We have two questions for you ... 🍕 🍦
1) Do you eat more ice creams in summer or in winter?
2) Did you know that supermarkets are very well-aware of this too?
Probably your answers are:
1) Obviously in summer 🌞
2) Uhhh, yeah that would make sense, but I'm not to sure how or why that matters...
Well as straightforward it is to understand that we all eat more ice cream in summer - because together with sunscreen and warm weather it is a core ingredient of the summer holiday vibe - explaining how supermarkets deal with seasonality is a bit more complex. But we will give it a go:
🔃 Every year, there are fixed moments where a supermarket decide to change the lay-out of its shelves. So-called shelf-mutation moments. These can either be big (changing the entire supermarket set-up) or small (changes within a product category only).
🌦️ Based on a.o. buying and consumption behaviour of shoppers influenced weather and seasons, the lay-out of different product categories will then be changed. As you can imagine, in winter people are more tempted to get some hot comfort food, such as pizza, instead of ice cream. So you would see that there are more pizzas stocked in supermarkets' freezers and that there is literally less space for ice creams during winter (and the other way around for summer).
🍧 Of course, there are still people who would love to get some ice cream during a rainy afternoon Netflix & chilling in December, and if they do, chances are high that they go for a pint of Ben & Jerry's instead of Solero's. So the ice creams that are included in supermarket's frozen assortment in wintertime, are more likely to be pints than popstickles.
🎥 And.. if all Home Alones, Harry Potters or LOFTRs are going to be available online between Christmas and NYE, people might want to stack up on those pizzas and ice cream pints and get some 1+1 promos in.
As you can see, seasonality is something that you should take into consideration while setting up your product introduction and launching plans. Having your product available in the supermarket at the right time, with the right promotion and in the right quantity, is essential for the success of your sales.
Do you know when your products should be most prominent in store? And to what extent could you maybe face some competition from not only competitor brands, but entire product categories? ❓
Within a few weeks time we will launch a FREE customer planning tool, called the Customer Calendar, tailored to the needs of impact-driven entrepreneurs in the food(service) industry. Helping you bring together all the elements needed to effectively plan your customer activities and boost your sales.
Stay tuned and happy weekend!
#foodforthought #friday #startup #supermarket #retail #foodbusiness #routetobloom
#foodstartup #retailknowledge #smarttools #saleshack #salesboost #promoplanning #impactdriven
