Retailer insight: Best-selling biscuits

What are the best-selling biscuits at Forest Deli?
Best-selling sweet biscuits at the moment are the Island Bakery range, they are generally chocolate-based and definitely look luxurious without being overly expensive. For savoury biscuits, our best-selling range is split between Peters Yard original sourdough crackers in three different sizes, and the Fine English Cheese Co flavoured ranges. We also produce our own brand of small-batch shortbread, which generally sells out within a few days of it being on the counter.

What do your shoppers look for when buying biscuits?
Flavour profiles seem to be one of the most important purchase decisions for both sweet and savoury, for example Dark Chocolate & Ginger seems to be a best seller irrespective of brand. For savoury biscuits, the conversation is usually around what cheese they are going with, consumers definitely look for complementary flavours to match their cheese purchases. The Peters Yard original recipe sells really well in all different size formats, the primary purchase decision is definitely based on form factor rather than flavour with this range. Customers also like a homemade option such as our shortbread.

How popular is your free-from range?
Our GF range has been key as long as we’ve been open. It’s a great addition to have for bespoke gifts and hampers. For sweet we stock the Prewetts range of GF which seem to sell well because of their flavour and packaging. We often sell them to non GF consumers, which means they can cover a wider range of consumer rather being “specialist”. Our best selling GF savoury biscuits are the EasyBean range, they are really eye-catching on the shelf. We also stock GF versions of water biscuits and oatcakes (Fine Cheese Co) which are a good safe option for people buying for GF visitors, rather than GF consumers purchasing for themselves.

Do trends affect your biscuit range?
There’s a clear seasonality for savoury biscuits, which correlates to the increase in purchases of lighter cheeses in the summer, whereas biscuits such as oat cakes or ale crackers tend to be reserved for heavier/winter fayre. Media influence is also significant, especially with sweet biscuits, we saw a significant uplift in amaretti biscuit sales for platinum jubilee trifles!