Three national trade associations representing convenience retailers, their distributors, and the manufacturers of candy and gum have joined together to sponsor an in-depth study to help generate increased sales and profit of confection products in convenience stores across the U.S.

Sponsoring the study will be the National Confectioners Association (NCA), the American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).

The research will be conducted by Dietz Consulting, LLC, Huron, Ohio, led by veteran industry consultant Kit Dietz, a former c-store distributor, and will be ready in time for the NACS Show at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., October 4-7.

"I am delighted that all three associations have joined together to produce a study of this magnitude, which has the ultimate objective of helping to increase candy and gum sales in the convenience store channel," said AWMA president & CEO Scott Ramminger. "We all stand to benefit from the product of this work."
"We feel this study will help to identify additional costs within the distribution system and assist in determining what the best practices really are to reduce those costs," said John Scardina, vice president, merchandising, Eby-Brown Company LLC, a regional convenience store distributor based in Naperville, Ill. "Our desire is that this study will create recommendations that will help to reduce costs, increase efficiencies and improve profitability throughout the distribution network for us and our retail partners."

Beyond efficiencies, however, the study will focus on ways to increase confection sales within the c-store channel. "How do we manage that? We need to have a good understanding of opportunities that exist and how we can take advantage of them. We are looking forward to these results," said Jim Corcoran, vice president of trade relations at NCA.

"The retailer must have a better fundamental understanding of consumer trends," commented Dae U. Kim, NACS vice president, research. "We need to know what consumers are looking for today and how manufacturers are responding."

Dietz said the study will focus on all of those points -- operational efficiencies, marketing opportunities, consumer trends and manufacturer responses. "We intend to provide insights and knowledge to help all segments improve their performance across the confections category within the convenience channel and create strategic advantage for all channel partners," he said.