CHICAGO -- Three national trade associations representing convenience retailers, their distributors and the manufacturers of candy and gum have joined together to sponsor an in-depth study to help generate increased sales and profit of confection products in convenience stores across the United States. Sponsoring the study will be the National Confectioners Association (NCA), the American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
To be completed in time for the NACS Show in Chicago, October 4-7, the research will be conducted by Dietz [image-nocss] Consulting LLC, Huron, Ohio, led by veteran industry consultant Kit Dietz, a former c-store distributor.
"I am delighted that all three associations have joined together to produce a study of this magnitude, which has the ultimate objective of helping to increase candy and gum sales in the convenience store channel," said AWMA president and CEO Scott Ramminger. "We all stand to benefit from the product of this work."
"We feel this study will help to identify additional costs within the distribution system and assist in determining what the best practices really are to reduce those costs," said John Scardina, vice president of merchandising, Eby-Brown Co. LLC, a regional c-store distributor based in Naperville, Ill. "Our desire is that this study will create recommendations that will help to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve profitability throughout the distribution network for us and our retail partners."
Beyond, efficiencies, however, the study will focus on ways to increase confection sales within the c-store channel, the groups said. "How do we manage that? We need to have a good understanding of opportunities that exist and how we can take advantage of them. We are looking forward to these results," said Jim Corcoran, vice president of trade relations at NCA.
"The retailer must have a better fundamental understanding of consumer trends," said Dae U. Kim, vice president of research for NACS. "We need to know what consumers are looking for today and how manufacturers are responding."
Dietz said the study will focus on all of those points—operational efficiencies, marketing opportunities, consumer trends and manufacturer responses.
"We intend to provide insights and knowledge to help all segments improve their performance across the confections category within the convenience channel and create strategic advantage for all channel partners," he said.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.