Skip to main content

Watching the pennies

Fiona Dawson, president of Mars Chocolate in the UK, says that local shops need to get behind the big brands in their confectionery displays and support countlines as affordable treats. The price of treats cannot go up and up and up, she says.

However, as retailers know, the rise of promotions means that shoppers are flip-flopping from brand to brand in search of the better deal. This poses some big problems for confectionery sales.

So it cannot help when shoppers at Reading station are faced with variable pricing for Snickers bars on platforms 4 and 5. At the shop called WHSmith on platform 4 a Snickers Duo costs £1.05. At the WHSmith on 5, it costs 99p or two for £1.50.

The secret? The WHSmith on platform four is operated by SSP, the Euston based "food travel experts". The one on platform five is operated by WHSmith itself. A problem for the retailer's brand more than for Mars?

However, a real challenge for the countline snack people may be coming from a different direction. At my local Best-One I stood behind two young lads, one of whom was counting out 36 pennies. He was buying a packet of budget biscuits. Once outside the shop he divvied it up with his mate. To them, 18 biscuits at 2p a unit seemed a great deal.

Which flips to the second part of the countline proposition - the quality of the snack on offer. Some shoppers are paying attention. Others do not.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The launch of the 2009 IAA

We are launching the 2009 Independent Achievers Academy tomorrow in London with a group of retailers and suppliers. The marketing team have come up with a great practical exercise to help us relive the Academy experience. At its heart, the IAA has a simple concept: set a goal, plan to hit it and celebrate the outcome. I hope to learn lots from participants and will pass this learning on to you.

Local advantage? Sainsbury's boss argues it is from his stores.

Online businesses don't pay local taxes, Sainsbury's boss Justin King argues in a big CityAM interview spread. Unlike the web retail businesses, Sainsbury's  "pay business rates at a local level" and "employ people locally" and "pay people locally" and "they spend their earnings locally". "If we are seeing a shift in consumer behaviour towards purchasing online rather than their local store then the government will have to address that the tax system is being usurped by a change in behaviour," he adds.  The point to notice here is that connection of Sainsbury's with "local shop". It is spin. But very effective spin. As any independent retailers who have talked to their MPs about competition from multiples will know, the grocers are very successful at projecting the "local" benefits that they will bring. Perhaps 10 years ago this was true. But supported by a better supply chain, independent...

What do shoppers see

I read a good post (http://www.newsagencyblog.com.au/2009/08/28/what-do-newsagents-charge-for-faxing.html) asking what price local shops charge for providing a fax service. The blogger had attached a photograph of his sign with his prices on it. What struck me was the message on the sign. "You drop, we fax," it said. "Pressed for time, drop your documents with us and we'll do it for you at no extra charge." That is a message that will persuade most shoppers that you want to give them good value, even if they stay to do the copying or faxing themselves.