The Importance of Price-Marked-Packs
We recently provided an article on the importance and value PMPs can add to independent convenience stores. Besides increasing consumer trust in your product offering, the reduced consumer dwell times in-store post COVID-19, means stocking PMPs has never become more important.
How do you think the coronavirus crisis has affected consumer perceptions of PMPs? How important is communicating value to consumers at this time?
With the economic uncertainty, consumers are looking for great quality products that offer good value and we expect this view to continue well into next year as the economy looks to get itself back to where it was pre-COVID 19.
At Boost we’re really proud of our value proposition and will continue to offer high quality products at a fraction of the price of the market leader that wholesalers, retailers and consumers alike know they can trust.
PMPs are hugely important for retailers especially for that impulse shopper mission. Before lockdown, a massive 98%[1] of energy drink sales were from customers grabbing one as a spontaneous and on-the-spot purchase. As we leave lockdown and enter the next phase of the pandemic, we expect to be reaching these sorts of numbers again and it’s important that as consumers shop more often their trust in retailers stays high. Here at BOOST, we believe PMPs are a simple way for retailers to gain the trust of their consumers. It gives shoppers confidence in the store’s pricing in comparison to larger outlets which will ensure that consumers look to their local retailer more often, when making purchases.
For these more impromptu buys, customers want products which clearly state their price on them, to aid their quick visit into convenience stores. As an independent business ourselves, Boost Drinks has always understood the importance of PMPs and strong margins in the independent sector. It’s because of this that we offer every single one of our energy, sport, protein and new coffee ranges in a price marked packs format.
How do the margins compare to non-marked stock and how do retailers benefit from including PMPs in their range?
It is important for independent retailers to offer PMPs, particularly within their easy to reach impulse ranges such as soft drinks as consumers want chilled, choice and on-the-go availability. 90% of independent impulse sales are for 250ml or 500ml SKUs so by ensuring that independents offer PMP versions of these products they can make the path to purchase even simpler for the customer.
At BOOST we’re committed to offering great margins across all our stock, whether that be a PMP or not and continuing to deliver category leading PORs in our core range of products. Using our original energy range as an example, it continues to be a popular choice and is the second fastest selling energy SKU in the UK[2]. When it comes to margins, for our 250ml energy SKU we continue to deliver category leading POR but of course this varies depending on the variant, so we provide a helpful calculator on the BOOST website to help calculate the margin for our products. We know how important margins are to retailers and do everything we can to help them plan ahead and make the most from the range. The calculator can be found at https://boostdrinks.com/boost-trade/
How should retailers position/merchandise PMPs in their store? How can they use PMPs to draw attention to fixtures and generate incremental sales?
We would recommend that PMP drinks are placed in a chiller or on the counter, as most people will be looking to consume their product straight away. We would also recommend that retailers line up their products in order of their price. This way, consumers can see which products are available to them based on their budget. Here at BOOST Drinks, we offer great-value, great-tasting and great-looking products! With all of this, they are sure to capture consumers attention on-shelf.
Ensuring you have good quality POS is something that we strongly advise in order to create extra stand-out on shelf and drive customers to your products. When it comes to marketing support for retailers, we work with them to understand how POS can best help them with promoting BOOST in their stores. We create a full package of POS that will draw attention to the shelf. Retailers can find out more about what POS we can provide by emailing info@boostdrinks.com.
Do you have any NPD that you want retailers to know about?
The out of home hot and cold coffee market is already worth over £20.2m and is growing at 51.9% value year-on-year[3]. To cater for the growing RTD coffee market, in March this year we launched two new, chilled ready to drink coffee SKUs – ‘Silky Smooth Caffe Latte’ and ’Full Bodied Double Espresso with Milk’, both available in £1 PMP cans.
Our RTD coffee offers consumers a great tasting product from a trusted brand at a lower price than the market leaders. As with all of BOOST products, they also offer strong margins for retailers.
The trend for cold brew coffee is one that we know is continuing to grow at a fast pace and it’s really important that brands and retailers alike appreciate this. Consumers are on the lookout for that caffeine hit with its increase in energy in a quick to consume format. As a brand, BOOST has always concentrated on creating products at a great price-point that offer the drinker something new and innovative compared to the rest of the market. Entering the cold brew market is another example of how BOOST has developed a product in-line with consumer trends.
[1] IRI Marketplace Data Symbols and Independents 52 weeks unit sales to 30th December 2019
[2] IRI Marketplace Data Symbols and Independents 52 weeks unit sales to 20th March 2020
[3] IRI Marketplace Data Symbols and Independents 52 weeks volume sales to 22nd March 2020