Richard Brittle, purchasing director of Hancocks, says: "Confectionery is always an opportunity when the economy shows a downturn as it is one of the cheapest treats that consumers can buy. The difference this year is that consumers are currently looking towards value in every purchase and confectionery is no exception.

"With the market demanding the removal of as many E numbers and artificial ingredients as possible from all manner of foods, this trend is gathering pace and spreading across confectionery. We have already seen many of the main bands produce NAFNAC (no artificial flavours, no artificial colours) versions of existing products. Here at Hancocks we are working closely with all of our weigh-out suppliers to convert to as many NAFNAC products as possible. Some are harder than others as we do not want to see any compromise on either appearance or taste, however we imagine that the majority will be NAFNAC within the next few months."

"Selling loose sweets has really gained favour in recent years as independent retailers look for something a little bit different to profit from. Old favourites and new novelties can all be displayed in many ways to suit the retailer, choosing a range to meet the needs of his local customers. The main advantage to embracing weigh-outs is the margin potential. Up to 70% margin can be achieved which can put a lot of cash profit in the till - substantially more than a core range of countlines alone. With the experience and knowledge that we have in the weigh-outs category, we are able to help all types of business to take advantage of this most profitable opportunity.

"Once again, Hancocks will offer a tremendous range of branded and own label Christmas products to suit all price points. With plenty of new and exclusive products for 2008, the pressure will be on retailers to offer their customers great value without a compromise in quality. Our Christmas range will enable retailers to meet this challenge while rewarding them with strong margins and plenty of cash in the till."

Chocolate confectionery

For Nestlé Confectionery the key message is to focus on the core lines. Graham Walker, trade communications manager of Nestlé UK, says: "In 2007 there were 305 confectionery products for retailers to choose from, but just 72 delivered 80% of sales. Getting the right range is the most important factor in ensuring that independent retailers make the most of this vital seasonal opportunity. It is with this in mind that Nestlé Confectionery has developed its new Christmas range."

According to Nestlé, After Eight is the number one brand for table-led sharing and has 45% of the market share. After Eight has a new pack design and a 50% extra free format is designed to boost sales further.

It is a similar story with Quality Streets, as Nestlé says the tin is the number one family share confectionery brand for the third year running and has 39% of the market share. Walker says: "If you only have room for one tin, this is the one to stock."

Nestlé is also rebranding its Quality Street Big Ones as My Favourites and adding to the range with the My Caramel Swirl, joining My Green Triangle and My Purple One. This is designed to give more opportunity to seasonal impulse, a growing opportunity for incremental sales for independents.

Looking at packaging Walker says: "Reduced packaging has major benefits for retailers as smaller packs lead to better shelf space utilisation. All Nestlé Confectionery's selection boxes are now made from recycled board and the plastic trays are made from recycled bottles. In total there will be 231 tonnes less packaging in 2008 and there will also be on-pack messages that encourages kids to recycle."

The packaging is reduced by 35% and the chocolate inside will be full-sized bars.

Nestlé is also continuing its promotion of the KitKat Senses brand with a promotion running in September to win T-shirts designed by Girls Aloud.

Nestlé says KitKat Senses, which was launched in March, has been one of the biggest confectionery launches of the decade with 23 million bars sold to date

Mars quotes IRI figures which report the confectionery market is worth £4.7bn and is back in growth for the first time in two years - up 5.2% year on year in 2007.

Bep Sandhu, trade relations manager of Mars, says: "Growth in the confectionery market is fantastic news for retailers. It may be a mature category, but it's just as relevant to today's consumers as it was when Mars launched the first Mars bar 76 years ago. Confectionery is driven by impulse and convenience. The right range and display merchandised correctly can transform retailer sales."

Mars says key lines increase in importance at Christmas. says: "Focus on key lines and brands that consumers recognise are key drivers for strong performance at Christmas time. For 2008 we are going to build on the success of the Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses brand and further establish its presence in the market as the number one product in the 'self eat' market.

"The wholesaler sector played a key role in driving the success we had in impulse as a whole of Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses in 2007. Two thirds of our Galaxy Mistletoe Kisses sales came from impulse, and we will support this channel to maximise on this opportunity again in 2008 by providing specific POS and promotions."

This year Mars has launched the Celebrations plastic tub, which is made of 100% recyclable plastic. It is dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe, and designed to be reusable. The Mars selection boxes, advent calendars, Maltesers boxes and the Celebrations large carton are all made from 100% recycled cardboard and will have the 'recycle reindeer' logo.

Sandhu adds: "Mars takes its environmental commitment very seriously and is continuing to introduce new environmentally friendly initiatives, such as the reusable and recyclable Celebrations tub. To date 65% of the paper used in packaging of our snack foods brands is from recycled sources."

Mars is also promoting its Revels and Mars Planets lines. The Revels promotion will see the least favourite flavour voted out of the bag, on September 9, and replaced for a limited time with a mystery flavour.

Sandhu says: "We are excited to be able to give consumers the ability to choose and influence the product mix of Revels. This eviction process is not only a first for Revels but also for the UK bite-sized confectionery market and shows continued innovation for the Revels brand."

Mars Planets will be getting its own pouch to join the sharing pouch range from September. Mars says Mars Planets Single, launched in 2007, has delivered over £17m in its first year.

Cadbury trade communications manager Kate Harding says: "In 2007, total Christmas accounted for £587m worth of sales, which highlights the fantastic profit opportunity for retailers during Christmas 2008. Traditional Christmas for 2007 was worth £124.2m, with Cadbury being the number one manufacturer in this market. This year, to help wholesalers achieve similarly strong sales, we have listened to customer and consumer feedback and have carefully selected the range for 2008 in order to maximise sales potential."

The Cadbury traditional Christmas range available for wholesale includes Coins, Magical Elves and Snowmen novelties, Medium Selection Boxes and Advent Calendars.

According to Cadbury, selection boxes account for 29% of total traditional Christmas confectionery sales and Cadbury is the leading selection box manufacturer, with 66.8% share of the overall market in the UK. This year the selection boxes will include trays made from recyclable materials.

Cadbury advises wholesalers to create in-store theatre, using POS to display Christmas products to act as prompts to buying. This will encourage retailers to start thinking about stocking up their Christmas ranges.

Cadbury has also announced the return of its Wispa bar from October. It will return permanently following its limited launch last year. Harding says: "Last year 20 million bars were sold in only seven weeks, we have listened to our consumers."

Dave McNulty, convenience sales director at Kraft Foods, says: "Although consumers are starting their Christmas shopping earlier, they still go to their local convenience stores to purchase last-minute top-up or token gifts.

"Independent retailers should start to plan Christmas stock and displays around September time so that Christmas is ready to launch as soon as Bonfire Night displays have finished."

Following the launch of the 100g Toblerone Fruit and Nut and Dark varieties last year, Kraft launched 100g Toblerone Honeycomb Crisp this year.

McNulty adds: "The new honeycomb crisp variant is a great product with a heavyweight support programme, so convenience retailers can expect to see huge demand for the new product. The original Toblerone Milk is the UK's favourite upper mainstream tablet - with 800,000 more consumers in 2007 alone."

Kraft is launching a new flavour for Terry's Chocolate Orange, Cracking Hazelnut and the Dazzling Dark Mint Ball will return to shelves.

Toblerone One By One has been relaunched as Toblerone Tinies, a selection of miniature milk, dark and white bars in a 330g sharing size pack.

Sugar confectionery

In 2007 Mintel reported the sugar confectionery market to be fairly stagnant, and the future somewhat uncertain as it faces up to an increasingly restricted core consumer base. Primary considerations will therefore be achieving the balance between health and reassurance for adults, while retaining the fun and treat factor for both adults and children.

According to Bendicks, the total sugar category is worth £1.2bn. The impulse channel accounts for 52% of total sugar confectionery sales, £634m, and is currently declining by 1% each year. Within this, the independent sales of total sugar confectionery have hit £295m in the past 12 months, down 2% on last year.

Bendicks launched Werther's Original Sugar Free Butter Candy in January, which it says is suitable for both slimmers and diabetics.

Gabrielle Bond, trade marketing manager for Bendicks, says: With the confectionery market so competitive it's increasingly difficult to launch a new product, so it's imperative to be confident about why you are doing it. If it's a 'me too' product, the chances of it doing well are not as strong. That's why we focus on new products which will allow us to stand out from the rest.

"Wholesalers are very important to Bendicks because the independent and impulse channels are central to our distribution network. In addition, some of our wholesaler clients service the major forecourts, where our Werther's Original range is a key 'travel' product. Since the acquisition of Leaf, and the Chewits brand, our wholesale customers have become even more important."

Bendicks took over the sales and distribution of the Chewits kids' confectionery brand and Chewits Truly in June.

Chewits recently launched Chewits Truly in Chewits Truly Juicy, Chewits Truly Smoothy and Chewits Truly Smoothy - Berry Whites. The three variants have green flash on-pack proclaiming 'real fruit juice' ' 30% less sugar' and 'coloured by nature'.

Chewits trade marketing manager Cathy Dalton, says: "Consumers think that retailers and manufacturers have a responsibility to offer them healthier products. While this process is ongoing, to make the most of these new healthier products, retailers need to think about clarity in merchandising. Their customers don't want to shop a fixture where they have to search around reading labels to establish the health merits of a product or brand. Retailers should consider setting up a separate healthier confectionery fixture in the same way that many have done with biscuits."

According to Haribo, the latest data show sugar confectionery sales are continuing to grow. The 1.9% growth over the past year has added £23.3m to the value of the £1.2bn market. The gum and jellies sector, which accounts for around 25% of sugar confectionery sales, has increased by 2.9% over the same period. This is slightly ahead of the sugar confectionery market as a whole, demonstrating the increasing popularity of this product segment among consumers.

Herwig Vennekens, managing director of Haribo Dunhills (Pontefract), says: "Around 45% of our business goes through the cash and carry and wholesale sector, so we put a lot of focus into developing brands and bespoke marketing support for our customers in this channel of trade.

"Our countline drum range, for example, is available exclusively in the wholesale/cash and carry/independent sector and we regularly introduce new lines to keep the range fresh. We tailor promotional support to fit with individual cash and carry customers' marketing strategies and we also put a significant amount of effort and investment into driving pull though from independent retailers to ensure that Haribo stock is top of mind among retailers when they are shopping for or ordering confectionery."

He adds: "On this front, Haribo is also working with cash and carries to improve space management of confectionery aisles to make the confectionery section easier to shop for retailers and using facing allocations to provide guidance on the best selling brands."

During this month Haribo is running a series of Back to School price promotions on selected lines in the countline drum ranges. It also has new products in the shape of Starfish, starfish-shaped fruit flavoured jellies, and Cola Rotella, a cola flavoured extension of the Rotella range.

In May, due to consumer demand, Sour Cherries was given its own separate bag line.

Vennekens says: "Over the past decade, we've generally seen a vast improvement in the shopping experience in cash and carry depots. They are much lighter and tidier and more akin to shopping in a supermarket environment. But with there being so much choice in the confectionery aisles, one of our priorities is working with cash and carries on the number of facings and amount of space allocated to the best-selling brands."

Stuart Hancock, sales manager of Sweet Cred, says: "With an exciting programme of new products about to be launched, all ideal for Christmas stocking fillers, Sweet Cred continues to be the only brand driving innovation in a static novelty confectionery market."

He adds: "Wholesalers play a key role in our business, particularly in the lead up to Christmas sales when a more diverse and wider array of customers wish to maximise on impulse and seasonal sales. Sweet Cred continues to gain momentum and we are now seeing significant volumes through wholesalers across the country. We believe that this is being driven by constant product innovation and rotation and are pleased that many wholesalers are adding to our range, rather than replacing existing lines. Jackpot Bags make fantastic stocking fillers because they provide extremely good value for the consumer, and fun and interactivity for the child, not forgetting great profits for the independent retailer. It's not unusual when buying from a distributor for retailers to achieve up to 40% profit on return, coupled with great rate of sale."

"Sweet Cred avoids traditional Christmas packaging, as this creates seasonal shelf-life issues."

The Jackpot Surprise bags have toys, games and puzzles as well as confectionery and Sweet Cred is also focusing on Pocket-money lines and the tub range.

According to Wrigley, the chewing gum category is performing extremely well. The category is worth £276.9m, and sales are up by 10.3% year to date.

Alexander MacHutchon, communications manager of Wrigley, says: " There are three key trends that are impacting most categories, including confectionery: health, enjoyment and convenience. There is also an emerging trend where consumers are seeking products and experiences to stimulate new sensations."

In response to this Wrigley launched the Extra Bottle pack in 2007 and all of the Extra and Orbit Complete chewing gum ranges are sugar-free.

In April, Wrigley launched Extra Pola Ice and Extra Arctic Ice as well as two fruit flavours, Orbit Complete Strawberry and Orbit Complete Lemon & Lime.

Wrigley has also launched a new counter merchandising unit for its range of gum, CMU 21, designed to successfully merchandise the entire Wrigley range.

MacHutchon adds: "Wrigley recognises the importance of the wholesale channel as an excellent medium for reaching independent retailers. In fact, 30% of Wrigley sales are through the independent channel via wholesalers and cash and carries, underlining the success of Wrigley brands through this channel.

"Wrigley provides merchandising systems and solutions for both gum and mints in depot to help wholesalers make the most of their mouth freshening category. To ensure that fixtures are fully merchandised, wholesalers are advised to follow planograms supplied by Wrigley to ensure that the best selling lines are highly visible and allocated the right amount of space. Many customers are failing to make their intended purchase because of out of stocks situations at their local wholesalers. Reducing out of stocks will increase sales and offer additional profit for the depot."

Kate Harding, trade communications manager at Cadbury, says: "Trident has brought two million new users to the gum category since its launch and drove 75% of the £38m in gum category growth in 2007. Building on this initial success, there is still a massive growth opportunity in the UK gum market. The new Trident offers will give retailers two powerful new opportunities to access that growth, and are also higher priced, which has been proven by recent innovations to drive value growth in the gum market."

Cadbury recently introduced Trident Sweet Kicks Chocolate Mint Gum and Trident Fresh Mouth Watering Gum in Oooh Pepperming, Aahh Spearmint and Coool Lemon flavours, into its range.

Trident Sweet Kicks combines mint and chocolate and Harding says: "Trident Sweet Kicks brings a unique flavour proposition to the gum category in the UK and we expect the product to drive incremental growth for the category through its success.

"We are excited to be launching these fantastic new Trident offers into what we see as a high growth potential UK gum market. Consumers view Trident as the innovators in the gum market and we know that providing them with exciting and relevant flavours drives purchase and category growth."

Swizzels Matlow is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and has announced plans to be free from artificial colours across its entire product range by the end of 2008. This will include its Love Hearts, New Refreshers, Parma Violets and the Drumstick lolly.

Andrew Matlow, communications director, says: "We have been investigating the move away from artificial colours for over two years. With over 250 products in our portfolio - including some of the country's best-loved sweets - this process has been considered very carefully so as not to compromise the quality of our products. As a company we are proud to listen and react to the demands of the market and our consumers. Extensive work has been carried out within our research and development department and we are now ready to commit to the move away from artificial colours across our entire range by the end of 2008. It is our hope that this response to the changing needs and tastes of our consumers will once again show our commitment to them, alongside our commitment to the needs of our customers.

"We celebrate our 80th anniversary this year and recognise that success comes from constantly evolving our products.

"Swizzles Matlow as a company is performing well and business is buoyant. Sales have increased by 5% in the independent sector, with our main core brands all performing well."

----

=== Buyer's viewpoint ===

Trading is up in value and level in volume, this is due to price increases moving through the system.

The move from manufacturers to aiming chocolates towards females is working with brands like KitKat Senses and at no cost to the traditional KitKat bars. Bueno White from Ferrero Rocher - two bars in a wrapper - is doing very well. Cadburys has down-sized its Big Bar from 250g to 140g and price marked it at 99p - this could be cost saving and satisfy the health conscious lobby.

Both Kraft and Mars are doing good business.

With Easter coming in March rather than April this year, there was a change in the seasonal sales and now the summer is here, and if it remains warm, then sales will at best remain static.

All suppliers are doing their best in these difficult times, and as usual we look for creative support and any help with direct support for our retailers in their own stores with display and marketing advice.

----

=== fast facts from wrigley ===

l The Chewing Gum Category is worth £276.9m

l Total Chewing Gum Sales are up by 10.3% year to date

l Wrigley has a 64.4% share of the mouth freshening category

l The Extra brand is currently worth £175.4m a year

Source AC Nielsen w.e 12.04.08

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend