MERCHANDISING HONEY

Promotional activities contributed modestly to increased honey sales in retail during 2023, with just 18.4% of honey dollars and 20.1% of honey units sold on promotion. This represented a $28.7MM increase in dollars sold and a 2.2MM increase in units sold on promotion. All promotions in aggregate drove a 48.3% lift in dollar sales during 2023; feature ads performed slightly better with a 54.9% lift in dollar sales.

The National Honey Board recommends four merchandising principles to increase sales of honey at retail:

1. Merchandise all honey SKUs together in a block within the grocery aisle, grouped by brand with the larger sizes placed to the right.
2. Avoid placing honey on the highest or lowest shelves, but rather strive for “reach level” placement located on the shelving between waist level and eye level.
3. Whenever possible, seek additional (i.e. secondary) placements of honey outside of the main honey shelving adjacent to complementary items and categories (for example, tea, coffee or hot cereal).
4. Use signage on displays and shelving to remind shoppers of the role that honey and honey bees play in sustaining our food supply, and how purchasing honey directly supports beekeepers and their ability to keep healthy bees.

Source: NIQ Byzzer, Total U.S. FMCG, 52 weeks ending 12/30/23