Cool chillers open up doors to profit

Chilled drinks represent a huge untapped opportunity for retailers, according to experts speaking at last week's ­Drinksummit conference.

Peter Reynolds, senior client manager for Nielsen, said

white wine sales could be boosted by 20 per cent by simply

offering cold drinks. He recommended

chillers

be stocked with high-margin wines. The bare minimum should display one Champagne, one sparkling and one promotion, he suggested.

The message coincided with news that the conference organiser, the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, is planning a new Blueprint planogram for chilled drinks. It will be designed for open "dairy deck" chillers

that will

display whites,

rosés , lager, ciders and RTDs together.

The conference heard from Warrington retailer Ansir Amin, whose Mr Convenience store was named Blueprint Retailer of the Year after he invest ed £40,000 in drinks chillers and follow ed advice offered in existing FWD Blueprints for beers, wines and spirits.