Retailer Avtar Sidhu, of Budgens Kenilworth, in Warwickshire, says: “I find sales in the tea category are flat. How can I get my customers excited about the category and increase basket spend?”
Tea is a key distress purchase in convenience
Matthew Trembath, channel category manager at Unilever’s Partners for Growth unbiased category advice initiative, replies: “Tea drinking is a national obsession, with as many as 165 million cups consumed nationwide every day. It’s a product that people simply do not want to run out of and is therefore a key distress purchase within convenience. Within this category, shoppers are very brand-loyal and would rather buy a larger pack of their preferred brand than switch to an alternative.
“However, there are plenty of opportunities to expand your shoppers’ buying repertoire and get them excited about the category, especially with growing demand for green teas and fruit and herbal teas. The tricky part is getting your consumers to commit to something new and the best way to do this is through a product trial. We are seeing a growing number of stores on the high street focusing specifically on delivering a ‘tea experience’, which can easily be replicated on a smaller scale in-store. Why not set up a ‘tea tasting’ space to enable consumers to ‘try before you buy’? This would enable your customers to experience and sample various new flavours.
Encouraging customers to add a new flavour could help increase spend
“Your customers aren’t going to stop drinking their day-to-day brand, but they may be open to adding a new flavour into the mix, thereby increasing their basket spend. This could be a regular feature in-store, whereby you introduce new products on a weekly basis, for example, or perhaps mix this in with biscuits and cakes to make it into a more ‘afternoon tea’ experience. Either way, all it requires is the space, hot water and cups and, of course, great products to entice and excite increased spend into the category.
“If this is not feasible, use colourful visuals to highlight the fixture and ensure the basics are covered – make sure your tea fixture is visible and that the best-sellers are stocked. Make sure the fixture is clearly divided into normal, fruit and herbal, green and speciality teas to simplify the shopping experience.”
How customer affluence affects what you stock
Trembath says: “Your customers’ affluence will impact product, format and brand choice. For example, in higher-affluence areas, offer more choice and include two or three more lines of fruit and herbal or green teas. In less-affluent areas, focus more on the core best-selling normal teas. Make sure you offer packs of 40s and 80s of the most popular brands, as these will be your quickest sellers.
“We always believe trust is a key foundation to category advice, which is why we advise retailers to view the standard planograms as a good baseline guide of what to stock and that retailers should tailor their offerings according to their customers’ affluence, as well as their unparalleled knowledge of their customers’ needs and wants. Additionally, it is worth dedicating a bit of time to gaining as much insight as possible by checking through the EPoS data available.”
How often should you review your fixtures?
“We recommend fixtures should be reviewed every three to six months. When reviewing your fixture, it’s worth asking yourself some key questions. What’s trending now? Are there any new products on the market my customers would benefit from?
“Although this may sound like a lot to take on, reviewing your fixtures could not be simpler with the launch of our free personalised fixture advice service. All retailers need to do is to take a ‘shelfie’ of their fixture and upload it at partnersforgrowth.unilever.com/asktheexperts. Our category experts will come back with a recommended planogram and a five-point action plan specifically tailored to your store.”
