Professional Candy Buyer is packed with everyday and seasonal products, buyer/retailer/manufacturer profiles, category updates, merchandising strategies and tremendous eye candy.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/96770
Specialreport Puffed Product Placement Drives Impulse Sales Part 2 of a 2-part series examines how check-out displays can be a key to success By Kathleen Furore n Part 1 of our Impulse Buying series, featured in the Sept/Oct issue of Professional Candy Buyer, we looked at consumers' buying habits, ways product assortment and cross-merchandising impact purchases, and what manufacturers are doing to help pump up impulse sales. In this issue, we examine the increasingly competitive environment candy retailers face, with the spotlight on the prominent role checkout plays in stimulating impulse purchases. Old Navy would never be considered a destination for candy shoppers. But customers in line at the retailer's Oak Park, Ill., location pass shelves stocked with Dora the Explorer Magic Flavors Straws and other treats. If they manage to bypass those confections, temptation still awaits: Hershey Kisses, Big League Chew bubble gum, Pez candy dispensers and Clif Bars are prominently set beside each register. Across the parking lot, chocolate-covered coffee beans, individually wrapped caramels and packs of gummy candy are displayed register-side at Caribou Coffee. A few miles south in Berwyn, M&Ms and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups tempt shoppers paying for purchases at Shoe Carnival, while Ghirardelli chocolate squares call customers from counter-top jars at North Riverside's Michael's arts and crafts store a few blocks away. Welcome to the world of Impulse Buying, where candy shops, gourmet markets, grocery stores, big box retailers, c-stores and even businesses not focused on food vie for a share of confectionary sales. "Retailers are facing a changing landscape. There are more categories available at the checkout," reports Front-End Focus, a 2009 research study conducted by Mars Chocolate North America, Wrigley, Time-Warner Retail Sales & Marketing and The Coca-Cola Company in partnership with Dechert-Hampe Consulting (DHC). "Consumers are changing the way they shop. And new technology is changing the transaction." That landscape makes tapping impulse sales imperative in capturing market share, industry experts say. "Impulse sales are very important here," Kristin Janos, coowner of Cook's Fresh Market in Denver, confirms. Her small CandyBuyer.Com | Professional C andy Buyer | nov + dec 2012 | 9