All I can say is WOW! Looks like a Black & Mild Special hit a home run with their recent addition of BLACK & MILD three packs. These cigarillos seem to have hit the convenience store market by storm, jumping up 563 positions to No. 94 on our Top 100 list.
Black & Mild products continue to be decent sellers in stores, but this manufacturer also had the biggest loser (UPC 070137809326, down 60 positions). Those cigarillos are usually all over the place. I strongly suspect the loss in sales in this instance is because of the three-pack promotion. It could also be affected by temporary stock-outs and shelf positioning. It should serve as a warning: be sure your promotions are not killing the sales of your more profitable items. This is difficult for most operators, because they have to dig deep to find the actual cost of the items sold. That’s sad, because the technology is available. They are just not using it.
Earning 2nd position of greatest improvements made were PROFIT PAL 32OZ FOUNTAIN CUP (up 185 places), POWERADE MELON 32 OZ (+ 89), POWERADE FRUIT PUNCH 32 OZ (+120), and POWERADE GRAPE 32 OZ (+ 117). These increases fall in line with 10 LB BAG ICE, which is up eight positions. The warmer weather is definitely spurring the sales of cold drinks!
Those products earning “Honorable Mention” are RED SEAL LC WINTERGREEN (+ 40), CAMEL CRUSH BLACK HP (+ 73), and NEWPORT $.50 OFF BOX (+ 29).
In the 29 stores in our sample, the total number of items sold were down in April by 2%, but April only had 30 days so we need to cut them a little slack for that. And it was tax month too. Who can afford snacks when the IRS is knocking on your door? There were 1,039,099 units sold in April down from 1,064,581 sold in March.
Hunt Brothers Pizza is back on top with a UPC change that makes their true position a little ambiguous. But, their strong showing in the previous months should be proof enough of their tendency to show off.
No. 1 last month was MDA SHAMROCK GREEN, but that period has expired so it brought most of the products up a notch.
Dropping off the top 100 in April were MONSTER JAVA MEAN BEAN 15 OZ, FRITO LAY SUNFLOWER SEEDS REG, MINUTE MAID ORANGE 15.2 OZ, OZARKA WTR 20 OZ, and FANTA PINEAPPLE 20 OZ.