Further to my blog post Friday about gum sales falling in newsagencies, the latest issue of Convenience World magazine reports that confectionery sales were up 2.6% in c-stores in the March quarter. While this does not break gum out, even for the overall category, c-stores are reporting better numbers than newsagents.
While I am no expert in this area, I suspect we need to change the way we merchandise gum – smaller, more modern, display units at each register rather than a single, older style, unit on the counter as many newsagents have today.
The same issue of Convenience World reports that magazine sales in c-stores fell by 11% in the March quarter and that on a moving annual total basis (to February 15) they are down 9.1% for the year to March 31, 2009. They also report a 5.6% decline in newspaper sales for the quarter and 7.9% MAT to February 15. These are interesting numbers to compare to the benchmark study results released earlier this month.