Cook-in sauces are the ideal standby for cold nights and easy to put together to give the children something nutritious for dinner. Christmas was hectic and, in the run-up to the festive season, some of the highest percentages ever were recorded for product out of stock. Storecheck Marketing turned to this year, therefore, with some trepidation. Were some of our leading retailers losing the plot?
However, thankfully, things now seem to have returned to normality. In fact, in terms of the average at-risk and out-of-stock figure for unpromoted stock, this category performs better than our benchmark, at 7% as opposed to 12%.
This is a large category with more than 150 SKUs, although in Morrisons and Somerfield the range is more limited. The category is also well served by promotions, with an average of 15% of the SKUs on some form of offer.
Topping the league here are Somerfield and Tesco, with 18% and 23% respectively. All of the key retailers except Morrisons had excellent promotion availability, running well under their normal average. And with 3.7% out of stock, Asda takes the first title of the new year, with its promotion availability coming in at a sixth of its usual measure. Unfortunately, we are not able to say the same for Morrisons. Its typical good behaviour has deserted it, with a hefty 30% of promotional SKUs at risk or out of stock.
When it comes to the figures for normal stock availability, it’s easy to understand why the turnaround in Sainsbury’s fortunes may owe a great deal to its seriously improved availability. When we remade the averages at the tail end of 2005, we noted that Sainsbury was showing the greatest improvement. Now it leads the field with only 3.26% of its products facing availability issues. Given that Sainsbury benchmarks lower than the rest, this is also worthy of note.
Sainsbury contacted us last year about one of its poorer figures. It’s nice to know the retailer still sees room for improvement as well.
The worst normal availability in this category was Somerfield, with 15% of SKUs facing problems. This, in fact, represents average for the retailer, but in this company it looks poor.
However, thankfully, things now seem to have returned to normality. In fact, in terms of the average at-risk and out-of-stock figure for unpromoted stock, this category performs better than our benchmark, at 7% as opposed to 12%.
This is a large category with more than 150 SKUs, although in Morrisons and Somerfield the range is more limited. The category is also well served by promotions, with an average of 15% of the SKUs on some form of offer.
Topping the league here are Somerfield and Tesco, with 18% and 23% respectively. All of the key retailers except Morrisons had excellent promotion availability, running well under their normal average. And with 3.7% out of stock, Asda takes the first title of the new year, with its promotion availability coming in at a sixth of its usual measure. Unfortunately, we are not able to say the same for Morrisons. Its typical good behaviour has deserted it, with a hefty 30% of promotional SKUs at risk or out of stock.
When it comes to the figures for normal stock availability, it’s easy to understand why the turnaround in Sainsbury’s fortunes may owe a great deal to its seriously improved availability. When we remade the averages at the tail end of 2005, we noted that Sainsbury was showing the greatest improvement. Now it leads the field with only 3.26% of its products facing availability issues. Given that Sainsbury benchmarks lower than the rest, this is also worthy of note.
Sainsbury contacted us last year about one of its poorer figures. It’s nice to know the retailer still sees room for improvement as well.
The worst normal availability in this category was Somerfield, with 15% of SKUs facing problems. This, in fact, represents average for the retailer, but in this company it looks poor.
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