Soup brands left out in the cold as own label mops up

There’s been toil and trouble for soup brands in the past year. While the wicked winter proved ideal conditions, own label stole share and broke hearts with an array of cheaper offerings, especially in chilled.

Brands ladled out the NPD in response, but with mixed results. Exotic new variants are appearing, with chilled brand Glorious! adding recipes such as West African chicken & peanut to its range to win consumers back and reverse falling sales (volumes fell by just over a fifth in the past year).

Read The Grocer’s full Top Products Survey.

It’s tough going. “Promotional space is at more of a premium this year where the retailers are trying to drive even more profit from effectively the same space,” says Afruj Miah, national account manager at Glorious!, pointing to the October launch of budget range Love Of by Glorious! owner TSC Foods to undercut own label. “There’s been a huge push in own label from all the retailers.”

Nowhere is the shift more apparent than in the performance of New Covent Garden, whose delisting from Tesco in favour of its own New York Soup Co line in October 2012 resulted in more than a quarter of the brand’s volumes being wiped out. However, the brand is back in Tesco with its largest range to date.

NPD includes 700g screw-cap cartons exclusive to Tesco and a Skinny range including recipes such as Goan spiced chicken and quinoa & turtle beans. The relisting came too late to show in this year’s figures, but the brand is upbeat about the outlook for 2014.

Over in ambient, number one brand Heinz, whose core ranges are all struggling, tried adding a Kick of Chilli and Fiery Mexican Spices to its Classic range in August in a bid to heat up sales. In the same month, the brand added a chicken & chorizo variant to its Big Soup range following a You Decide campaign in which consumers voted for new flavours.

“We wanted to create a range of soups that would appeal to upmarket and younger consumers who want an exciting twist,” says marketing manager Jack Wallace, adding that Heinz spent £1.4m on marketing for the NPD.

Appealing to more affluent consumers has boosted Crosse & Blackwell, which entered the market with three premium Best of British soups in September 2012. The brand, which added five flavours to the range in September, has jumped from 25th to ninth in our ranking, making it the greatest climber of in soup.

Batchelors also bucked the trend by extending its Cup A Soup brand with the addition of Cup a Pasta and Cup a Noodle,” says Andy Smith, senior brand manager at Batchelors. “These additions provide tasty, affordable and more interesting lunch options.

One other factor contributed to the sector’s overall growth in 2013: the weather. Here’s one category that will be praying for more snow this winter.

Read The Grocer’s full Top Products Survey.