Product categories which bring customers in regularly, leading to more impulse or associated purchases, hold a special value to convenience stores. Which category has worked most effectively this year?
 

1. Click & Collect 

Internet shopping is transforming retail and annual events such as Black Friday highlight the fact this is a trend only set to grow. By working with a host of companies offering click & collect services – which these days includes almost every store on the high street, as well as the fast-growing number on online retailers, independent retailers are ensuring they can gain from this retail revolution.

Did you know? Approximately 87% of UK shoppers have bought something online in the past 12 months.

2. Coffee 

Serve good coffee and this becomes an habitual purchase that will bring customers back. In a recent Store Lookbook, Jonathan Fraser of Budgens at Three Mile Cross in Berkshire said one of his stores was now selling 200 cups of coffee a day. Dennis and Linda Williams’ Premier Broadway in Oxgangs, Edinburgh now sell flat whites for the incredible bargain price of £1 showing this to be a
trend for every store.

Did you know? Three to four cups of coffee per day is considered moderate – a fact worth passing on to customers.

3. In-store bakery 

Alongside hot food to go items, the appeal of offering freshly baked items is that customers will be tempted not just to purchase one item but may add a cup of coffee, confectionery or healthy snack to their basket. There are many ways stores can choose to develop a bakery. Raj Bhatia in The Battersea General Store offers a full bakery service and Giacopazzis in Kinross have a well-used in-store pizza oven.

Did you know? Sales of bakery items such as croissants are up 4.5% year on year according to Kantar Worldpanel.

4. Social media 

RN has highlighted a number of innovative uses of social media in 2017. Where this has had the greatest effect is with targeted, time-specific deals on Facebook which raise footfall and companies such as Zapper and Ubamarket mean retailers can utilise the opportunities social media offers. Store owners are experimenting with what works to increase footfall with the important benefit being that an ineffective strategy can be cheaply modified. 

Did you know? Thanks to advertising revenue, the average British Facebook user is worth £37.63 to Facebook each year.

5. Big brand promotions 

Booker’s extension of Mega Deals to six products, soon to be eight, every four weeks; Parfetts’ focus on great promotions on alcohol as well as One Stop’s focus on ‘three for £5’ offers highlight the importance of big brand promotions. As the effect of the Tesco-Booker and Nisa and Co-op takeovers start to make wholesalers desperate to offer killer deals which will keep retailers loyal, expect to see more of these kind of eye-catching offers. .

Did you know? Poundland launched ranges of £2 and £5 items this year, highlighting the strength of bold round pound prices.