Nielsen confectionery monitor: stabile revenues in the first half of 2018
German retailers registered a slight increase in confectionery sales of 0.3% up to € 6.789 bn in the first half of 2018.
According to the figures recently cited by Nielsen’s confectionery monitor, sales volume sank up to calendar week 26 by 1.0% down to 827,685 tonnes (basis: food retailers + drug stores + impulse channels + gas station shops + department stores). Year-round product revenues remained around the level of the same period for the previous year (sales volume - 1.6%), while seasonal article quantity grew significantly stronger (+ 9.1%) than in value (+ 3.0%).
Salty snacks continue to serve as the guarantor of growth. In the first half of the year sales in this segment were up by 5.0% to € 1.511 bn. Revenues in the strongest sub-segment premium nuts rose again significantly (+ 6.7%), while potato crisps, despite being a preferred snack highlight during the Football World Cup tournament, only exceeded last year’s level by 0.4%. Excellent growth rates were achieved by snack specialities (+ 6.6%), crackers (+ 41.0%) and tortillas (+ 12.4%).
Revenues in chocolate products remained stabile (€ 3.201 bn). Chocolate bars (+ 6.4%) and chocolate snack products (+ 1.8%) helped compensate for losses in other sub-segments including 100 g tablets (- 4.5%), praline-like products (- 4.0%) and pralines containing alcohol (- 10.1%).
The “problem child” in the first half of the year was undeniably the sugar confectionery category, with revenues declining by 2.9% down to € 1.298 bn. Products falling far below revenue targets included fruit and wine gums (- 6.0%), liquorice (- 7.5%) and fruit bonbons (- 12.6%).
Nielsen calculated a revenue decline of 1.8% down to € 779.2 m for the baked goods sector, with miscellaneous baked goods without chocolate (- 5.8%) and cookies (- 9.9%) suffering the greatest losses. In contrast, positive development was registered for miscellaneous baked goods with chocolate (+ 5.4%), sandwich biscuits (+ 5.2%) and seasonal baked goods (+ 21.0%).
Confectionery revenue development in the various sales channels: Losses were registered among hard discounters Aldi/Lidl/Norma (- 1.3%), small and large supermarkets (- 6.2%, - 1.0%), impulse channels + gas station shops (- 8.4%) and department stores (- 7.0%). Positive performances came from small and large consumers markets (+ 3.0%, + 1.3%), cooperating discounters (+ 1.0%) and drug stores (+ 2.6%).