A successful breakfast offer is big business for local retailers, and there are two key areas to master – sales for later consumption, and increasingly, sales for immediate consumption, the so-called ‘Breakfast On The Go’. We examine how to get both right.
by Mia Hunt
According to market research, more than half of adults opt to eat breakfast out of home, with two out of every 10 consumers eating out 2-3 times a week, so as well as buying breakfast staples to consume at home, people also want to grab food to eat on the go with demand for freshly baked items strong and growing.
“The booming in-store bakery sector is one of the top-performing sectors in convenience retailing, presenting shopkeepers with huge profit opportunities,” says Aoife Kenny, Head of Retail UK at Aryzta Food Solutions. “Bakery is already the second most frequently bought category in convenience and, even more importantly, in-store bakery shoppers spend over 70% more than average Symbol shoppers and on average buy at least two more items, highlighting the benefit of offering customers freshly-baked goods.”
Providing quick, easy-to-eat, takeaway breakfast options is a big draw and Viennoiserie within the in-store bakery category is currently seeing growth, with a value increase of 3.96% to £85.9m and unit sales up by 4.15% year on year.
“More than a quarter of breakfast eaters like to consume different food items for breakfast from one day to the next. It is therefore important to ensure that retailers have a variety of bakery items in store,” says Rachel Shoosmith, Marketing Manager at Lantmännen Unibake UK, who lists croissants, pain raisin, pain chocolat, chocolate croissant, almond croissant and Danish pastries like the maple pecan plait, cinnamon swirl and vanilla crème crown as must-stock items.
And in order to boost sales, more and more independent retailers are looking at dual-siting their in-store bakery fixture next to a coffee machine, says Kenny, giving shoppers looking for an all-round breakfast solution on the move added appeal, and a simple but effective way to boost in-store bakery sales.
“The Allegra Coffee Shop Report shows that 70% of consumers want something to eat when buying coffee, so an in-store bakery situated nearby a coffee machine is a fantastic impulse driven upsell opportunity,” she says. “If the retailer has a coffee offer in store, they should make sure that there is a Viennoiserie offer next to it to encourage purchase. Among our best sellers with coffee are the Croissant and the Maple & Pecan Plait.”
Shoosmith adds: “Retailers can use tactics such as placing hand-holdable morning goods such as croissants and Danish pastries at the front of the store, near hot drink machines and by the tills to boost impulse sales during the morning rush. Using effective point of sale material to promote pastries as an on-the-go breakfast solution can also help to increase revenue at breakfast time.”
Freshness and quality are key drivers of repeat purchases with the scent of newly baked pastries a big hit with customers. Aryzta recommend baking little and often, not only to help prevent wastage, but to ensure the fixture is well-stocked for shoppers looking for that freshly baked taste.
Later consumption
Bakery continues to be a significant category in later consumption sales too, as an Allied Bakeries spokesperson, explains: “The bakery category is in significant growth in the convenience channel, growing 21.4% last year and forecast to grow a further 24% by 2019. Eighty-four per cent of breakfast occasions are at home and with consumers increasingly looking for choices that fill them up and fuel them for the day, bakery represents a huge opportunity for retailers to increase sales around the breakfast occasion.”
“Bakery is one of the most commonly purchased items in convenience stores with bakery shoppers spending 41% more in-store than the average shopper,” the spokesperson adds. “Getting the range and bakery layout right can help drive overall basket spend across the store. The right core range and use of planograms also helps drive product availability, which bakery shoppers now cite as the number one driver of convenience store choice, driving footfall and loyalty.”
Toast remains a staple featuring in over half of all breakfasts in the UK and in the bread category, Kingsmill Soft White Medium 800g is the number one in impulse with annual sales of £135m.
But there has also been a shift towards healthier options, igniting a period of innovation with Kingsmill launching its 50/50 product – a white bread with ‘hidden’ whole grain and Kingsmill Great White, a soft white loaf that contains as much fibre as wholemeal, adding to its existing Tasty Wholemeal product.
Breakfast remains a family occasion with almost nine out of 10 people eating breakfast as a family at the weekends and while consumers love a slice of toast, they also seek out a variety of bakery favourites with crumpets, pancakes, hot cross buns, muffins and waffles all growing in popularity. This, coupled with consumers’ growing appetite for healthy options, prompted Kingsmill to launch its 54-calories-each Crumpet Thins.
Of course bread, toast and crumpets are rarely eaten without butter or spreads – a category penetrating over 99% of all British households and worth £141m in convenience – and Partners for Growth recommend that retailers stick to a tight range of the most popular brands and formats. It also advises that relevant products – butter, buttery spreads, spreadable butter, healthy spreads and baking – be grouped together to make it easy for the customer to find what they are looking for.
Butters and spreads are often purchased by shoppers browsing for other items, it notes, so use visual reminders like POS material or promotions to prompt them to add a spreads purchase. And customers are willing to pay more for perceived health, taste or convenience, it adds, with sales of spreadable butters in particular on the rise.
“If appropriate for your store’s area, experiment with higher value products, such as cholesterol-lowering spreads as this sector is on the increase,” Partners for Growth advises. “As taste preferences can vary across regions, use your local knowledge to determine whether you need to add a locally produced product to your range.”
Cereal favourites
Cereal, another breakfast favourite, remains a must-stock category and with Scottish Oatmeal’s new instant porridge pots and microwaveable sachets – available in three varieties – gaining a foothold in the instant cereals market, Hamlyns of Scotland are poised for a buoyant autumn/winter.
Consumers are also responding well to the new packaging on its traditional range – which includes Hamlyns Scottish Porridge Oats, Scottish Porridge Oats and Bran and Hamlyns Scottish Oatmeal, with sales over the summer months well ahead of the same period last year.
“For many Scots, porridge isn’t just a breakfast food, but a healthy snack that can be eaten at any time of the day, and our sales over the summer have really proven this,” said John Kerr of The JFK Partnership, who are responsible for Hamlyns sales. “Our convenient range has really taken off over the summer and we are developing a range of tailor made promotions for retailers both on the new range and the traditional range for the peak autumn/winter sales period, which will help us to continue to grow the brand.”
Hamlyns is planning increased marketing spend over the autumn and winter months which will include a targeted trade and consumer advertising campaign and consumer sampling in-stores and at a variety of consumer events. And ‘one third extra free’ packs of Hamlyns Scottish Porridge Oats will be available from February, with shelf-ready packaging being planned for the same time.
As for other breakfast options, the cooked breakfast continues to be a popular choice especially over the weekend, and Heinz advises retailers to showcase key partnerships via in-store displays, like placing Heinz Tomato Ketchup and HP sauce at the end of the sausage and bacon aisle to emphasise the pairing.
