Are free fridges and freezers from brands a thing of the past?

[TJ Shiels]

Hi guys,

First time poster/long time lurker!

I have been considering opening a local convenience store and wondered if any of you experienced retailers would know if free fridges and freezers from brands like Coke and Walls Ice Cream are now a thing of the past? If I e-mailed the company offering a certain amount of exclusivity, say 70-80% would they deliver me a shiny fridge free or are those days long gone? I'm asking so I can get a further idea of start up costs for my business plan.

Many thanks,

TJ

 

[liamx1234]

yes they are free but you need to stock them with 60% of there items

 

[TJ Shiels]

I had assumed that, that had changed due to some sort of fairer trade policy brought in by the EU? I could be completely off the mark here, but I thought I heard something about how Coca Cola, etc could no longer use the free fridge route to entice customers to stock a majority of their products. @liamx1234 have you had a recent experience with this to confirm for definite that 60% stock results in a free fridge? Any info I find online is conflicted so if any one has had a recent encounter with this type of thing, your findings would be very much appreciated. Thanks folks.

 

[liamx1234]

no but i delieverd some plasteboard to a place opening a new kebab shop up he asked if i knew anyone that would want any free coca cola fridges i asked him why cant you resuse them or sell them he replied im getting new free ones from coca cola as im going to stock 60% of there stock this was yesterday!

 

[Karimbo]

don't know if this ceased or not, but I have to say it's very generous of them to offer a free fridge and allow 40% of non coca cola brands to be stocked. I would have imagined they would require 100% stock.

 

[TJ Shiels]

Yeah, I agree, It seems extremely generous of them! Will be dealing with Coca-Cola suppliers soon so will update this post accordingly then.

 

[mhall]

Not very current but we had a run in with Walls once when we put someone elses ice cream in with theirs. They insisted that their fridge was solely for their product but we said that was unreasonable unless Walls were also paying for the space the fridge took up. We sent them a rental agreement for the space and expressed a willingness to delist them and buy our own freezers. They agreed on 75% space for their product if we didn't charge them rent - and they took us to Cyprus for a week ! We also found that Coca Cola was very happy to provide us with fridges as long as we didn't sell Pepsi - (they even offered to take us to Disney on a "training trip"). We refused the bribe (we had learnt) and sold Pepsi, along with Barr who were just happy to be in anyone's fridge !

 

[tsubibo]

The soda wars is alive and well. Coke just being happy for you not selling Pepsi. Lol. I have always thought that they would require you to put just their products in for a free freezer/fridge.

 

[kelvin1950]

Walls will let you have a subsidised freezer with an amount of free ice cream depending on how big the freezer is. Coca Cola will take 6 weeks to acknowledge you by which time you'll have bought a chiller and can stock what you like!

 

[UKSBD]

Not free, but might be able to get you a glass door thrown in free of charge if you buy one of these http://www.winess.co.uk/wine-cooler...e-wine-cabinets/transtherm-ermitage-prestige/ - only £2,295

 

[Sherlock Homeless]

One thing to note, the freebie fridges they give you are often the most inefficient and electricity hungry ones you can get as they buy the cheapest compressors and decks as they are not arsed about running costs as the punter forks them out.

Calculate what they cost to run and how much profit you make on the lines they stock and you'll note a discrepancy.