Tuesday 14th July 2020
‘Partner-working’ as Bestway teams up with SHS Drinks for new lemon flavour WKD launch
Bestway Wholesale, the UK’s largest independent wholesaler has teamed up with SHS Drinks to launch its latest innovation – a lemon variant of the highly successful WKD ready-to-drink range.
Full national distribution of WKD Lemon was achieved across all Bestway depots within the first week of launch. So, with its 58 nationwide depots, Bestway is able to ensure that its retailers all over the country (from Scotland to Cornwall and Wales to Anglia), have the opportunity to stock this newest addition from SHS Drinks’ FIRST.
This latest partnership with SHS drinks is a Bestway group-wide launch, including 570 Bargain Booze, Select Convenience and Central Convenience stores all involved in the first week of launch, giving customers the opportunity to offer their consumers a ‘zesty’ unique product to enjoy during those summer ‘big night ins’.
The launch has been supported across social media and radio campaigns, as well as promotional material in depots and stores. The launch campaign in Bargain Booze will reach over one million consumers in the first two weeks of launch.
With its eye-catching label graphics, and same 4.0% ABV as the brand’s existing flavours, WKD Lemon adds an all-new citrus angle ensuring it stays fresh and trendy for its core 18-24 year’ old target market.
WKD Lemon is available in 700ml glass bottles, in both standard and price-marked pack (PMP) formats. This new flavour is the fourth high-profile addition to the UK’s leading RTD range in two years, following the hugely popular WKD Mango Crush (May 2018), WKD Pink (July 2019) and WKD Dark Fruit (January 2020).
Kenton Burchell, trading director at Bestway Wholesale said: “SHS is a close partner to us here at Bestway and after seeing the popularity in sales of the last NPDs we are delighted to see that trend continue with extremely strong demand for WKD Lemon. All of the sales of WKD Lemon so far have been incremental as we have seen no steal of sales from the rest of the range. During week 1 of launch WKD Lemon has been our top volume seller in the whole spirits and pre-mix category, which is quite remarkable considering this variant is new to the market.
“We are proud that we have been able to offer our retailers this opportunity, to buy the latest addition to the WKD range first through us. The new citrus flavour looks set to be a strong win for our customers for the summer.”