Cheese, energy drinks and cider are the fastest-growing sectors in the impulse retail trade, according to the Convenience MustStocks supplement published with today’s edition of Independent Retail News.
Sales growth across the convenience market, excluding the major multiple c-stores, is around 1%, according to Nielsen data. This puts the impulse trade in line with the sales growth seen in the major supermarkets in the 12 weeks to 26 June.
By contrast, according to Convenience Muststocks, hard cheese is up 21.9% in the year to 15 May, followed by energy drinks up 12.2% and cider up 9.9%, which is by far the fastest-growing alcoholic drinks category.
But, the top 10 best-selling categories remain the staples of tobacco, wine, beer, spirits, chocolate confectionery, spirits, carbonates, sugar confectionery, crisps, snacks and nuts, bread and energy drinks.
The five biggest brands in the convenience market are all cigarette brands, with Coca-Cola’s £400m-plus sales making it the largest non-tobacco product in the sector.
New product development is boosting the energy drinks sector, with Coca-Cola Enterprises’ Monster leading the way, with sales growing more than five-fold over the last year to propel it into fourth place in the energy drinks league table.
Jake Shepherd, director of marketing and communications at Nielsen, said there are trends in the market that retailers need to look at closely in order to boost sales.
“Categories showing strong growth in this sector have been non-alcoholic drinks, fresh food and chilled food – all of which provide great impulse purchasing opportunities for impulse retailers to get more into shoppers’ baskets,” he said.
Source: Independent Retail News
