Tim Cote might not be a candy traditionalist, but he knows how to make confections appealing to Plaid Pantry customers.
By David Bennett, Senior Editor
The traditional approach to selling candy is going the way of Root Beer Barrels and Charleston Chews. Retailers who are satisfied with a few racks of the normal candy offerings that ‘sell themselves,’ might not be doing all that’s needed to reach new customers.
If that’s the case, take a lesson from Tim Cote, vice president of marketing at Beaverton, Ore.-based Plaid Pantry who oversees the convenience retailer’s candy category. His ambitious approach to making the category a relevant offering that piques the interest and imagination of Plaid Pantry patrons is what garnered Cote a 2015 Category Management Award.
“I wanted to make candy a destination category at Plaid, not just a simple impulse category,” he said.
Plaid Pantry is a chain that operates 110 locations in Oregon and Washington state.
Cote’s goal was lofty, requiring a solid plan and the desire to make it work. In the end, Cote made it work by dedicating more in-line space to the category, expanding into new pack types ahead of the local competition, making seasonal offerings a category mainstay and convincing manufacturers to partner on price promotions, which would be supported by multiple temporary points of interruption throughout the store.
“Our primary interruption device has been the shipper,” Cote said. “They go up, they sell product and they go down.”
WALKING THE WALK
Shippers are one tool that Cote has used to drive candy sales. But an ambitious attitude also goes a long way.
“Candy needs to be viewed as a difficult category that needs constant refinement, not a category that can be only looked at for in-store revision a couple of times per year,” said the 53-year-old Cote. “You need to be obsessed with improving your mix constantly if you want to win.”
For a c-store to make its candy category shine, Cote suggested getting out of your store.
“Walk your competition’s candy sets, not only in c-stores, but get into drug (stores), mass, grocery and Whole Foods. Be aware of what these retailers are placing into their sets,” Cote said. “Get scan data for other trade classes to look for trends. Look at what they are promoting. Ensure you are being given offers that allow you to compete with any trade class, not just c-stores.”
Also, with the new candy products and extensions that are appearing on the market, c-stores shouldn’t be bashful about trying new items with some degree of frequency, even if some offerings don’t resonate with customers. That goes for sets as well.
“Do not wait to do new candy sets until some pre-established time on some historical calendar,” Cote said. “Sets should be tweaked 4-6 times per year.”
MILLENNIAL FORCE
Perhaps the biggest factor to take into account is the individual customer who is evaluating your category. Arguably the demographic with the most discerning preferences is the Millennial-age consumer.
From his experience, Cote said Millennials are well informed consumers and very “deal” driven, which c-stores should take advantage of.
“Get your offering in front of their faces, off the shelf, via frequently rotating displays,” he said. “This group gets bored easily. A single manufacturing rack that offers the best of the best, which gets minor tweaks made to it in a given year will become white noise. You need to change the look of your impulse offering frequently to hold their attention.”
PRICE POINTS
Citing the rising cost of cocoa, dairy and nuts, Hershey and Mars last summer announced a minimum 7 % increase in the average wholesale price of its candy. The spike was felt at the register though Cote explained that candy prices will likely stabilize this year, enabling the category to spur healthy margins as it has often done in the past.
“As long as price value stays in line, I expect it will outperform the store as a whole,” Cote said. “The recent price increase has clearly hurt unit volume in the category. Hopefully, the consumer will adjust to these new prices over time.”
Whether price points rise or fall, Cote is positioning Plaid Pantry to win as a candy destination. He may even bring back Charleston Chews.