Sweet-talk your shoppers

With sugar confectionery predominantly an impulse category – research indicates 80% of confectionery purchases are influenced in store – retailers must cover all the bases to drive impulse sales in one of convenience’s most important categories.

Nearly every month, SLR prints a story about cuts in sugar content and recipe reformulation of a popular product, regularly attributed to the sugar tax and the country’s new-found fixation with healthy living. Many manufacturers have responded to this sugar revolution by reformulating their products, or launching news ones, that deliver improved nutritional credentials while still delivering an affordable treat that the majority of shoppers still seek in an increasingly regulated world.

Shoppers know there is sugar in most confectionery. It doesn’t disguise itself as a healthier and people are as likely as ever to pick up a chocolate bar or bag of candy to satisfy their cravings and no matter what is going on in the production line, category sales are as strong as ever.

The singles section is the first thought for most shoppers looking for a quick sugar pick-me-up. Maintaining a neat fixture, having clear pricing and offering a diverse range of confectionery best-sellers and new offerings is likely to help drive incremental sales in the category. Retailers should also take advantage of brands that are creating product awareness with product promotions, details of which can be found in SLR.

Recent single serve NPDs from popular brands include Skittles Tropical and Starburst Very Berry from parent company Wrigley. “Tropical has been mirrored in other categories and is performing exceptionally well with value growing year-on-year,” says Dan Newell, Confections Marketing Manager at Wrigley.

“Berry flavours [also] have a proven track record of driving growth in to the sugar confectionery category,” he continues, citing recent Nielsen data as evidence. “Starburst flavour variants have proven to be 89% incremental to the brand, and the launch of Starburst Very Berry is projected to drive nearly £4 million in retail sales as Wrigley looks to drive category growth.”

Reformulation is taking place in confectionery favourites, including Nestlé Confectionery’s flagship brand KitKat, which has introduced a new recipe across its milk chocolate range, with each chocolate bar now containing extra milk and cocoa. The move is part of the company’s commitment to reduce sugar in its product range. Rather than boast the sugar reduction, the core KitKat milk range will feature a flash on the front of packs for six months championing the “now with extra milk and cocoa” message to consumers, demonstrating that sugar content is not always the main selling point.

The confectionery aisle is being infiltrated by the growth of biscuit bites, with bitesize singles and sharing packs coming from popular brands, including McVitie’s Digestives new Nibbles Handy Packs. Whilst 54% of biscuits eaten on-the-go are in take home packs, only 7% of biscuits are currently available in on-the-go format – making the new offering an exciting on-the-go proposition for the confectionery category.

McVitie’s Marketing Director, Kerry Owens, explains the phenomenon: “Our busy lifestyles have led to an increase in snacking when out and about, leading shoppers to gravitate towards single serve packs, pouches and grab on-the-go items.”

Thanks to occasions like the Big Night In, sharing bags containing bitesize offers of popular confectionery products has grown the category in recent years. Mondelez has one of the widest ranges on offer, which it has extended further with the launch of Cadbury Fudge Minis. Cadbury Fudge is the third largest brand within Mondelez International’s kids portfolio, and follows the likes of Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons which have also been extended into the bitesize category.

Melissa Stuart, Brand Manager for Cadbury Bitesize, says: “The chocolate bags category is contributing to 39% of the total chocolate growth and so we hope by introducing another well-loved brand into this category, retailers will be able to drive sales further.”

Long standing bagged confectionery brands are also taking a piece of the action with new offerings, as hanging bag veteran Millar adds a new ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ Smooth Butterscotch sweet to its range. Top sellers from the brand’s 25 SKUs are Pan Drops, Mint Imperials, Chocolate Eclairs and Blue Raspberry Bon Bons. “Classic flavours continue to perform very well in the confectionery sector, so we’re delighted to add a premium-quality Smooth Butterscotch to our range,” says Sunny Pahuja, Managing Director of Millar brand owner Nisha Enterprises.

Ensuring consumers are getting value for money is crucial to the confectionery category as it is driven by impulse, and one of the most effective methods is to stock price marked packs. More than two thirds of shoppers buy PMPs in convenience stores as competitive pricing encourages impulse sales, according to him! data. “As well as offering good value, PMPs help retailers build a sense of confidence and trust with shoppers, with half saying PMPs reassure them that they are not being overcharged,” says Wrigley’s Dan Newell. He says that currently, only 68% of retailers stock a selection of price marked packs as part of their confectionery offering.

Following the successful launch in 2015 of £1 RRP PMP hanging bags, last summer, Wrigley launched a new range of PMPs across its best-selling Skittles and Starburst singles formats. “The PMPs are designed to help retailers in the convenience channel drive confectionery sales, by offering consumers a selection of top performing sugar confectionery brands, at an attractive price,” Newell explains.

Taking initiative from its popularity in the mint and gum category, Wrigley also added a new bottle format packaging for its original Skittles Fruits variant, to tap into the growing consumer demand for confectionery products to enjoy on the go. The neat red container features an easy to open re-sealable lid ensuring people can enjoy Skittles candy when on the move.

Mints and gum have a vital role to play in the confectionery aisle as insights from Kantar show that 45 per cent of consumers buy into the category. Ferrero’s Customer Development Director, Levi Boorer says that the mints and gums category has seen an increased consumer demand for a range of fruit flavours over the past few years as a key driver for the category. “We have acted upon this trend by developing insight-driven NPD, to ensure that retailers have a range of products to offer shoppers,” he says.

Mints and gums most commonly occur as impulse purchases in convenience stores, which Boorer says can be maximised by siting in disruptive locations such as at the counter or beside the newsstand. “Research shows that 31% of shoppers only buy one item when visiting a convenience store, demonstrating the importance of creating intelligent disruption in-store to drive further impulsive sales” he explains. “Pocket confectionery is one of the most impulsive categories in the confectionery market, with 7 out of 10 purchase acts being unplanned. Many shoppers will also browse for longer at place such as the newspaper or magazine fixture – retailers can capitalise on this by implementing magazine hook-over units.”

Sugar confectionery is a constantly diversifying category which sells itself to shoppers in a number of ways. Brands may be dramatically dropping the sugar content in their products, but regardless of what goes on in the production line, sugar confectionery remains strong for local retailers. It is a top selling category in convenience and it is worth focusing on best-selling lines, ensuing shelves are stocked, making the most of awareness-driving brand investment such as adverts and stocking the latest NPDs.