European heatwave: driving impulse spending in Budapest

Widespread heatwaves across Europe have been a key point of concern for retailers this summer. Soaring temperatures are stressing supply chains and store operations. Cold-chain integrity and in-store refrigerators are particular challenge points. 

However, heatwaves also present an opportunity for retailers to drive impulse spending. From electric fans to ice cream, shoppers are looking to add anything that might help them stay cool to their baskets. We visited Budapest in a week of record-breaking temperatures to see how retailers are helping shoppers cope with extreme heat. 

Enhancing the barbecue mission 

For many, hot weather is a blessing that allows the kitchen to be moved outdoors. This is particularly true in Hungary, where grilling is a popular national pastime. Hypermarket retailers are creating dedicated zones to ease the barbecue shopping mission. Cross-category adjacencies are used to drive impulse spending on additional items for barbecue events. 

Auchan executes this particularly well with its ‘Smoke Kings’ range. This is given a dedicated island in-store. Meat and plant-based grilling products are displayed in categorised chillers. Above these, shelves display cross-merchandised products from adjacent categories. This is accompanied with a display of adjacent non-food products for al-fresco dining. 

Tesco hypermarkets take a similar approach. Barbecue zones consist of a food display including chillers, ambient products, and branded shippers. Across the aisle, a non-food display presents barbecues and other related products. 

Cooling off at the checkout 

Hot weather provides key opportunities to drive impulse spending at the checkout. As shoppers leave air-conditioned stores, whether they are returning to hot cars or walking in the sunshine, many will be looking for something to help them keep cool. Retailers can take advantage of this with their layouts. To-go coolers or chillers with chilled drinks or ice creams should be placed at the end of the shopper journey to capture this impulse. 

In Budapest, Lidl executes this particularly well. Checkout areas host coolers with both alcoholic and soft drinks for shoppers to pick up before leaving the store. An additional ice cream freezer has also been added to this zone. This is called out with large signage and imagery representing the sun, which can be found across all of Lidl’s summer ranges. In one store, a fresh sushi chiller was even included next to the checkout. 

Reconfiguring the shopper journey 

Driving impulse spending is a key revenue driver for retailers in a time when margins are constrained. To this end, some in the hypermarket channel are altering the shopper journey throughout their entire stores. Many hypermarkets place to-go food and drinks at the front of the store to facilitate quick shopping missions. In Hungary, however, Interspar stores have reversed this to promote impulse purchases, and the heatwave is driving this further. 

Shoppers enter the store into a large non-food section. Here, summer products including paddling pools, fans, and barbecues tempt the shopper at the beginning of their journey. 

From here, the store layout is typical for that of an Interspar hypermarket, until the very end of the shopper journey. Towards the checkouts, shoppers are met with a wealth of to-go meal solutions, chilled drinks, and ice cream. This placement may complicate the store experience for shoppers looking only to pick up to-go food and drink. However, it will drive impulse spend from shoppers who have built up a hunger or thirst during their visit to the large-format store. 

Simple revenue drivers 

The above executions are not as complex or technical as many of the innovations we see in global grocery retail. This does not, however, mean they are any less effective. In many cases, simple layout changes and well-placed impulse products can be excellent drivers to increase basket sizes. 

Heatwaves create excellent opportunities for this. Weather events, unlike any other seasonal event, are felt by every shopper equally. This creates sweeping opportunities for retailers across their entire customer base that must be taken advantage of.