Mo Razzaq, owner of Family Shopper in Blantyre, Glasgow, says his range of homemade baskets and new range of handbags have been flying of the shelves, especially in the run up to Mother’s Day.

“We started selling our homemade baskets for Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day a few years ago and they have been a surprise hit. The new range of handbags that we have brought into the store have also sold really well and created a nice bit of theatre.

“We’ve also achieved strong sales with more traditional products like chocolate and Prosecco. Strangely, our fruit and veg sales also increased at the same time, which shows people are looking to be healthy while also splashing out on luxury items. It also helps that Easter and Spring are just around the corner and we are working on bringing our full range of Easter Eggs into the store.

”It’s all about surprising the customer with more unusual products and taking advantage of each new sales opportunity. For example, the snow and bad weather have also had a positive effect on sales. Locals didn’t want to travel far to get their shopping so we definitely benefited from the conditions, and with more bad weather forecast for the weekend, it looks like we are in for another busy couple of days!”

Successful NPD:

Pepsi Max Ginger

“Since Pepsi changed there PMP and large packs, we switched to the new 1.5ltr bottles and expanded our range to include Ginger and Cherry flavours. We’ve been surprised at the results and sales are going really well.

“I think the change in bottles makes the packs look bigger and the price point and margins are still really good. Shoppers still see the value in the drinks and still want to try different variants.”

Pepsi Max Ginger was the first cola and ginger combination to the UK market when it launched in Spring 2017.

The soft drink brand unveiled the new variant as a reaction to fans’ desire for big, bold and interesting flavours’ and the drinks is now available in 330ml cans, 500ml, 600ml, 1.5ltr, 2ltr bottles, 6x330ml cans and 8x330ml cans.

All Pepsi Ginger variants are exempt from April’s Soft Drinks Industry Levy.

What’s hot: Food to go is very big and Chilled is also doing really well at the moment.

What’s not: Our alcohol section is under-performing - I think we need to go through the whole range.