Here at C-Talk, we’re anticipating this year’s Great Celebrity Bake Off just as much as anybody else in the nation; edge of the seat, nail biting suspense that has our mouths watering and our hands itching to take a trip to the nearest shop around.
Much like everybody else, we’re ready for a basket-full purchase of baking necessities (maybe even some pre-baked goods in case we can’t quite mimic our favourite celebrity puddings and things go south) which might just be the reason for the inflated sales in the bakery section every year that GCBO airs.
Inherently, we crave what we see, our intrinsic human nature being to obtain the very thing we’re exposed to.
According to a 2016 article by the Food Manufacture, BBC’s Great British Bake Off ‘saw a rise in spending on ingredients’, with consumers spending an additional £12.5M while GBBO was being aired.
As well as this, The Telegraph released an article stating that positive ratings for the popular TV programme correlated with home baking figures; ‘a quarter of adults baked once a week in 2013’ and ‘only three-fifths of adults did so at least once in the year’, the original figure more than doubling after the 10 week show completed its run time.
Being the best baker in the world isn’t even a necessity for consumers to feel involved in the show; an extra £3M was also spent on shop bought cakes, blooming convenience store profit massively whilst still allowing watchers to consume similar enough treats to the ones they see being made on the programme.
It’s a funny one really, how watching Ross (David Schwimmer) from Friends could entice us to create a sweet treat much better than Rachel’s trifle or Phoebe’s grandmother’s cookies, but that’s the beauty of it all!
Store profit seems to excel yearly during the time the 10 week series takes place, which is wonderful news for independent convenience retail owners- regardless of the steady stream of business their stores may endure during this time.
There’s no doubt that we’ll be seeing that same insurgence in ingredients sales this year. GBBO/GCBO simply helps consumers rediscover the joy of baking, as well as connect them with their favourite celebrities- if Gemma Collins can have a mare in the kitchen, then so can we!
Statistics have proven that 73% of millennials are inspired to bake more by the programme, with baking being more common among 25-34 year olds than any other age group.
However, with this year’s range of contestants scaling from Gemma Collins, to Mike Wozniak (and many more!), we can expect to see our local shops filled with customers of all ages trying to get their hands on similar confectionary.
What with Jesy Nelson having the opportunity to showcase her talents with mixes that aren’t so little, it’s no wonder why inspired GCBO fans are flooding their nearest shops in an attempt to recreate the treats made on TV- it’s like watching a film where everything they eat or create, we get to experience too!
Think 4DX, but the 3D part is just replaced by flavour.
So as retailers, the next time your customers come in to do a food shop- whether that be a twelve pack of fairy cakes, a Betty Crocker cake mix or every single ingredient from scratch- make sure that everything’s stocked up and on the shelves for them to sift through on their way to the checkout, ready for the 10 delicious weeks ahead!
Happy Baking!
