SAN FRANCISCO -- Easter means big bucks for the candy industry, and a new merchandising guide sheds light on how retail giant Wal-Mart performed in a range of key areas this holiday season.
The analysis, the first in San Francisco-based Quri’s “Merchandising Matters” series, looked at metrics such as Wal-Mart's display compliance, display presence, on-shelf availability, and display location and type during the 14-day Easter power period ending April 16.
Wal-Mart is a valuable case study for convenience-store retailers and suppliers because it owns a huge chunk of Easter candy sales. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent $2.4 billion on candy during Easter, with about 25% of those sales occurring at Wal-Mart.
Here's a look at some of the study’s key findings ...
During Easter, candy at Wal-Mart had an average on-shelf availability (OSA) of 95%, just below an average of 96.5% across all categories. Some popular items such as Peeps and Jelly Belly had OSA levels of 86% and 87%, respectively.
Display execution during Easter averaged 42% across 10 major candy brands. Reese’s had the highest display presence at 81%, while Jelly Belly had the lowest at 4%.
The most common display types for Easter candy were pallets and seasonal, which together comprises 66% of all Easter displays. Wal-Mart favors endcaps across all categories (30%), but only 15% of its Easter candy was displayed in endcaps.
Thirty-eight percent of all Wal-Mart displays were located in the coveted Action Alley, which features discounted items on pallets in the store’s aisles, compared to 18% of Easter candy. Thirty-nine percent of Easter candy was located at the front of the store, and 35% fell into the “other” category.
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