When the pandemic resulted in many people losing their jobs, some took the entrepreneurial route and started importing treats from the US and Europe.
One Cape Town business owner had people visiting her little home store from all parts of the Western Cape, resulting in long queues just to get into the door.
The key to her success was to jump on the viral treats train taking over social media and import them ASAP.
It didn’t take long for local retailers to notice the selling power of celebrity-backed products and their impact on younger consumers.
Case in point was PRIME Hydration drink. When it was first launched amid much fanfare, only a specific few were stocking them. And because of the import costs, a bottle fetched as much as R200 or more.
Now that Checkers has entered the game as the official partner of PRIME Hydration in South Africa, the price point has become more affordable.
The second viral treat to now make its way to local shores is MrBeast’s Feastables Chocolate Bars.
Anyone under the age of 30 knows the popular YouTuber and the amount of influence he wields over Gen-Zs.
It was only a matter of time till he expanded his wide-ranging portfolio into sweet treats.
This week, Massmart’s Game and Makro stores announced that they will be stocking the popular Feastables Chocolate Bars.
From October 20, all Game and Makro stores will stock four variants of the chocolate bars – Milk Chocolate, Deez Nuts (milk chocolate with peanut butter), Crunch (milk chocolate with puffed rice) and Original Chocolate – and have priced them competitively at R49.95 per bar.
“The future of retail is about innovation and ensuring you are keeping up with trends and demand,” said Katherine Madley, Massmart’s Vice President of Marketing.
“Since Feastables are hugely popular overseas, we saw the opportunity to be the first to launch them in the local market and expect that our younger customers will be excited about the launch,” Madley addded.
The retailer plans to integrate the Feastables launch into its Game GAME on Roblox once the product has launched in stores.
The game has thus far amassed over 150K plays and is expected to keep growing through innovative additions.
IOL Lifestyle