NEW YORK-Over the next three years, warehouse clubs will provide the greatest sales growth for consumer products, according to a survey of consumer-products manufacturers conducted by Deloitte.
Eighty-nine percent of the manufacturing executives who responded to the survey said they expect their company’s sales through warehouse clubs to increase in that time frame. Meanwhile, grocery stores, mass merchants and supercenters accounted for 72.6 percent of CPG sales in 2011, but this share slipped by two percentage points over the prior three years. Just 49 percent of the executives in the study said they expected sales to grocery stores to rise in the next three years, while 18 percent said they foresee sales to this channel declining.
Pat Conroy, Deloitte’s vice chairman and consumer products leader, noted that warehouse clubs offer both increased sales and branding opportunities to consumer-products companies. Conroy added that the clubs have been remodeling existing stores, increasing the offerings in certain categories such as food, and providing a variety of services and benefits to members.
In addition, CPG executives believe that the clubs are increasing their appeal to a wider array of consumers. This is particularly true among affluent consumers, those with more than $100,000 in household income, of which 71 percent now shop in warehouse clubs.