ACTION AT THE FRONT 1994

Lisa Saxton

When it comes to confection merchandising at the front end, retailers might appear to be gumming up the works. Well, actually, they're working the gums.

Chewing gum, hard roll candies and breath sweeteners are absolute musts at the front end, said retailers interviewed by SN - even if those categories generally don't call for a tremendous amount of merchandising flair.

According to retailers contacted by SN, if there's any segment rising above the ho-hum, it's gum.

John Fitch, owner and operator of Fitch's IGA, Wilmore, Ky., an independent who does award-winning confectionery merchandising, pointed to the innovation of a new shipper from Warner-Lambert's American Chicle that introduces the company's latest mint gum with flavored crystals.

"Usually the introductory displays are low-profile," explained Fitch. "But this was a tall profile of about 6 feet and it was white. The prepriced, 25-cent, five-stick packs were wrapped in green, so there was an attractive color contrast with a nice header.

"I've seen a lot of shippers in my day, and this is probably one of the tallest." And more importantly, said Fitch, the shipper worked. "That's the fastest selling display I've ever seen. The gum smoked out of here.

"The other factor I liked about the new shipper is it looked full. It didn't have a lot of product; it was one tray deep. And each tray had only one single layer of gum in it. So it looked like a huge display, but it was deceiving."

"I've noticed gum sales have picked up a little," said Mimi Peck, a grocery buyer at Copps Corp., Stevens Point, Wis., noting a new nonstick gum that's out to compete with one of the gum category leaders, Freedent.

"Gum is where the action is," said Nick Wedberg, vice president of sales and grocery buyer for Plumb's, Muskegon, Mich. "Wrigley is now pushing gum as an alternative to smoking and that's helping the category."

Mike Gummer, vice president of

Gummer Wholesale, Heath, Ohio, reported there also have been new flavor introductions in soft bubble gum products such as Bubblicious and Bubble Yum, not to mention a slew of kids' novelties.

Indeed, Gummer and other industry sources said that if there's any target market that is easily snagged at the front end these days, it's children, and the hook is increasingly novelties.

"The novelties carry a little higher retail at 89 and 99 cents, and some retailers are trying to implement more of those items," said Gummer.

Dan Eberhart, grocery merchandiser at Reading, Pa.-based Redner's Markets, said children have always been a focus for front-end candy merchandising. But now it appears the emphasis is even stronger.

"It seems Life Savers are no longer for adults," observed Copps' Peck. "I've noticed Planters has come out with new flavors, such as hot and real sour, to appeal to children."

Kim Eskew, director of marketing at Springdale, Ark.-based Harp's Food Stores, also has noticed new arrivals in the gum category and candy flavors in the form of "sour stuff for kids."

"The things you've got to watch for are the kids-type of items that are coming out now," said Stan Dziki, director of grocery at Glen's Markets, Gaylord, Mich. "If you stay on top of those, that's where the sales growth is.

"And what we've done is create dump bins in front of one of our checkstands where we put those items, and it seems to be turning very well," said Dziki.

An executive at one of the largest chains agreed that there are more and more candy and gum items geared toward children. However, he said, the hard roll candies and gum category is basically steady, with slightly growing sales.

Copps' Peck and Harp's Eskew also indicated that the hard roll candy/gum category is one of steadiness.

And figures from A.C. Nielsen bear out the retailers. The dollar volume in gum was $198.7 million for the year ended Dec. 11, 1993, which represented a 3.9% increase from the previous year. Breath sweeteners rose 1.6% at $111.5 million. Hard roll candy was the only category to lose volume, registering $81.2 million, a decline of 1.6%. Generally speaking, retailers said the category's space allotment remains the same and each checkout has the exact same planogram. But the number of new items keeps the section in a constant state of flux.

"You've got new items coming out on a constant basis," said Dziki of Glen's Markets. "We do a continual study on the top moving items and adjust our schematics probably once every three weeks. I have a category manager who is a sales rep in charge of it, and he goes out there and fine-tunes it for me on a constant basis."

Gummer of Gummer Wholesale also noted that retailers have to continually reset the section because they're not adding space. "Normally, they take out one item to make room for another. Somebody's got to go, whether it's the existing company or the competition. There isn't much room on the rack."

Redner's Eberhart noted that most of the new kids' candy isn't destined to become a classic because of its here-today-gone-tomorrow nature. "There's a lot of in-and-outs. The items don't stick around very long," said Redner's Eberhart.