Shop staff could have been forgiven for becoming a little fed up with building Easter egg displays this year - confectioners ran almost twice as many off-aisle promotions as in 2013.

A total of 391 featured space promotions - those in sites such as gondola ends and pallets - were offered on Easter confectionery (excluding pouches and tubes) in the eight weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. Only 224 had been offered in the eight weeks running up to Easter 2013, according to data from Assosia, and every confectioner - except Lindt - was running the same number or more promos as a year ago.

The sharpest rise in activity came from Nestlé, which offered more than five times the number of deals this year, at 106 versus 19. This gave it a 26.9% share of all Easter confectionery offers, up from 8.5% in 2013. It offered shallower deals than last year, however, with the typical saving falling from 36% to 29.9%. Mars and Cadbury ran deeper promotions, and the average saving across the category rose from 27% to 31.4%.

Cadbury continued to offer the lion’s share of deals, with its 126 promotions accounting for 32.2% of all activity - though this was down from the 49.6% share it held last Easter.

Several brands that offered no featured space Easter egg activity last year ran promotions this time, including Kinder and Bon Bon Buddies, while Thorntons more than doubled the number of deals.

Another big change this year was increased activity on own-label lines, with total deal numbers up from six to 28, with own-label product growing its category value share from 8.5% to 10.9% [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 1 March 2014] as retailers focus on this segment.

For example, this Easter, Sainsbury’s pushed a new range of By Sainsbury’s eggs (they even featured in Coronation Street’s The Kabin - sourced from the grey market presumably), and Waitrose new Woodlands Creatures chocolate animals.

For more data on own-label promos, and our monthly table of feature space promo activity by the top 10 biggest promoters, see www.thegrocer.co.uk/brandpromosmay14.

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