Are poor concessions sales making a big dent in your cinema finances? Since the sale of popcorn, lollies and drinks accounts for around 40% of the profits at movie theatres, it's crucial that you sell as many as you can if you want to stay afloat. Unfortunately, while lollies and confectionery can make big profits, they can also be the hardest concession food to sell.
Raising prices may be the most obvious way to make more money from confectionery, but it rarely works. Many of today's consumers are jaded by overpriced snack offerings and would rather go hungry than pay more than they feel is fair. Thankfully, increasing prices isn't the only way to boost your concession profits. Here are the more easy and effective strategies you can try to sell more sweet treats.
1. Change Your Wholesale Lolly Supplier
One of the first things you should look into is changing your wholesale lolly supplier. Many cinemas and theatres struggle to make enough profit from confectionery sales because they're paying too much for the lollies to start with. Looking for a supplier with better wholesale prices will allow you to lower the price on confectionery without lowering your profits. Since high prices are often the biggest hurdle for customers to get over, the lower you can make your prices, the more concessions you'll sell.
2. Stock a Better Confectionery Range
Aside from high wholesale prices, another supplier problem that can affect your sales is a poor range of lollies. You may think the best way to make money is to stock a standard range of favoured brands, but remember that customers can get those treats anywhere at any time for a lower price than you're selling them for. It's better to stock a unique range of lollies that customers wouldn't often find on shop shelves.
This helps link your patrons' cinema and theatre experience with the experience of buying concessions, making them more likely to purchase confectionery every time to visit you to watch a film or a performance. Another benefit of stocking lollies customers wouldn't normally buy is that they won't have a price reference to compare your menu to. This alleviates some of the reluctancy that comes with paying high prices for cinema and theatre concessions. If your current supplier only offers a basic lolly range, don't hesitate to find a new one with more offerings.
3. Make Use of Combo Deals
Without a doubt, one of the best ways to increase confectionery sales at your concessions stand is to offer combo deals. In any cinema, customers are more likely to buy popcorn and a drink that they are to buy candy. Popcorn is an essential part of the movie experience and drinks are crucial to quench thirst, but confectionery is more of an indulgence than a necessity. You can push customers to treat themselves by bundling confectionery in a combo deal with popcorn and drinks. You may make a little less profit on each bag of lollies that you sell, but you'll make more profit overall because you'll see more confectionery.
For more information, contact your local wholesale lolly supplies company.