Chewing gum is the most efficient segment of the confectionery department in the newsagencies from what I have seen in recent sales data. Sales are strong, stock turn good and return on real-estate excellent. Gum outperforms chocolate bars in return on investment in the stores for which I have data. This is because of the space taken, faster stock turn and easier stock management. We have been looking at this for our Frankston store where we are allocating less counter space for confectionery and had to cut some lines.
While gum goes against the idea of driving a point of difference, the data shows it works so why not? There are deals around too for good volume business.
If you can locate a niche gum available for wholesale purchase, i.e Big Red or something else reasonably rare.. that is a fantastic way to keep some repeat business in your store and lead these customers onto other products.
It seems to me that the real problem with Bazooka (beyond high production costs) is that it is lousy gum. It goes stale too easily and acquires a grainy texture and it looses its flavor (which is fine, but not delicious, and needs more fruitiness) too quickly. Topps is just selling a bad product.