The beverage business is booming thanks to the ongoing innovation offered by energy drinks, bottled water and FCBs. Convenience Store Decisions, as part of its ongoing Online Roundtable Webcast series, will present “Beverage Trends and How to Capitalize at Retail,” sponsored by Tetley Harris Food Group. The Webcast will take place Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 2 P.M. EST and registration is completely free.
The event speakers include:
* Matthew Reilly,
Senior Analyst with the research firm Morningstar.
* Russ Kidd,Senior Category Manager of Packaged Beverages for Circle K Southeast, who will also discuss the launch of the chain’s proprietary energy beverage, GazZu.
* Terri Murray, General Manager for Gulf Oil who oversees the oil company’s high-volume franchisee locations along the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Why Should You Attend?
Taxes and competition continue to take on toll on fuel and tobacco profitability, but beverages continue to enjoy a steady increase in store sales. For example, according to NACS’ 2007 State of the Industry report, packaged beverage sales accounted for 13.84% of overall in-store sales in 2006 and ranked second in in-store gross margin dollar contributions at 17%. In terms of industry dollar sales, the category jumped 21.1% from $7.1 billion in 2005 to $8.6 billion in 2006.
Unlike the traditional category growth that has come from carbonated soft drinks, driving gross margin packaged beverage growth is clearly bottled water, energy drinks and iced tea. Each of these segments experienced sharp gross margin percent increases with energy drinks jumping 5.43 points to 15.44% followed by bottled water (.42 points, 12.62%) and iced tea (.20 points, 4.9%).
Participating in the Webcast will be a panel of experts that will discuss these emerging trends, in addition to adding a broad overview of the strengths and weakness in the category as well as what retailers can expect in 2008.
The event will also feature detailed analysis in the category including:
* Hot and cold dispensed beverages;
* Packaged beverages in the cold vault;
* Tips for developing the right beverage assortment;
* How to market/promote your beverages;
* Cost controls; and
* New products.
Visit www.cstoredecisions.com for more details or simply click to register.