Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS) has unveiled research that highlights reasons why convenience retailers should tap into demand for products in the food to go market.
The company has highlighted research that reveals that retailers who encourage shoppers to choose a soft drink with their meals and snacks could unlock an additional £215m in value across the category (LRS and The Partnership Group Research, December 2018).
Commenting on the findings, Matt Gouldsmith, channel director for wholesale at LRS, said: “We know that by focusing on the growing number of shoppers looking for drinks with their food, and making a few simple changes, convenience retailers can increase their soft drinks sales by focusing on the growing number of shoppers looking to grab-and-go a food and drink offering.
“There is an opportunity for retailers to take advantage of the almost one billion out-of-home eating opportunities that happen each year. Stocking a wide range of interesting and complementary soft drink flavours will encourage consumers to choose a soft drink with their meals and snacks,” he added.
LRS research also found that there is an opportunity for retailers in the convenience channel to grow the total soft drinks category by £35.1m, by focussing on the ‘with food’ occasion and consumer trends such as health and wellbeing.
The company claims that retailers can encourage shoppers to make more trips to their stores with products that tie-in with these opportunities, such as Ribena, Ribena Frusion and Lucozade Energy.
“The main components of a food to go shopper’s basket are carbonated soft drinks, sandwiches, single bags of crisps and bakery items (HIM CTP 2018) so these categories should be the building blocks of meal deals offered in store,” Gouldsmith said.
“Secondary sites for these categories – for example a small crisps fixture attached to the chiller – will help to drive cross-category spend and point shoppers towards the meal deal opportunity.”
He added: “There is opportunity to grow the ‘with food’ occasion in convenience stores, particularly at lunchtimes where 51% buy food but no soft drink (HIM 2018: The Food-to-Go Opportunity). As we have seen consistently, considering meal deal opportunities can help drive total sales.”
