Scoop snapshots
Friday, March 1 2002
Five retailers around the country provide some insight into ice cream and frozen novelty trends in their markets.
East Coast: Variety, Price Issues at Pathmark
Art Whitney has two words for ice cream manufacturers: less variety.
Whitney, Pathmark Stores' executive vice president of merchandising and logistics, says, "We dedicate a lot more cabinet space to ice cream than we did even five years ago."
He feels that variety has increased so dramatically that it "almost amounts to cannibalization," in sales. It is, he admits, a bit of a Catch-22 situation: though ice cream sales are "off" at Pathmark in the category and, he suspects, in the entire Pathmark trading area as well, it's also variety that traditionally drives growth in the category.
Another influence on ice cream sales, he says, is that "the consumer is more into indulgence," which, on one hand, has hyped sales of premium products and, on the other, brought a slump to sales of healthier varieties like fat-free ice cream and frozen yogurt. "They peaked a couple years ago,"Whitney says.