Unitas Wholesale adds ‘back to school’ and ‘back to higher education’ Plan for Profit guides

Unitas Wholesale has launched a new Plan for Profit Focus On guide, to help its members’ retail customers prepare for the busy "back to school" and "back to higher education" period in August and September.

The guide will be available online and from selected Unitas Wholesale member depots from 7 August.

Focus On: Back to Routine contains exclusive insight on snacking and confectionery from category experts at Swizzels, Haribo, PepsiCo and KP Snacks. As well as tips from Independent Achievers Academy Top 100 retailer Asiyah Javed of Day-Today Alloa Road, Stenhousemuir, Falkirk.

“The ‘back to routine’ period is one of great upheaval for the UK’s 19 million families and 3 million students. We’re delighted to offer such a comprehensive guide for retailers to maximise their sales and profits during this crucial time,” said Tracey Redfearn, Plan for Profit Category Controller.

Highlights in the issue include a breakdown of the 35 must-stock kids confectionery lines, top 15 snacking SKUs and top five sweet bags. Retailers will also find advice on food to go, healthier choices and merchandising.

The launch of Focus On: Back to Routine follows a report on Ice Cream earlier in the year. Additional editions this period are Confectionery Autumn & Winter Seasons (includes Halloween and Christmas) and Ciders. All will be available at https://www.planforprofit.co.uk/focus-on.php.

Five top tips for driving ‘back to routine’ sales:

1 Create back-to-school goody bags. “The back-to-school period is very busy for us,” said Asiyah Javed of Day-Today Alloa Road, Stenhousemuir, Falkirk. “We’ll hand out free goody bags to children in the first week back. The bags will contain a bottle of flavoured water, fruit, and snacks. They don’t cost us very much to make, but the loyalty it fosters makes it invaluable.”

2 Cater for pocket-money budgets. “During the back-to-school period, we find retailers have more success when stocking sugar singles such as Chew Bars, to cater for those consumers who have a smaller amount to spend,” said Ben Cooper, national account controller at Swizzels. “Keeping price points at less than £1 ensures that products are still affordable for those who are working with a pocket-money budget.”

3 Cash in on the growth in sweet bags. The driving force behind this growth is medium-size sharing bags, which are not only the biggest segment in terms of sales but delivering the most growth too – £33m in the past year[1]. Stocking the £1.25 price-marked format drives sales by clearly communicating the price to customers and reassuring them of value for money, said Adam Williams, national accounts manager at Haribo.

4 Offer healthier choices. Health remains a significant purchase driver for customers, and this becomes even more important in the back-to-school period, as parents and guardians seek to embed healthy habits. “At KP Snacks, we offer a broad portfolio of tasty and permissible snacks, including more than 100 non-HFSS SKUs, the equivalent of a quarter of our portfolio,” says Andy Staley, business account manager at KP Snacks.

5 Target the lunchbox opportunity. PepsiCo points to the 100 million lunchboxes in September that do not contain snacks, describing it is a “great opportunity” for convenience retailers to drive sales in 2023[2].

Accessing Focus On guides

• Printed copies of the new Focus On: Back to Routine will be available in selected Unitas Wholesale member depots.
• An online version of the guide can be accessed at https://www.planforprofit.co.uk/focus-on.php and via the Plan for Profit app, which is available to download on apple and android devices.