I wondered what your take was on limited editions. Suppliers say they add excitement to a category and drive sales but it’s you retailers that have got to find space for them.
I’m old enough to remember when ‘limited editions’ were a new thing and they were exciting as you had a whole new flavour experience to try but I wonder whether there is a bit of new flavour fatigue nowadays.
Apparently that’s not the case when it comes to Red Bull. The energy drink brand has done so well with its Editions that is has unveiled its first-ever limited Red Bull Winter Edition – Spiced Pear. It is described as the ‘perfect blend of pear, accented with a dash of cinnamon’.
According to Kantar research, innovation and new flavours bring new shoppers into the energy drinks category, andconverting a further 24% of shoppers could deliver an additional 12m of them and incremental sales of £483m. Wow!
Red Bull says that with more flavours in more stores, reaching more shoppers, sales of Editions have quadrupled in two years (Nielsen).
Last year the range attracted 2m more buyers and it is the fastest growing sub-brand for new buyers, with one in 10 Red Bull shoppers only buying Editions (Kantar). The energy drinks giant says that to date this has been led by the introduction of an annual limited Summer Edition, with the portfolio now boasting six flavours, delivering 92% incremental value growth. And now there is this new Winter Edition…
Red Bull says the Spiced Pear flavour performed well in trials, delivering strong purchase intent so it seems this is one limited edition to definitely stock up on.
Being in a slightly older demographic to a typical energy drink consumer, I must say (rather embarrassingly) that a new Winter fragrance of disinfectant brand Zoflora caught my eye. I know, I know… but you get cleanliness and a festive fragrance all in one. I know it won’t be anywhere near as popular as Red Bull Spiced Pear and I doubt that many of you will stock it but personally I will find the Winter Spice variant hard to resist. It’s described as a ‘warm wintery fragrance blending juicy orange and peppermint on top, followed by a spicy heart of cinnamon, clove, and gingerbread on a sweet woody ambery background’ – what’s not to like? It sounds like Christmas in a disinfectant – words I never imagined I would write! Now to clean that kitchen floor.
