According to a report yesterday from Bloomberg.com impulse sales at convenice stores such as 7-Eleven and Quiktrip appear
to be on the rebound. “We saw a pick-up in consumer discretionary
spending (1.6 percent in March, according to the Commerce Department),
which resulted in improved sales for impulse purchases in convenience
stores,” said Bill Pecoriello, chief executive officer of Stamford,
Connecticut-based Consumer Edge. The research firm analyzes store
scanner data from Information Resources Inc. to determine sales.
“Snacks, too, showed signs of recovery in the first quarter," said John
Compton, CEO of Americas Foods for Purchase, New York- based PepsiCo,
the world’s biggest snack maker.
Analysts are optimistic, but are also quick to point out the progress
seen is a step in the right direction, but still way off from before
the recession hit. “I would characterize it as improving,” Compton
told Bloomberg reporter Duane D. Stanford. “It has a ways to go as the
unemployment numbers need to improve and the overall economy needs to
improve.”
Half of all convenience store sales are impulse, according to the
article, and account for 13% of Hershey candy sales (or about
$590 million, of the company’s $4.5 billion in US sales last year). “We really saw volume in convenience return in a big way,” Hershey said
Could be a sign of good things to come for packaging machinery and
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