It’s not easy to change consumer behavior. According to StatisticBrain.com’s New Year’s Resolution Statistics, only 9.2 percent of people report feeling they were successful in achieving their resolution. Yet, with 21.4 percent of respondents listing lose weight/healthier eating as their New Year’s resolution for 2017, it suggests that opportunities abound for health-and-wellness initiatives.
Organizations are taking a thoughtful approach about what tactics will motivate consumers to make healthier decisions. Recently, the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) announced two new pilot tests that focused on the messaging of beverage attributes in order to increase sales.
One was the Healthy Cooler Planogram, which was a two-phase pilot test that examined beverage case layout changes coupled with functional messaging highlighting lower-calorie beverages. Two convenience stores (one in Pendleton, Calif., and the other in Quantico, Va.,) were chosen as the test sites, while two other stores served as control sites.
The initial phase had these convenience stores move zero- and low-calorie beverages to eye level or top of the beverage case, thereby shifting higher-calorie drinks to the bottom. The next phase included the placement of cling displays that featured functional messages on the beverage cooler doors.
NACS reports that bottled water, enhanced water, functional beverage and diet soda sales increased 21.3 percent during the control weeks. Even more impressive is that it wasn’t at the expense of other cooler items as total purchase of goods increased by 11.7 percent during the control weeks, it reports.
Another pilot was at 21 convenience stores in Indiana. The Juice Messaging Pilot Test featured three health-centered messages that were developed by the Juice Products Association. NACS reports that juice sales declined in both pilot tests — down 2.4 percent in each. This suggests that awareness campaigns are not always enough to fuel sales, NACS reported.
No matter which channel they are sold in, data suggests that many healthy beverage categories are making gains. In Beverage Industry’s State of the Industry webinar (2 p.m. ET on April 4), Beverage Marketing Corporation will enlighten us about which beverage categories came out on top in 2017. I suspect better-for-you categories will continue their momentum within the non-alcohol beverage market.
