Tapping into trends with new products for occasions such as Easter or Christmas or simply embracing a new season is becoming increasingly important for bakery businesses.

But with a wide range of sales opportunities up for grabs and ever-changing trends, keeping up with what consumers want can be difficult.

British Baker sat down with Bako technical baker Claire Powell to find out how bakers can make the most of seasonal sales. Here’s what she had to say:

How can bakers get ahead and plan effectively for the seasons?

If bakers want to get ahead of the competition when it comes to seasonal ranges, my advice would be to review previous ranges and forward plan as much as possible.

Once the season has ended, look back and analyse your top sellers and don’t forget to also review the products that may have performed poorly. Planning 11 months ahead of a key season, is ideal.

Bakery exhibition learns that bakers can also get ahead by tracking trends in the supermarkets, to understand what the popular products are, and they should listen to feedback from their customers.

Finally, it may seem too late if bakers are reviewing previous seasonal ranges, but it can provide inspiration for the following year, and bakers can then put their own unique spin on popular products to create a point of difference.

How can bakers get ahead of the game with planning and strategic buying?

Bakers can get ahead of the game by understanding customer demand and securing stock in line with what their customers are looking for. Improved forecasting, in this way, means that bakers can buy strategically, and can plan marketing campaigns ahead of time, to maximise their sales opportunities.

What are the challenges of sourcing and developing new and innovative products?

It can be a challenge to source and buy the right products as there are so many amazing products out there, so finding the right ones can be a challenge.

At Bako, it is essential that we can offer bakers a product range that has enough choice, but that doesn’t have too many products so that it starts to become unmanageable.

When it comes to developing new and innovative products, we monitor what is happening around us, in the news and on the wider world stage. We will often plan new ranges using this research.

When should bakers be cautious and when should they be brave in launching new products for the seasons?

When launching new products, especially if it is something that is innovative, then I would advise that this is the time to apply caution. Plan a soft launch, then review your sales, and gather customer feedback.

If the product sells well during the initial soft launch, bakers can then be brave and promote the product in-store, on social media, and across their website, in the confidence that it is already popular with their customers.

Bakery China will continue to share more industry professional content with you, so please stay tuned!

Bakery China, organized by China Association of Bakery and Confectionery Industry (CABCI) and Bakery China Exhibitions Co., Ltd. was launched since 1997. Bakery China is the Asia Pacific's leading event serving the entire value chain for the bakery and confectionery market. The event presents all range of ingredient, equipment, packaging and services, and enables global leading professionals and buyer delegates to meet and share the latest innovations and thinking on manufacturing & distribution, R&D, applications and related services for bakery industry.It is  the first choice trade fair to enter China's bakery market.

The 26th Bakery China will be held on May 21-24,2024 at National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC), Shanghai, covering 320,000 sqm show space. Over 2,200 exhibitors and 400,000 visits are expected.

（source: British Baker）