Happy 2023 everyone!
We’re keeping it short and sweet as we round out this week! Ordinarily, this would be a quiet week for our sector as we drift through the liminal rift of transitory days between the last year and the new.
Next year we’re going to be diving into the year to come, laying out our expectations for 2023 and how we in the retail world can seize the day! We think that this is going to be an interesting and transformative year!
Before we do, however, the wasteland of the early-January news cycle has seen fit to offer us something unexpected to quench our thirst for a little bit of drama –
PRIME HYDRATION -What the heck is going on?
This new craze for an energy drink produced by a pair of YouTube famous wannabee boxers is certainly an unusual one!
For what it’s worth, we know that trying to keep up with demand for PRIME has been causing many of you no small amount of stress and a good deal of confusion as you try and settle on a sales price while being inundated with more teenage footfall than anyone should ever be expected to deal with.
This is not the first trend of its kind… we all remember fidget spinners and similar bizarre internet fads of a few years ago. While we undergo a temporary bout of cultural insanity over PRIME HYDRATION, I wanted to start by reminding you all of an adage that I often find myself coming back to in times like this…
“This too shall pass.”
… and it will. Eventually, we’ll leave this craze in our rearview mirrors! However, as the PRIME palaver sets the tone for the beginning of the year, I think it’s worth exploring the implications…
The good, the bad, and the ultimately not that important!
THE GOOD
Having managed to secure a bottle of this rare elixir the other day, I took a cursory glance at its constituent ingredients. In many ways, it reminds me of exactly what you’d see on the back of any other can of energy drink. However, something caught my eye.
I couldn’t help but notice to comparatively low sugar content when compared to PRIME’s competitors.
Immediately my alarm bells were ringing! I spent much of Q3-4 last year writing about the rise of healthier, functional foods and their invasion of the snack/sweets market! I know that a huge number of you are increasingly stocking varietals of treats, snacks, bars etc that are coming with new, healthy/functional qualities.
The PRIME craze is not driven by a mass desire for a sugar rush, and the fact that its sweetness derives from 10% coconut water isn’t a dealbreaker! This is something that would have been thought of as a health fad only a few years ago, not mainstream!
This tells me, is as we go into 2023 with our business chips bet on functional foods, we might be on the right lines!
THE BAD
The internet craze is probably here to stay!
Blame TikTok, Instagram Reels and the like. Influencers can now wield massive power over our customers, and change their purchasing habits quickly. The retail zeitgeist is susceptible to a complete overhaul with the press of a button.
I understand how this might be troubling, as we chase stock and try to manage increased footfall. Though I think getting bogged down in the possible stress that this might cause is to fail to see the bigger picture…
THE NOT-SO-IMPORTANT
“This too shall pass”
When the PRIME craze dies down soon, and it will, those same customers will still need us. Today, they are racing to buy the new, hot product; tomorrow, they will fall back onto the staples.
If we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of continually chasing the new, trendy thing we risk losing sight of our purpose as convenience retailers and where the reliable income is going to come from.
Sure, we might see a short-sharp influx of profit from a trend like PRIME HYDRATION, but that will soon plateau again. The consequences of a mad rush to buy the trendy product can potentially alienate the disinterested customer – and they are always the majority. Trends never affect every demographic!
My point, therefore, is this… if you haven’t been able to capitalise on today’s big trend, don’t worry too much! This too shall pass, and trading will return to normal. Focus on what we can learn, big-picture, from a trend like PRIME, as we have in this article, and keep your eyes on your long-term profits and serving the majority in your community!
Have a great year!
Tell us about your experiences with trends/crazes in your store at: info@c-talk.co.uk
