Offering fireworks, catfood growbags and the odd pint of milk milkmen have more than doubled the number of products available through their milk rounds in the last year.
New data from trade body Dairy UK, which surveyed 4,000 milkmen, shows that, on average, 243 products are now offered on each round, more than double the 115 items available on their milk rounds last year.
In the fight for more custom, items for sale also included toilet roll, tinfoil and ornamental bark, with one milkman offering his customers 700 different items for sale.
The increase was due, in part, to Dairy Crest's Milk&More online ordering service, which enables customers to order and pay for their groceries via a website.
More than 3,000 milkmen have now signed up to the scheme, out of an estimated 5,000 milkmen nationwide, but other companies and roundsmen were also looking to build alternative revenue streams with new services.
As a result, total yearly sales of non-milk goods rose 10.2% to £15,581 over the past year for franchised milk rounds.
An 11.6% fall in non-milk for managed milkmen was dismissed as "not statistically significant" by Dairy UK, blaming the decline on the fall in VAT.
Average yearly milk sales for franchised milk rounds which make up an estimated half of all milk rounds increased by 19.3% to 666 pints per round compared with 2008.
Company-owned daily milk deliveries increased by 10.9% to an average of 591.8 pints each day.
New data from trade body Dairy UK, which surveyed 4,000 milkmen, shows that, on average, 243 products are now offered on each round, more than double the 115 items available on their milk rounds last year.
In the fight for more custom, items for sale also included toilet roll, tinfoil and ornamental bark, with one milkman offering his customers 700 different items for sale.
The increase was due, in part, to Dairy Crest's Milk&More online ordering service, which enables customers to order and pay for their groceries via a website.
More than 3,000 milkmen have now signed up to the scheme, out of an estimated 5,000 milkmen nationwide, but other companies and roundsmen were also looking to build alternative revenue streams with new services.
As a result, total yearly sales of non-milk goods rose 10.2% to £15,581 over the past year for franchised milk rounds.
An 11.6% fall in non-milk for managed milkmen was dismissed as "not statistically significant" by Dairy UK, blaming the decline on the fall in VAT.
Average yearly milk sales for franchised milk rounds which make up an estimated half of all milk rounds increased by 19.3% to 666 pints per round compared with 2008.
Company-owned daily milk deliveries increased by 10.9% to an average of 591.8 pints each day.
No comments yet