COOLER SETS...WHICH ONE IS BEST FOR YOU?

FOR PACKAGE STORE RETAILERS

One of the biggest decisions an off premise retailer can make is how to set his or her cold box. There a many ways to do it and most have a specific desired result. We will mention a few of the most popular here, to help you in making your decision.

Before we get started, let’s cover WHY you need a shelf set at all. Some might say if you offer the customer good, fresh, cold product, they will find it and they will be happy. Those of us who have been in this business for a while know that is just not the case.

A few months ago I wrote a piece on “the hardware store” analogy. In it I spoke of the confusion many customers experience when entering a package store. While most of us in the business are comfortable with various layouts, many customers look at the average package store the way I look at a hardware store…with total confusion and mystery.

In order to make your customers more comfortable and to give them a feeling of belonging, it is wise to set your store with a basic plan in mind.

Signs directing them to various parts of the store are a great idea. Even a “You Are Here” type of map on the wall works well. Anything to keep the customer happy and keep them in the store.
When it comes to setting your cold box, there are a number of ways in which it can be done. Here are some suggestions, along with their perceived benefits:

1) SET BY PRICE TO THE CONSUMER, BEGINNING AT THE LOW END …This set enables the customer to begin at the cheaper beers and move to the higher priced ones. The foot traffic pattern encourages the consumer to move down the cooler, checking out the various beers. He or she may see one preferred to their original choice and trade up to it.

2) SET BY PRICE TO THE CONSUMER, BEGINNING AT THE HIGH END…This set enables the customer to begin his trip down the cooler with your more expensive beers. The idea here is to try to catch the consumer’s eye early, with a strong-profit brand. They can, of course, continue down the cooler, getting into the lower end brands.

3) SET BY CATEGORY…This set is arranged by the types of beers offered. Premium domestic would all be together; all light beers would be in one group; all craft beers would be in one spot and so on. The benefit of this set is simplicity and comparison for the customer, as they can go to a section looking for a specific beer and see ALL the beers offered in that specific category. This set has the ability of encouraging the customer to trade up, within his category.

4) SET BY DISTRIBUTOR…This set is usually used to keep distributors from adding new brands and packages. Each distributor gets ca section and it must contain all their products. If a new item is introduced, an existing item must come out. This is not a good set. Its only benefit is to the retailer and that benefit has more down sides than ups.

5) SET BY RETAILER PROFIT…This set is a fairly new one. It is designed to place the most profitable beers in the most easily accessible spots. It is similar to set #2, but the beginning of the customer’s journey down the cooler is filled with different brands and packages. Their only common denominator is a stronger than average return for the retailer.

6) A BOMB WENT OFF IN MY STORE…This set is the “no set at all” version. It can be found in large urban areas as well as rural ones. These retailers are the ones who sit behind the counter and let the customer hunt for their items among disheveled displays and collapsing shelving. Unfortunately, this set is more common than one would imagine. Obviously this is not a recommended set.
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I hope this information continues to open your eyes to the positives of beer, as the driving force of your business. No matter how you look at it, beer has its place, as the foundation, in your formula for success. Beer is still America’s Beverage of choice.

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Thank you for your continued support.

Don Apostolos

The Apostolos Pro Beer Post

973.692.9585

dapostolos@optonline.net