Quote:
Originally Posted by SumPoosieCat
I could not disagree with you more Saint. 5 years ago everyone talked about the dominance of Red Bull and how Red Bull was this and Red Bull was that. Along comes Monster and knocks Red Bull all over the place. Consumers want choice and the Energy Drink market is very profitable for C stores. Why would they want to limit selection in such a profitable and growing segment? Energy Drinks continue double digit growth and there seems to be no end in sight. Energy Drinks that have a Niche will continue to do well and those that fail to get a following will fall to the side.
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So when they fall to the side where exactly is the retailer going to put all of his "buy 5 get 2 free" brands?? If a drink doesn't get a following it is merely taking up space in the cold vault. The retailers are not gonna throw 7 cases in the garbage, it is gonna sit on the shelf for years until one of the big guys offer to buy it all for the space it takes up. The brands that "have a niche" and "continue to do well" will eventually be incorporateds into the cold vault during the contract allocations. I am all for the stores having products that sell, it is the ones that have a rep that comes in sells his 7 cases and is never seen again while the product just sits and collects dust that are the problem. "cocaine" should come to mind for most as while it was "IT" for some time, IT now is dead and sits and sits. This is the reason chain accounts do not authorize every tom dick and harry energy drink that comes along, when it becomes popular then it gets space allocated for it, when it dies they are not sitting on 6 1/2 cases PER store.
While each and every single brand/ flavor has the potential to become "the next greatest thing" reality is that it won't. If there is a new brand that ultimately is going to be the next "hot" item, well then the distributor should offer a buy 5 and get a cheap ice barrel to merchandise it in rather than the buy 5 get 2.
just my .02