Here’s some news to warm the hearts of the health police - some of the biggest names in confectionery, snacks and soft drinks cut back on promotions in April.
The end of the Easter deal frenzy has seen the number of featured space promotions from Nestlé fall from 211 during March to 194 in the four weeks to 29 April, while the number of Cadbury deals has plunged from 549 to 313. Olympic sponsors Cadbury and Coca-Cola actually ran fewer promos in April than a year ago.
The upshot of so many big players scaling back their deals is that confectionery brands now account for 6.5% of all promotions, down from 10.7% a year ago. However, Assosia believes the fall is just a blip before renewed Olympic and Euro 2012 activity gets under way.
“What we are seeing in these latest figures is retailers wanting to shake things up a bit - particularly after a long period of confectionery promotions,” says managing director Kay Staniland. “Activity will undoubtedly ramp up in May and we will see a big difference in the figures in four weeks’ time.”
Wholesale prices 5 May 2012: peanuts and pepper
Peanuts continue to lead the pack in year-on-year price rises, having shot up 62.6% following a particularly poor harvest last year.
Prices have now stabilised - at £1,766.5/t they are currently down 1.1% month-on-month - but they are not expected to fall significantly in the near future despite a much improved outlook for this year’s harvest, as strong demand is set to keep supplies tight in key producing countries.
In the global pepper market, the new Vietnamese crop has helped restore calm after Indian prices reached a high earlier this year. Black pepper has fallen 3.7% month-on-month, although it remains 20.6% more expensive than last year.
Dried apricots continue on their downward trajectory as a result of good stocks held over from 2011 and a strong harvest expected in Turkey. Prices have fallen 1.9% to £2,310/t in the past month and are now 18.4% down on last year.
The health police will be less pleased to hear that the number of wine deals has already risen, from 787 a year ago to 1,021 in the past four weeks - or 12.3% of all promotions.
There has been a 200% increase in own-label wine promotions year-on-year, with most activity at the top end of the market on ranges such as Tesco Finest, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference and Co-op Fairtrade. The past month has also brought a fall in multibuy deals on wine on last year, and a big swing towards half-price and ‘save’ promotions.
This is indicative of a wider trend, with seven of the top 10 most-promoted brands using the half-price mechanic more than last year, while nine have reduced their use of multibuys - although it is still a big part of Walkers’ and Müller’s strategy.
Overall, the proportion of all featured space promotions using the x-for-y mechanic has dropped ten percentage points year-on-year to 22.8%
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