The golden quarter (October-December) is the most lucrative period of the year for many retailers, and despite many families facing budgetary challenges due to the cost of living, there’s a huge opportunity for convenience retailers to boost basket spend with affordable indulgences like seasonal biscuits.
David Hebson, Trade Marketing Director at Fox’s Burton’s Companies (FBC), shares his top tips for retailers looking to boost their biscuit sales across the busy period.
- Consider emerging shopper missions within key events
Retailers often stock for the big calendar moments of golden quarter – Halloween, Diwali, Bonfire Night, Christmas – but within each is a multitude of shopper missions, presenting opportunities for merchandising, offers, and in-store theatre.
Staying close to social media and TV trends can also give store owners the edge. Since becoming popular on social media in 2023, “Boo Baskets” have become a new gifting occasion during Halloween and we’ve also seen a rise in at-home viewing parties for the biggest TV moments of the season, with Stranger Things, The Traitors, and Strictly amongst the shows creating huge buzz this year.
Retailers who stay on top of these trending moments can take full advantage by merchandising appropriately. Set up “Boo-Basket” bundle offers in-store, and group Halloween-themed items together in end-of-aisle displays. Creative call-to-action POS at checkouts that speak to those big TV moments will also help to drive impulse purchases for customers who are on their way home to settle on the sofa and share a snack.
- Premium ranges can be the star of the show
While the ongoing cost-of-living pressures may curb overall Christmas spending, we expect that much like in 2024, sweet biscuits will benefit from shoppers looking for affordable ways to treat themselves. In 2024, sweet biscuits grew to £99m, up 3.8 per cent year-on-year, with seasonal biscuits (assortments, festive flavours and tins) growing 10.9 per cent in value and 6.2 per cent in volume.
Retailers should stay well stocked on premium biscuits that offer new and interesting flavours to trade shoppers up from their everyday biscuit purchases. Across the year, we would recommend 13 per cent of your biscuit fixture is dedicated to premium offerings, but during the seasonal period, we’d recommend increasing this to really maximise the opportunity of consumers being at their most spendthrift.
Thomas Fudge’s Florentines give a luxurious bite of caramel, dried fruits, almonds, and Belgian chocolate, whereas the generous Fox’s Chocolatey range is well-trusted to deliver quality and indulgence to shoppers’ next night in.
- ’Tis the season for cross-category merchandising
As the festive period is the time for indulgence, it’s also the time for impulse and one of the ways to maximise impulse sales is through cross-category merchandising. Wine and champagne pair well with confectionery items, but for biscuits, the biggest opportunity is alongside hot drinks. Offer customers bundle deals of biscuits alongside teas, coffees, and pumpkin spice lattes to boost impulse buys and give your customers a sweet, warming treat.
It also pays to consider the shoppers’ mission during the festive season when it comes to cross-merchandising opportunities. Stocking assortment biscuit boxes near Christmas essentials, like wrapping paper, can drive last-minute stocking filler inspiration, or offering biscuits as part of a gifting bundle, alongside cards, drinks or decorations.
- Evolve your range throughout the season
While supermarkets may have the luxury of bulk buying their full range and stocking all their Christmas favourites for the entire quarter, we know storage and space can be a huge challenge for convenience store owners, so stocking the right range at the right time is imperative.
Early in the season is all about driving excitement with seasonal flavours and novelty, so creating space for products that have been designed specifically to cater for these moments, like our Fox’s Dark Chocolate Ginger and Winter Spice Cookies, is essential. From November onwards, assortments are key, making up 75 per cent of all biscuit value sales during the festive season2 and moving into December, as last-minute gifting prevails, assortment tins are a must-stock for retailers looking to maximise their sales.
Effective and timely stocking will help avoid the two biggest pitfalls of the quarter: over-stocking and needing to sell off cheaply in January, or worse, under-stocking and missing out on sales altogether.
- Create seasonal theatre to boost basket spend
People spend more at Christmas, above all because of the emotion behind the season, so doing everything you can to make it ‘feel’ like Christmas will give your shoppers the best experience.
Festive decorations and seasonal music are often a given, but it’s also worth considering the other senses of your shoppers. Sampling new festive products and adding seasonal scents to your store through cleaning products and air fresheners can bring instant feelings of nostalgia for shoppers, as well as making them think of their favourite sweet treats to drive extra impulse buys. Fun seasonal games and discounts, from social media advent calendar deals to spin the wheel giveaways, can also add to the buzz of the store throughout the festive period, driving higher engagement and repeat visits.
We know how crazy the final months of the year are for many retailers, but going the extra mile pays double during this time. Don’t just sell biscuits, sell Christmas, and make the quarter truly golden for your sales.