No Substitutions New data shows out-of-stocks taking a bigger toll on cold-vault beverage sales
By Steve Holtz
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LAS VEGAS -- Call beverage consumers fickle, if you must, but their likelihood to leave a store without making a purchase if their preferred drink is hard to find or out of stock may just reflect a growing trend toward planning for shopping trips. "Twenty-three percent of beverage consumers won't substitute [another product] if they can't find the SKU they want," said Bruce Miner, director of category management for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, during CSP's Cold Vault Summit in Las Vegas. "That number scares me."
And it's part of a growing trend as more and more consumers plan for shopping trips before leaving the house for the store or choosing not to buy at all.
"Consumers have hit the reset button on their lives," said Kaumil Gajrawala, beverage analyst for UBS in New York. "After 20 years of consumption and debt, people are reconsidering their spending habits. Even folks who don't have debt are reconsidering spending. Keeping up with the Joneses has stopped."
Gina Bingham, senior category manager of convenience and grocery for Pepsi-Cola North America, Purchase, N.Y., said energy drinks bring in some of the most fickle cold-vault customers. "They have the highest walk-away rate at 13%," she said, citing Pepsi's Cooler Study 2008. "The energy consumer has already made the purchase decision before going to the store." She further noted that the energy-drink consumer on average spends about 12 seconds choosing a beverage and will give about 30 seconds before giving up on the purchase.
Meanwhile, Dr Pepper Snapple Group convenience-store consumer study, conducted in conjunction with Meyers Research, shows 52% of the 1,200 consumers surveyed planned to buy a cold-vault beverage when they stopped at the c-store, and 54% actually did buy a cold beverage.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group's Miner added: "Gas-trip shoppers buy more drinks and snacks than those that don't buy gas. That's good reason to try to get more gas buyers to come into our stores."
Further data provided by Plano, Texas-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group shows 77% of c-store beverage shoppers would substitute a product if their choice were missing, 15% would go to another store, and 8% would delay the purchase or note make a purchase at all.
Also, 65% of respondents said they came into the c-store that day knowing which beverage brand and product they wanted to purchase, rather than making the decision on site. And that statistic rose to 76% for shoppers who purchased a carbonated soft drink.
Matt McCourt, director of c-stores for Information Resources Inc., Chicago, added that recent research shows 65% of all shoppers now make shopping lists at home, before leaving for the store.
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Gina Bingham, senior category manager of convenience and grocery for Pepsi-Cola North America, Purchase, N.Y., said energy drinks bring in some of the most fickle cold-vault customers. "They have the highest walk-away rate at 13%," she said, citing Pepsi's Cooler Study 2008. "The energy consumer has already made the purchase decision before going to the store." She further noted that the energy-drink consumer on average spends about 12 seconds choosing a beverage and will give about 30 seconds before giving up on the purchase.