bournville Giant Buttons in a sharing bag format is set to meet consumer need for a dark chocolate offer.”

Mondelez has also introduced new size £1 promotional price-marked packs within its chocolate bags range, helping retailers to improve price perception among their shoppers and help increase speed of sales. The new 95g promotional £1 PMPs are now available across some of Mondelez’s bestselling bags: Cadbury Dairy Milk Giant Buttons, Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles, Cadbury Twirl Bites, Cadbury Bitsa Wispa and Terry’s Chocolate Orange Minis.

Maynards Bassetts recently announced its first-ever sour Soft Jelly product – Soft Jellies Fizzy Fish. The product is the second in the brand’s Soft Jellies range, after the 2018 launch of Soft Jellies Wild Safari.