Nielsen: all product groups close out 2015 with increased revenues

Every product group registered increased revenue in the previous year: chocolate products (+ 5.7%), salty snacks (+ 5.8%), baked goods (+ 5.3%) and sugar confectionery (+ 1.9%). With the strongest selling product group, chocolate products, the price level stood at 5.2% higher than the previous year. Chocolate bars, praline-like products and 100 g tablets played a major role in this expansion of revenues. The sales growth of sugar confectionery was especially evident with fruit & wine gums, cough lozenges and chewable candies. Some of the products with sales levels below those of the previous year included chewing gum, liquorice and jelly products. The sugar confectionery category showed mild sales growth of 1.8%, while the price level was nominally higher than in the previous year (+ 0.1%).

Most segments within the product group of salty snacks demonstrated growth, some even in the double-digit range. Potato chips, premium nuts and snack specialities held the leading growth positions, with the highest revenue increase percentages were achieved by tortillas, snacks specialities and trail mixes. The price level rose by 1.0% over the previous year. Among baked goods, the categories of other baked goods with and without chocolate revenue suffered declines, which were nevertheless compensated by positive developments among seasonal baked goods, sandwiched biscuits and wafers with and without chocolate. Quantity growth totalled 3.8%, while the price level rose by 1.5%.

The sales channels that enjoyed revenue increases with confectionery consisted of consumer markets, discounters, drug stores and department stores, while supermarkets, gas station shops and impulse channels fell short of their targets. The share of promotion-related confectionery sales increased by 0.9 percentage points to 24.9%, driven primarily by sales of sugar confectionery and salty snacks.