One of our 10 Things You Need To Know About… Cakes & Biscuits

It’s been a good year for Oreo. The American favourite has stampeded the UK biscuit category and won a further £11.8m sales, securing it the title of the biscuit category’s fastest grower [Nielsen MAT 10 September 2016].

The impressive growth was driven by NPD such as Strawberry Cheesecake and Mint variants as well as a £3.1m marketing push.

“Oreo’s success this year has been due to continued investment in innovative marketing campaigns – such as Wonderfilled and See the World in Flavours - and also in NPD, with new and exciting flavours being added to the range,” says Susan Nash, trade communications manager at Mondelez International. “We have lots of exciting plans for the Oreo brand in the next 12 months – which is certain to be our biggest year yet - so watch this space.”

It wasn’t the only top biscuit brand to boost the market. Mondelez secured the second place as well with breakfast biscuit BelVita with sales up £9m.

”BelVita has had a fantastic year, due to a focus on exciting NPD such as the latest innovation, Soft Bakes Choc Chip,” adds Nash. ”Marketing investment has also proven to be a key growth driver for the brand. In the first half of 2016, BelVita has been supported by TV and its biggest ever sampling campaign.”

Not all biscuit brands are stacking up so well, though. Nine of the top 20 brands suffered value declines with Cadbury biscuits, Maryland and Go Ahead! taking the biggest hits. Confectionery staples Twix and Kit Kat also saw sales dip. Mondelez is hoping to turn around the performance of Cadbury biscuits, having acquired the rights for the licence to make Cadbury Fingers and Animals from Burton’s Biscuit Company. 

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10 Things You Need To Know About... Cakes & Biscuits