Frozen: ice cream: Top Products report 2020

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Ice cream top products

This year’s appetite for indulgence has put better-for-you brands in a tricky position

Halo Top has lost its shine. Once the darling of the ice cream world, the better-for-you brand has shed 39.8% of its value in the mults. That’s a loss of £9.3m.

The performance – a stark contrast to the bonanza enjoyed by ice cream overall – was “due to reduced promotions in the past 12 months” says Nielsen senior client analytics executive Holly Lyford.

Nevertheless, the brand’s director Matt Fulbrook believes there’s still room in freezers for reduced-calorie ice cream. “We absolutely see this trend continuing as the focus on health and wellness increases each year,” he says. There’s some suggestion he’s right. Low-cal rival Oppo has seen its lower-cal tubs grow 29.9% in value.

However, that’s largely down to the popularity of their “rich, indulgent flavours” insists Oppo co-founder Charlie Thuillier. “Consumers don’t want function in ice cream. Indulgence and taste are key.”

Those two factors seemed to have worked for Unilever, whose indulgence-led Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum brands together gained an extra £66.8m. That’s a sizeable proportion of the total £161.7m growth across the tubs and handheld markets.

Jennifer Dyne, ice cream brand experience director at Unilever, says “sales in the convenience and independent channels flourished as people enjoyed ice cream while on staycations”. Plus, the ice cream category benefited from stockpiling, the closure of out-of-home, and warm weather.

In this environment, multipack stick formats have done especially well. The top 10 handheld brands are worth £73.3m more than last year. Four of them are made by Froneri. “With the increase in home snacking occasions, handheld formats have been suited to the change in situation,” says its customer marketing controller Henry Craven.

For him, this year’s appetite for indulgence has put better-for-you brands in a tricky position. “We’ve seen the healthy ice cream sector falling back ,” Craven says.

Nevertheless, Halo Top shouldn’t be written off just yet, believes Nielsen’s Lyford. “Halo Top could make a comeback with the correct promo strategy and by tapping into continued health trends.”

Top Products 2020

Top 10 Handheld Ice Cream

				£m	£ change	%
Total volume change:	9.8%		Total Category:	718.9	115.4	19.1
			Total Own Label:	163.0	12.5	8.3

This year’s rank	Last year’s rank	Brand	Manufacturer	£m	change (£m)	change (%)
1	1	Magnum	Unilever	207.4	38.4	22.7
2	2	Rowntree’s	Froneri	43.7	11.1	33.9
3	3	Cornetto	Unilever	29.9	6.0	25.0
4	4	Twister	Unilever	22.7	4.0	21.2
5	5	Cadbury Flake 99	Froneri	20.3	1.7	9.1
6	6	Calippo	Unilever	19.5	3.3	20.4
7	7	Solero	Unilever	17.4	3.7	26.7
8	9	Mars	Mars	15.4	2.4	18.5
9	8	Fab	Froneri	14.6	1.2	9.1
10	10	Cadbury Dairy Milk	Froneri	14.0	1.6	12.6

Top 10 Ice Cream Tubs

				£m	£ change	%
Total volume change:	6.9%		Total Category:	495.2	46.3	10.3
			Total Own Label:	119.9	6.2	5.5

This year’s rank	Last year’s rank	Brand	Manufacturer	£m	change (£m)	change (%)
1	1	Ben & Jerry’s	Unilever	126.6	28.1	28.5
2	2	Häagen-Dazs	General Mills	56.2	4.6	8.9
3	3	Carte D’Or	Unilever	38.9	3.9	11.0
4	4	Kelly’s of Cornwall	Froneri	24.3	–2.3	–8.7
5	7	Mackie’s	Mackie’s of Scotland	15.4	2.8	22.0
6	6	Wall’s	Unilever	15.2	1.5	10.6
7	5	Halo Top	Eden Creamery	14.0	–9.3	–39.8
8	11	Jude’s	Jude’s	7.5	3.2	76.2
9	10	Swedish Glace	Unilever	7.4	1.1	16.7
10	9	Magnum	Unilever	7.2	0.3	4.4

The Grocer’s Top Launch

oppo delivered

Oppo Delivered, Oppo

There’s been some eye-catching ice cream innovation this year. Magnum Ruby, Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Chunks and Froneri plant-based brand Røar are among NPD worth a mention. Our top launch, however, isn’t a product. It’s a direct-to-consumer service. Launched in April, Oppo Delivered enables consumers to get 475ml tubs and three-packs of sticks delivered to their door, with 10% of profits donated to NHS Charities Together. Talk about a launch for our times.