FIFCO USA has unveiled a new 7.5 oz can for its malt-based beverage line Seagram’s Escapes, aiming to leverage the new format and $1 price point to carve out space at retail outlets and bring in new customers.
Starting in April, the tropical flavored beverage is expected to hit the shelves of over 5,000 c-stores, independents and chain retailers including Walmart’s Action Alley, Kroger, Tops, Kwik Fill and Delta Sonic. The company, which launched 1985, positioned the new can size as a scalable version of its 11.2 oz bottles. The larger format found success with a mix-and-match variety pack option, according to Chuck Buckingham, brand director for Seagram’s Escapes. But the unique can size and low price point will offer a less breakable version that still encourages trial.
“It’s very easy for three or four of these to get into the cart as an incremental purchase,” Buckingham said.
For now, the company will keep its 11.2 oz bottles — which retail about $6 for a four-pack — on shelves, but after a year it will evaluate making the new format exclusive.
Seagram’s Escapes Spiked, which has a higher ABV at 8%, will also be available in the new format in two flavors. The beverage was previously only offered in 23.5 oz. and 16 oz. cans.
By shrinking the can size, the company has found inroads into grocery stores that have not carried the higher ABV version and has been able to carve out new shelf space at c-stores, according to Buckingham.
Through new merchandising systems, the company is aiming to leverage retail space that hasn’t been occupied, relieving retailers from shuffling around less product. Merchandising assets include a gravity feed 12-shelf floor display, gravity feed under-glides, a cooler door vertical hanging rack and bins that hold 10 to 12 cases each. The bins include QR codes that drive consumers to recipes.
“We specifically sought out how to drive frequency with our current consumers,” Buckingham said. “And the way to drive frequency with our current consumers who use this as a mixer was to basically open up occasions, which this does.”
Building off the use of the larger formats as cocktail mixers, the company will be promoting the beverage on social media as more conveniently sized for mixing. It also plans to overhaul the website to feature a mobile-formatted retailer finder tool and will continue marketing the brand in collaboration with its celebrity endorser, Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Cynthia Bailey.
The smaller can aligns closer to the recent wave of ready-to-drink cocktails, hinting at an innovation the company is launching towards the summer that will blur the lines between malt-based and spirit-based, said Buckingham. As malt-based beverage sales slow, that impending launch could underscore how brands look to find growth in spirit based offerings or hybrids that emphasize full flavor.