The winners and losers of 2024 by brand and category

Loose tobacco
▼21.6%

Roll your own just isn’t cutting it these days: it’s pricey and fruity vapes taste nicer. No wonder loose tobacco is the fastest-declining category of 2024.

Cigarettes & cigars
▼ 15.2%

At £13.43 per pack, it’s hardly surprising that ciggies & cigars continue their long-term decline, shedding 124.9 million units and losing £588.1m.

Meat-free
▼ 8.7%

The once-fashionable alt-meat has lost volumes due to high prices, ultra-processed foods concerns and the disappointing taste of many products.

Canned meat
▼7.6%

The overall canned category is in decent shape – but that can’t be said for all sectors. Tinned meat has fallen most, as more Brits move to fresh meat. 

Frozen desserts & cakes
▼6.2%

Frozen desserts & cakes has shed 2.3 million kilos, largely driven by a decline in the snacking and treating habits of the Covid pandemic era. 

Paediatric analgesics
▼ 6.2%

Kids are not necessarily getting tougher. The decline in paediatric analgesics is more likely due to sales settling after growing quickly last year.

Ambient ready meals
▼ 5.9%

Brits are bored with ambient ready meals, says NIQ. And with inflation easing, they’re more willing to fork out on chilled alternatives, where NPD is rife.

Hot chocolate & malted drinks
▼ 5.9%

A lack of meaningful innovation has hurt hot chocolate & malted drinks. The category has seen one million fewer kilos go through tills.

Spirits
▼ 5.6%

Higher prices driven by duty increases have hit volume sales of spirits. The likes of gin, vodka and whisky have lost 15 million litres between them.

Ambient soup
▼ 5.4%

Ambient soup has lost out as shoppers moved to chilled alternatives, which are considered healthier and higher quality.

10 fastest growing categories by volume

Dried herbs & spices
▲ 14.2%

The trend for more adventurous home cooking has led to another year of strong growth for dried herbs & spices. It’s shifted an extra 2.5 million kilos.

Garment care
▲11.4%

Efforts to make clothes last longer have greatly benefited garment care products, backed by innovation and big-money marketing.

Eggs
▲ 10.1%

No longer struggling with supply issues, own label has seen egg sales rocket – driving the category’s gain of 78.8 million units.

Flavoured milk
▲9.7%

The gut health, protein and iced coffee boom have paid dividends for the flavoured milk category, which has put an extra 21.3 million litres through tills.

Honey
▲8.6%

An extra 2.7 million kilos of honey were sold this year thanks to the hot honey craze, more home baking and for use as a healthier alternative to sugar.

Rice
▲7.9%

Rice is affordable, versatile and filling. With shoppers preparing more meals at home Brits consumed an extra 20.7 million kilos.

Drinking yoghurt
▲7.2%

Like flavoured milk, drinking yoghurt has been buoyed by the gut health boom. Actimel and Biotiful were among the brands to capitalise.

Hand dishwash
▲ 7.1%

More cooking at home means more washing-up. Which helps to explain why 14.6 million more packs of hand dishwash have gone through tills.

Bottled water
▲ 7.1%

A thirst for healthier drinks has led to a payday for bottled water. The category shifted an extra 200.7 million litres in the past year.

Yoghurt
▲ 6.7%

Demand for protein, healthy fats and lines low in sugar have all driven strong volume gains for the yoghurt market. A 39.2 million kilo gain.

Five fastest­ falling products by category

ElfBar
▼ £284m (45.6%)

ElfBar has run out of puff, losing £284m in sales, the biggest absolute decline in this year’s Top Products Survey. It also lost its place at the top of the vaping charts as sales shrank to £339m. It’s now bracing for next spring’s ban on disposable devices, having added the reusable ElfX Pod Kit in July. It can be refilled with e-liquid or nic salts and provides three airflow levels – economy, standard and turbo. 

Prime
▼ £63.1m (46.2%)

Prime was the social-media-fuelled sales sensation of 2023. With limited supply its Hydration energy drinks were selling for upwards of £20 in some outlets and listings by major mults were national news. What a difference a year makes. Sales have almost halved to £73m which represents the biggest loss of any food and drink brand. By the spring of 2024 excess stock was flogged for as little as 29p. 

Hovis
▼ £37.7m (9.1%)

In August, Hovis recruited its first chief marketing officer with a mission to ‘protect and grow’ the bread category. Starting with Hovis itself presumably. It lost the thick end of £40m in sales (19.2 million kilos) in the last year as sales fell to £375m. A new Farmhouse Batch white loaf launched in September. And it’s just registered the name Hovis White N’ Fibre so watch out for a 50/50 Kingsmill lookalike soon. 

Quorn
▼ £16.5m (9.5%)

The meat-free market continues to struggle and that includes the number-one brand in the category. Quorn sales dipped to £157m as it lost £16.5m in value on volumes down 9.8% (or two million kilos). That’s almost half of the meat alternative category’s total £37.2m decline. Owner Marlow Foods is confident the market will return to growth “over the next couple of years”, however.

PG Tips
▼ £15.1m (16.5%)

A major relaunch in September 2023 – which included new-look packs and a £12m marketing splurge – has done little to improve the fortunes of PG Tips. Sales are down £15.1m to £77m and volumes fell 37.8% as owner Lipton Teas & Infusions cut back on discounting and reduced its SKU count. Sales began to improve in the latter half of the year, it adds. A Special Blends range was added in November.

Five fastest ­growing products by category

SKE Crystal Bar
▲ £240.8m (116.5%)

There’s a new number one in vaping. SKE Crystal Bar now has a retail sales value of almost £450m, having grown volumes 111%. “A huge amount of research in to understanding what consumers want” has been key to growth in a category that has seen volumes dip 0.9% into the red, it says. But next April’s ban on disposable devices now looms. The vaping market will likely look very different in 12 months’ time.

Blueberries
▲ £110.3m (20.4%)

Brits love soft fruits so much that 84% of households bought them last year, according to Driscoll’s. Strawberries, raspberries and blackberries have all enjoyed value and volume growth this past 12 months. But none more so than blueberries. Sales are up a fifth to over £650m after seeing an extra 25 million units go through tills. And that’s despite a 10.5% rise in average price.

Monster
▲ £103.6m (17.8%)

There’s no stopping Monster. The UK’s second-biggest energy drink brand is piling the pressure on market leader Red Bull, with sales increasing by over £100m to almost £700m. No food and drink brand has added more in absolute value or volume (an extra 21.1 million litres). Monster puts its success down to flavour innovation. The summer 2023 launch of sugar-free Original won’t have hurt, either.

Cadbury Dairy Milk
▲ £72.4m (10.0%)

The UK’s leading chocolate brand this year celebrated its 200th birthday, rolling out collectable products and reminding consumers of its storied history. Plus, there was the spring launch of chunky Dairy Milk & More filled chocolate bars and the return of Top Deck after two decades. And sales rose 10% to £798m. But the whopping £72m sales value gain is entirely down to higher prices. Volumes fell 1.6%.

Warburtons
▲ £57.6m (10.9%)

Packaged bread sales are now close to £600m. And leading baker Warburtons has shifted an extra 19.6 million kilos of wrapped bread, in what it hailed as its “best-ever” year. The sterling performance was the result of marketing investment, quality improvements and trendy launches such as Protein Flatbreads. As such, it’s not only outpaced its main rivals, it’s bucked the category’s volume decline.