Giant argues for three-way push

IS three the magic number? Well it is for biscuits and confectionery giant Mondelez International. It reckons the biscuit market breaks down into three distinct categories – sweet biscuits, savoury biscuits, and the relatively new but growing division of healthier biscuits. If retailers want to make the most of biscuits, it argues, they should address all three.

Company trade communications manager Susan Nash said: “It’s important that retailers make the most of growing trends as well as the biggest sectors to appeal to changing consumer preferences and improve their sales.

Bahlsen-Hit-fingers

“Sweet holds the largest share of the biscuit market, worth almost £1.4bn.

“The savoury category shows the most impressive growth rate of 4.9%.

“Despite being a relatively recent development, healthier biscuits continue to hold their own in the market, with a value of £477.5m.”

Mondelez says it’s spending to market its brands in each category.

In sweet biscuits, Mondelez supported the UK launch of two varieties of Chips Ahoy during 2014 with an £8m campaign. It also launched the bear-shaped sponge snack Barny in convenience stores last year.

Mondelez Chips Ahoy! copy

Nash said: “Containing no artificial colours or preservatives, Barny is worth £2.3m and is the only brand within the children’s biscuit sector to show growth, at 6.2%.”

In the savoury division, it added Ritz Breaks to its Ritz range. Nash said: “The new portable format makes an ideal addition to lunchboxes. Snacks and treats don’t have to be sweet, and Ritz can be a great alternative to crisps.”

Mondelez argues it created the breakfast biscuit category with the launch of Belvita biscuits in 2010, and it plans to promote the brand with an £8m campaign this year.

“We believe that we are very much at the forefront of the market when it comes to developing fantastic products that customers love,” said Nash.

Bahlsen sees showing value for money and encouraging impulse purchases as key methods for retailers who are looking to boost biscuits sales. Price-marked packs help retailers do both, it reckons and it has added four new PMPs to its range in the past year, Choco Leibniz, Pickup singles, Hit Crunchy Fingers, and Hit Fun Sticks.

Trade marketing manager at Bahlsen Julien Lacrampe said: “Price-marked packs allow consumers to enjoy premium biscuits at a more accessible price.

“Last year, we designed POS for PMPs to create an engaging display model for retailers to use to overhaul their existing biscuit aisles.”

Lacrampe continued: “The UK biscuit market is worth £2.4bn and although it is decreasing 1.5% year on year, the Bahlsen brand is growing by 25.8% year on year in the UK and currently has 0.7% market share.

“Likewise, despite the special treats category decreasing by 2.7% our special treats showed an increase of 8.8%.

“We regularly release new products with a PMP and plain pack format.

“We changed our offering to meet the needs of the convenience channel, focusing on best sellers, but also on different formats such as single bars in the Pickup range,” he said.