Convenience Shoppers Find Imperial at Walgreens

Imperial Sugar products are riding the wave of convenience shopping as consumers make more trips to the nearest drug store for their every-day needs.

Today, consumers are less inclined to navigate a big grocery store when they need to grab a bottle of shampoo, infant formula or a bag of sugar. Enter the big drug store chains, which make shopping for personal care and basic grocery needs quick and simple.

Imperial Sugar Company is benefitting from steady growth in the $148 billion drug store industry, with two products now on the shelves of some 6,680 Walgreens stores. Imperial began distributing a four-pound bag of its granulated sugar to Walgreens in early September, adding a one-pound box of granulated sugar to the mix in November.

Jeana Hines, director of sales at Imperial, explained that key drug chains have become the new convenience store for women as the stores better define their merchandise categories and make them easier to shop.

“Shoppers can find all their basic necessities for personal care as well as common grocery items in a clean and convenient retail outlet. This makes the Imperial Sugar brand a good fit for Walgreen’s core customer,” she said.

Female shoppers comprise 75 percent of Walgreens’ customer base and spend 20 percent more on average per trip than men. And Walgreens’ convenient locations at major intersections on the “going-home-side-of-the-street” have them coming in more frequently.

The largest U.S. drug store retailer, Walgreens saw sales rise 8.3 percent in 2008. “Our partnership with Walgreens offers Imperial Sugar significant new branded volume, while enabling Walgreens to offer their customers a quality, well known brand,” said Hines.