Tis the season to be adventurous. With the festive season fast approaching, forecourt operators should consider broadening their Christmas range by stocking more upmarket and on-trend lines from fresh meat to novelty scratchcards.
That is according to Oasis Services’ managing director Oliver Blake, who believes that – with many petrol stations increasing their grocery offerings throughout the year – the likes of turkey and ham joints, party food, premium cheese selections and showstopper desserts such as strawberry trifles and stacks of profiteroles no longer look out of place on forecourt shelves.
Such has been Oasis Services success in the festive market that the business takes pre-orders for its meat and poultry joints. Fresh food, he says, has helped give the Long Riston, Hull-based operator a point of difference, and is “overlooked by most”, says Oliver.
Ambient biscuits are also a huge earner for the Gulf-branded site. “The UK has the highest consumers of biscuits in the world. We dedicate an entire gondola end just for biscuits over Christmas and they fly out. We even get people pre-ordering them now,” he says.
In confectionery, Matchmakers Hazelnut is a new line that Oasis Services has been having to re-order from the start of the Christmas marketing period. “I can see people really going for this in the build up to Christmas,” says Oliver. “And Terry’s Chocolate Milk in the blue packaging is also new for us this year and will be a great stocking filler that I’m sure people will be buying, as well as a new brand of freeze-dried candy arriving Friday, which is on trend as well as looking fantastic in its packaging.”
He adds: “We have all the standard things you would expect in confectionery such as advent calendars, sweet tubes, bags, and tubs.”
In alcohol, Oliver predicts it will be all about the deals that the business is given by Spar, such as two for £20 on crates of beer, two for £10 on wines and a £13.99 deal across a range of spirit brands.
He also predicts that Hawkstone Lager, with its connections to Jeremy Clarkson’s farm from where its maker sources barley, will continue to “fly out” as a great additional stocking filler.
Oliver expects a repeat of last year when Christmas-themed scratchcards really took off. “I think there was an influencer on TikTok talking about how she puts them in Christmas crackers, which went viral,” he says.
For Guy White, managing director of Laurels Service Station in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, local luxury lines are the priority, alongside small impulse chocolate lines such as Maltesers Reindeer, and also some advent calendars. “Christmas trade is very last minute for us. However, our local bakery rum truffles and six varieties of mince pies are already flying off the shelf,” says Guy. “They are not the cheapest, but people seem to love quality. The luxury extra deep fill mince pies are the favourite.”
Guy adds: “We have mulled wine and Buck’s Fizz just coming into store, but my focus is on local bakery products, great margin, and massive repeat, as we know the quality is outstanding. We will soon have fresh Yule logs and so much more.”
Meanwhile, MPK Garages is sticking to traditional favourites. “We are taking more volume of hero lines and less unknown novelty,” says retail director Wayne Harrand. “The suppliers are more reserved this year in terms of choice, and we are sticking to things we know consumers want with plenty of that stock.”
Forecourt operator Goran Raven says that he has “gone quite big” and is “Christmas ready” at his Abridge, Essex store, with stacks of Celebrations, Quality Street and Roses, Walkers Shortbread and Lindt Santa chocolate. His secret weapon to win sales this year is a personalised Raven’s own-label line-up of treats from Bramble Foods.
“The best way to describe it is a farm shop range,” says Goran, with traditional sweets, and luxury Christmas puddings and cakes in the line-up.
But Goran, who expects a 25% uplift in shop sales in the seven days before the big event, says he is also looking forward to the first deliveries of Cadbury Crème Eggs in a few weeks’ time. “Ironically, they are one of our best sellers over the Christmas period,” he says.
