According to recent research (Statista), the European ice cream market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.87% between 2019 and 2024, driven by indulgence and an increasing consumer preference for ice cream as a leisure product.
While companies such as Unilever and Nestlé have been leading the market for decades, new players are gaining terrain among shoppers by offering “better for you” and “free from” options.
In such a competitive and dynamic landscape, obtaining the attention of consumers while they are in store is key to any brand hitting their sales targets.
For this reason, ice-cream manufacturers make significant investments in the production and placement of branded freezers and other promotional materials destined for retail and OOH channels.
But are supermarkets and convenience stores compliant in attracting more customers with branded materials and promotions?
In the past 3 years, Roamler has been running thousands of in-store checks throughout Europe, reporting on the position, usage and conditions of branded ice-cream freezers and the presence of other promotional materials.
Despite branded freezers being visible to shoppers in over 80% of checks, only 30% of them were placed within the store impulse area. The majority were instead located at the store entrance, especially within the convenience channel.
In more than 70% of cases, our mobile community found that the product assortment and presence of POSM materials were not compliant with the agreed-upon planogram. In addition, in most cases branded freezers also contained other ice cream brands and, in fewer cases (13%), other products too, such as ice cubes, frozen vegetables or chicken.
When it comes to POS materials, although the product range board was present in 62% of the visited locations, other promotional materials were found in approximately 10% of cases. On average, only 3% of the stores visited had clear and visible promotions in place.
When asked to point out the aspects of in-store execution that could be improved, our mobile community of mystery shoppers named product assortment and presence of promotional materials as the main critical areas.
When dealing with such a diversified retail landscape, where compliance tends to be lower than desired, how can ice-cream manufacturers ensure they make the most out of the best selling season of the year?
Timely and accurate in-store checks are the only tool for monitoring what consumers see in the retail and OOH channels in real time. Thanks to a community of app users spread across Europe, Roamler is able to deliver comprehensive data and photos at store level in a matter of days.
Once submissions from our geo-located community members are received and manually reviewed, data is made available in the Roamler Client Portal as live dashboards and reports.
This way, brands are able to make timely, data-driven adjustments to their in-store execution, thereby improving their sales results.
Are you interested in knowing more about how crowdsourcing can help your business gain a competitive advantage? Get in touch with our experts.