FEATURE
PMPS
78 ASIAN TRADER 17 OCTOBER 2025
exclusively reducing prices on
PMPs across selected Batchelors
and Ambrosia lines for the
convenience channel. Batchelors
Super Noodles has been reduced
from £1.45 to £1.09, whilst
selected Ambrosia cans have
dropped from £1.95 to £1.50.
Rob Craven, Customer
Controller of Wholesale &
Convenience at Premier Foods,
comments: “We know that for
some shoppers, value is every
thing right now. They want to feel
like they are getting good value
for their money and PMPs are an
effective and visible way of
showing this in-store. “
The move follows success with
the first PMP Super Noodle pot
launched in 2023, which saw
retailers experience an uplift in
sales. With three-quarters of
shoppers saying PMPs give them
confidence in price, and more
than half having bought PMPs in
the impulse channel during the
past year, the format’s
importance continues to
grow.
Beer and Cider:
heavyweights
In the beer and cider
category, PMPs
represent an even
more significant
proportion of sales.
Price-marked beer
and cider packs are
worth approximately £376.1m in
the convenience channel,
accounting for an impressive 48.7
per cent of total category value
sales. PMPs have a 48.4 per cent
share in beer and 50.3 per cent in
cider.
Alexander Wilson, Category &
Commercial Strategy Director at
HEINEKEN UK, explains:
“Price-marked packs are an
invaluable tool for helping to
increase beer and cider sales in the
independent and convenience
channel, providing a point of
difference from supermarkets.
They give clearer perception of
value-for-money.”
The bestselling HEINEKEN
UK PMPs include Cruzcampo
(4x568ml), Fosters 4x568ml,
Strongbow Original (4x440ml)
and Inch’s Medium Apple
(4x440ml). Wilson advises
retailers to stock up on small and
mid-sized packs to cater to all
occasions, noting that all pack
formats experience significant
sales jumps during peak seasons,
including summer sporting
events and the Christmas period.
Guinness has taken PMP
promotion to another level with a
limited-time-only convenience-
exclusive offer timed to coincide
with the Premier League season.
The 4x440ml Guinness Draught
in Can PMP packs,
retailing at £6.69,
feature an on-pack
competition giving
consumers the
chance to win
thousands of prizes,
from Premier League
match tickets to
limited-edition branded
items.
Pork scratching
opportunity
One often-overlooked category
showing strong PMP potential is
pork scratchings. Voted Britain’s
favourite pub snack, scratchings
represent a VAT-free category
offering strong margins. Impor
tantly, most people are surprised
to learn that more scratchings are
sold in shops than in pubs, making
them an essential stock item
for convenience retailers.
Mr. Porky, the number one
brand, and Midland Snacks,
with its Great Taste Award
winning recipe, are positioned
to capitalise on the Big Night In
trend, with consumers looking
to recreate the pub experience
at home. The brands are
available in SRPs, clipstrips and
pubcards, offering solutions for
stores of all sizes.
And whilst stocking the
right PMPs is crucial, effective
merchandising can significantly
amplify their impact. The key
principle, according to industry
experts, is to make it simple to
shop.
Smith advises: “The key to
effective merchandising is ...
make it simple to shop! Given the
importance of savoury snacks as
an impulse purchase and footfall
driver, independent retailers
should make sure that snacks are
highly visible on shoppers’ main
route to the till.”
He recommends thinking
about shopping missions and
siting products accordingly:
placing sharing snacks near beers,
wines and spirits to capture Big
Night In missions, and position
ing impulse snacks near chiller
units with sandwiches and cans
for lunchtime “grab and go”
occasions.
For stores where PMP snacks
account for the majority of sales,
merchandising by price point
makes it easier to shop. “Having
a strong range of both £1 and
£1.25 PMPs is essential – but
group each price point together
to make it easier to shop the
fixture quickly,” Smith explains.
Woolf echoes the impor
tance of strategic selection:
“Offering the right mix of PMPs
Merchandising PMPs effectively
Matt Smith, Marketing Director
for Tayto UK, shares tips on
maximising visibility and sales
of PMPs in the snacks aisle for
maximum impact
The key to effective merchandising is … make it simple to shop!
Given the importance of savoury snacks as an impulse
purchase and footfall driver, independent retailers should
make sure that snacks are highly visible on shoppers’ main
route to the till.
Shoppers are time and cash poor, so merchandising should be
focused on helping them make quick decisions. Think about
missions… site snacks with other categories on the same
mission to increase basket size. For example, place sharing
snacks near BWS to capture the Big Night In mission and
impulse snacks near chiller units with sandwiches and cans to
capture the lunchtime ‘grab & go’.
For independent retailers where PMP snacks account for 79
per cent of sales, merchandising by price-point makes it easier
to shop. Sharing PMPs account for almost two thirds (63 per
cent) of sales and so, having a strong range of both £1 and
£1.25 PMPs is essential - but group each price point together
to make it easier to shop the fixture quickly.
Whilst sharing PMPs are key to success, don’t ignore the
significant footfall that can be driven by having a tight range
of impulse snacks. Again, PMPs are essential and should cover
an entry price point (e.g. Golden Wonder’s Tangy Toms, Spicy
Bikers and Oinks with their added value of a multi-buy
on-pack offer to drive sales) as well as a range of proven
impulse snacks such as Golden Wonder’s 50p Transform-A-
Snack which continue to be a firm favourite across the
country.