The alcoholic drinks category is by far the most likely to use on-pack promotions, a snapshot study of three London superstores has found.
Alcoholic drinks made up 28% of 71 on-pack promotions recorded at the large-format Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores - well ahead of breakfast cereals, the next-largest category with 13%.
Tesco was the retailer most likely to feature this form of offer, found the study conducted by Hive, a company that specialises in digital on-pack offers for fmcg brands. The Tesco store had 16 separate alcohol promotions running on one day, compared with 11 at Sainsbury’s and seven at Asda.
Hive forecast alcoholic brand promotions would increase further in the run-up to Christmas as they “ramp up” activity, while other suppliers scale back during the festive season.
The study also uncovered a move away from traditional cut-out vouchers towards digital solutions. Only 8% of total on-pack offers were vouchers, while 49% used unique online codes and 25% required online data entry to claim the reward or for a chance to win.
Hive also identified social media as a growing tool for promotion, as brands such as HJ Heinz encouraged consumers to upload videos to Facebook.
The vast majority of promotions - 76% - offered consumers a chance to win a prize, while the remaining 14% guaranteed a reward.
Hive CEO Jonathan Jackson said on-pack promotions were likely to increase with the demise of multibuys.
“Traditionally, fmcg brands have used multibuy and buy-one-get-one-free deals to drive sales, but supermarkets have begun to scale back these offers and are moving towards everyday low prices,” he said. “With 70% of purchasing decisions taking place in the aisles, the brands are responding with new ways to drive sales.”
No comments yet