The UK’s 10 most popular sweets brands 2023

1. Haribo

▲ £35.6m (+20.6%)

Growth of 14.1% to more than £1.3bn looks pretty sweet until you turn to sugar confectionery’s unit performance – retailers have shifted 4.6 million fewer kilos of candy in the past year, a decline of 2.6%. 

 

2. Rowntree’s

▲ £11.6m (+12.7%)

Three of the top 10 brands suffered a slide in volumes: Fruittella (by 2.8%), Rowntree’s (by 0.5%) and Maynards Bassetts (by 11.6%). it means Rowntree’s has overtaken Maynards Bassetts to be the second biggest brand after Haribo.

 

3. Skittles

▲ £10.9m (+20.5%)

 

4. Maoam

▲ £8.6m (+22.4%)

“Many of the brands that performed best increased price per volume in line or slightly behind the market rate of 17.2%,” says NIQ analyst Lauren Hollis.

 

5. Drumstick

▲ £5.7m (+11.3%)

 

6. Sour Patch Kids

▲ £4.3m (+27.4%)

The greatest volume gain – 13.2% – came from Sour Patch Kids, driven in part by distribution gains. The brand had an average price rise of 12.5%.

 

7. Fruittella

▲ £3.7m (+13.8%)

 

8. Werther’s Original

▲ £3.1m (+16.5%)

Skittles and Werther’s Originals also both delivered sizeable volume gains, of 11.8% and 8.6% respectively, after respective average price per kg rises of 7.8% and 7.2%.

 

9. Starburst 

▲ £1.6m (+8.5%)

 

10. Maynards Bassetts

▲ £0.2m (+0.2%)

A steep fall for Liquorice Allsorts was a key source of Maynards Bassetts’ loss. “The format has struggled due to the impact of the cost of living crisis on older shoppers,” says Hollis. “There’s been a noticeable trade down to own label, particularly in mints and liquorice, with both in value and volume growth.”

_{Brands ranked by value change. Source: NIQ 52 w/e 5 August 2023
Nielsen IQ monitors weekly data from a national network of EPoS scanners to represent sales in grocery multiples, co-ops, multiple off-licences, independents, forecourts, convenience multiples, symbols and online grocery retailers.}