● Many brands have been forced to put up prices due to soaring commodity costs exacerbated by the weak sterling. The growth of pricier baby snacks and single-serve pouches have also pushed up the average price.
●Market leader Aptamil illustrates both trends, with value inching up 2.1% on volumes down 4.6% due to rising costs being passed on and the development of new RTD products.
● Organic and premium brands are cashing in, as illustrated by the growth of Organix, as well as strong performances by premium babyfood players Ella’s Kitchen and Little Dish.
● Snacking brand Kiddylicious has successfully tapped the growth in infant snacking and has ventured into main meals with its new Little Bistro lines.
● Despite a relaunch of its infant portfolio, including a new Heinz by Nature range of wet meals with ingredients from a “natural source”, Heinz sales have taken a tumble.
● Milk brands Aptamil, Cow & Gate and SMA are under threat as Aldi launched the first private baby milk line in the UK at the end of 2016.
Source: IRI 52 w/e 2 December 2017
● Fewer packs bought per shopper, driven by the move away from volume-based promotions, is the factor that’s affected the baby market most in the past year. This is a common trend seen in the main declining categories in the baby market; nappies, wipes, healthcare and food.
● Aldi and Lidl’s Mamia and Lidl’uns ranges have continued to take their toll on brands. Aldi now represents over 25% of own-label baby sales.
● On the other side of the coin, baby toiletries are hotting up – and brands are driving growth. Dove and Aveeno launched their own baby skin and haircare lines this year, which helped them reach a combined baby toiletries share of 5%.
Alex Daykin
Kantar Worldpanel
Top 10 infant and baby food brands: IRI | KGS/LITRES | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Value Sales | Volume Sales | |||||
52 w/e 3 Dec, 16 | 52 w/e 2 Dec, 17 | % CHANGE | 52 w/e 3 Dec, 16 | 52 w/e 2 Dec, 17 | % CHANGE | |
Baby Food, Milk & Drinks | £652,704,645 | £656,099,711 | 0.5 | 88,814,548 | 84,858,087 | -4.5 |
Aptamil | £217,603,138 | £222,103,193 | 2.1 | 25,213,977 | 24,043,833 | -4.6 |
Cow & Gate | £165,840,122 | £157,016,986 | -5.3 | 26,503,967 | 24,997,955 | -5.7 |
Ellas Kitchen | £47,558,365 | £54,053,784 | 13.7 | 4,933,310 | 5,430,630 | 10.1 |
Sma | £57,286,582 | £52,538,797 | -8.3 | 6,741,267 | 5,854,463 | -13.2 |
Hipp | £49,038,665 | £47,081,655 | -4.0 | 9,391,746 | 8,559,140 | -8.9 |
Organix | £38,519,029 | £39,971,194 | 3.8 | 2,664,025 | 2,713,371 | 1.9 |
Heinz | £37,630,776 | £33,752,891 | -10.3 | 8,161,656 | 7,203,916 | -11.7 |
Kiddylicious | £8,790,420 | £14,794,639 | 68.3 | 196,542 | 308,752 | 57.1 |
Little Dish | £7,547,818 | £8,921,013 | 18.2 | 744,089 | 810,755 | 9.0 |
Own Label | £4,261,723 | £4,801,019 | 12.7 | 495,465 | 629,249 | 27.0 |
● Fewer packs bought per shopper, driven by the move away from volume-based promotions, is the factor that’s affected the baby market most in the past year. This is a common trend seen in the main declining categories in the baby market; nappies, wipes, healthcare and food.
● Aldi and Lidl’s Mamia and Lidl’uns ranges have continued to take their toll on brands. Aldi now represents over 25% of own-label baby sales.
● On the other side of the coin, baby toiletries are hotting up – and brands are driving growth. Dove and Aveeno launched their own baby skin and haircare lines this year, which helped them reach a combined baby toiletries share of 5%.
Alex Daykin
Kantar Worldpanel
The infant care market: Kantar Worldpanel, 52 w/e 8th October 2017 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TAKE HOME SHARE | ||||||||||||
TOTAL | VALUE | VOLUME | AVERAGE PRICE | |||||||||
Value last year (£m) | Value this year (£m) | Share % | % y-o-y | Volume last year pck (m) | Volume this year pck (m) | Share % | % y-o-y | £/pck last year | £/pck this year | £ y-o-y | % y-o-y | |
Nappies | 422.9 | 364.8 | 26 | -13.7 | 86.0 | 78.3 | 11.6 | -9.1 | 4.91 | 4.66 | -0.25 | -5.1 |
Baby Milk | 319.3 | 322.6 | 23 | 1 | 62.8 | 58.0 | 8.6 | -7.6 | 5.08 | 5.56 | 0.48 | 9.4 |
Baby Food | 265.0 | 259.3 | 18.5 | -2.1 | 250.2 | 237.0 | 35.1 | -5.3 | 1.06 | 1.09 | 0.03 | 2.8 |
Baby Toiletries | 137.0 | 143.3 | 10.2 | 4.6 | 100.4 | 100.0 | 14.8 | -0.3 | 1.37 | 1.43 | 0.06 | 4.4 |
Baby Wipes | 159.8 | 149.6 | 10.7 | -6.4 | 142.7 | 135.4 | 20.1 | -5.1 | 1.12 | 1.1 | -0.02 | -1.8 |
Baby Healthcare | 85.4 | 80.8 | 5.8 | -5.3 | 27.9 | 25.7 | 3.8 | -8.1 | 3.06 | 3.15 | 0.09 | 2.9 |
Baby Accessories | 76.3 | 78.0 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 37.0 | 36.5 | 5.4 | -1.6 | 2.06 | 2.14 | 0.08 | 3.9 |
Total Baby | 1471.0 | 1403.2 | 100 | -4.6 | 712.3 | 675.2 | 100 | -5.2 | 2.07 | 2.08 | 0.01 | 0.5 |