Confectionery continues to be a huge draw for local retailers despite the threat of Government interference, with innovation playing a key role, alongside strong ranging and visibility. by Kevin Scott
The Scottish Government’s pledge last year to ‘invite’ retailers to remove confectionery from tillpoints has not advanced although the decision by Tesco to clear sweets and treats from the till areas of its convenience stores does indicate that the furore is just simmering away beneath a surface dominated by the independence referendum. Things will change; obesity is continuing to move up the political agenda and the Government, in its infinite wisdom, does seem to believe that the location of confectionery in a convenience store will make a difference. Retailers may have begun to look at alternative categories to stock at the tillpoint ahead of any potential legislation, but in the midst of this political manoeuvring is a mature and highly valuable category that continues to innovate. In short, confectionery is hugely important to local retailers and a category they must continue work on.
Innovation remains key to driving growth in the confectionery market and over the last year, Mondelez International has invested heavily in NPD for both chocolate and sugar confectionery and has brought a number of new products to market, including Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations, Halls XS and Maynards Sour Patch Kids Sodapopz. Susan Nash, Trade Communication Manager at Mondelez International says: “Retailers should take advantage of the innovation in the marketplace, especially from the market leaders who invest in research, development, technology and marketing to shape the next generation of innovation.”
According to Nestle there are three key elements retailers must consider in order to maximise sales: Variety, Visibility and Value. When it comes to variety, the company says that in a market that continues to evolve and with shopper habits changing, your confectionery range needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure you’re offering what shoppers are looking for. Stocking the right range and capitalising on NPD is key to this. The company adds that with 80% of confectionery sales coming from the main fixture, visibility is critical. The first decision a shopper makes when buying confectionery is what type of product they want. This is called a shopper need state. By grouping these types of products together on the fixture, you’ll be making it easier for the shopper to find what they’re looking for. The company also recommends focusing on best sellers and double-facing those which drive sales.
Mondelez makes the most of cross-branding
Cadbury Dairy Milk recently continued its raft of cross-branded products with the launch of Cadbury Dairy Milk LU and Cadbury Dairy Milk Ritz. The 35g countlines bring together LU sweet biscuits and Ritz savoury crackers with Cadbury chocolate. Following the success of Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations, the brand brought some more crazy concoctions to the category this spring, with the launch of Banana Caramel Crisp, and Marvellous Mix Ups – its first product in the bitesize segment, which again makes use of cross-category branding. The two variants feature Oreo and Maynard’s products. Matthew Williams, Marketing Director at Mondelez International, said: “We’re continuing to invest in the category and bring innovation to consumers and retailers with Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations, and hope to bring even more customers to the brand through new flavours and formats like Banana Caramel Crisp and Marvellous Mix Ups. Our consumer testing showed very strong results both pre and post trial among people who would not normally buy Cadbury Dairy Milk.”
Chunky Orange aims for sales kick
Nestlé Confectionery’s flagship brand KitKat has launched a limited edition Chunky Orange variant this summer, with an rrp of 60p. Nestlé UK & Ireland Senior Corporate Communications Manager James Maxton, says: “Retailers looking to maximise sales should stock up on KitKat Chunky Orange at launch and display off shelf so shoppers cannot miss it. What’s more, with young males (18-30 year olds) being the target audience for KitKat Chunky, this limited edition once again offers retailers the opportunity to attract additional younger shoppers into stores.”
Mars top choc tips
The chocolate market continues to be one of the most important categories for independent retailers and it’s growing – by 4.4% YOY. As the category continues to grow, Mars Chocolate has been working on how to achieve confectionery display optimisation, which includes the following tips:
- Chocolate is a category in growth – it’s growing 4.4% YOY – so site chocolate in the highest traffic flow areas to drive purchases
- Stock the right range for your shoppers’ preferences and ensure best sellers have more space – the top three brands generate 78% of total chocolate sales, and Mars has six of the top ten. But avoid ‘over ranging’ – no retailer can afford to tie up money in stock that doesn’t sell quickly
- Multi-face best sellers to enhance availability – giving best sellers more space will increase sales and reduce the risk of out of stocks of products that sell
- Maximise the effectiveness of main displays by siting best sellers in the best sites and grouping products by category. This helps consumers to find what they want and it also maximises the impulsiveness on main display
- Use a secondary site at the till to display best sellers – best sellers drive impulse opportunities.
Random sales opportunity
Rowntree’s Randoms has proven to be a huge success since its launch and the latest variant to join the array of products under the Randoms umbrella is Sweet N Sour. Aimed at Randoms’ core target audience of 18-24 year olds, each bag contains standard sour sweets along with a combination of foamy sweet, sour jellies and super sour liquid filled sweets.
Something to chew on
The market for Chewy sweets is particularly buoyant In the UK and defies the sugar category trend of growth only in value, as it is in volume growth also. Chewy Sweets are worth £135m, growing 7% in value and 3% in volume in comparison to this time last year. In 2013 and into 2014, Chewits strengthened its position as a leading confectionery brand adding to category value and supporting retailers with a pipeline of new products that will continue to drive growth and repeat sales. As a result Chewits is achieving 28% year-on-year growth, making it the fastest growing brand in the category and contributing 20% the incremental growth of the Chew sector. Xtreme Sour Pineapple is the latest flavour to join the Chewits range. This latest 34g addition to the Xtreme range, joins Sour Apple and Sour Tutti Frutti flavours. Another recent launch Chewits Chewmix and Xtreme Chewmix are both available for £1 per pack, taking advantage of the popularity of hanging bag sales.
Twix gets in the sales mix
Mars Chocolate’s big launch in the first half of the year was the single format Twix Mix which was expanded from a successful hanging bag. Each 37g bag of Twix Mix offers consumers a new way to enjoy one of the UK’s most popular impulse brands, while also enabling retailers to tap into the popularity of the Bitesize trend, which is predicted to continue to grow.
Haribo set for tour
The Haribo Big Bag Tour, which invites people to experience what it might be like inside the brands’ top selling lines; Starmix, Tangfastics and Super Mix is back for a second year. The replica bags, which are 30 times bigger than a standard pack, will tour the UK’s top family events this summer. Stopping off at more destinations, including venues in Scotland.
Take a trip to Candyland
Tangerine Confectionery has brought flavours of days-gone-by to its sugar confectionery brand, Candyland, thanks to the launch of its new Soft Gums range. The leading confectionery manufacturer has also launched three, contemporary sweet products into the market based on its traditional nostalgia range of sweets. After conducting consumer research and identifying a demand for traditional, sweet shop-style products, the new Soft Gums were developed using popular, iconic hard boiled sweet flavours, Pear Drops, Rhubarb & Custards and Kola Kubes. The new products are available in two pack sizes, a 160g sharing pack (RRP £1.39) and 70g impulse bags (RRP £0.65). The 70g bags will be added to the existing Candyland 2 for £1 range, making these new confectionery products widely available for consumers.
