Focus On Butters & Spreads: 11 June 2016

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Focus On: Butters & Spreads

Publishing: 11 June

Copy deadline: 2 June

Submissions deadline: 25 May

Contact: kevin.white@thegrocer.co.uk

The Story

Branded prices have been slashed to compete with cut price own label lines and ranges have been rationalised. Which brands and retailers have been hardest hit? Is anyone bucking the trend? And what does the coming year have in store for the butters & spreads market?

Key themes:

Range rationalisation: This will be a key focus of this feature, which will investigate how different retailers have adjusted their ranges in the past year to cut duplication & maximise the profitability of butters & spread chillers.

Spreadable butter: This feature will investigate why spreadable butter continues to grow in an increasingly difficult market; in fact, it’s the only sub category in growth. Why? Given that Brits are eating less bread, what are we spreading it on? How significant a factor has NPD been in the past year? Is the growth at the expense of other sectors in this category?

Dairy spreads: Sales in this sector are plummeting. Is spreadable butter stealing share from this sector? This feature will explore in detail the factors that have led to dairy spreads’ decline and what’s being done to turn things around.

Margarines and other spreads: This feature will be looking at margarine, sunflower spreads , white fats and a host of other propositions in this market. How are these sectors evolving? With butter continuing to outperform, are we likely to see more products being mixed with butter, as we have over the past year?

Block butter: Volumes are up but value is down, suggesting that lower prices are helping to shore up growth in this sector. This feature will explore in detail the factors that are driving the performance of this sector and what the coming year has in store.

Own label v brands: Own label is in strong volume growth in this category. Why? What are brands doing to fight back? Are they lowering prices? How have retailers developed their own label ranges in the past year?

Olive spreads: Volumes are up, just, while value has fallen fast. What’s driving this? How can the fall in average price be reconciled with the ongoing shortage, and subsequently higher prices, of olive oil? Will olive spread prices rise this year?

Foodies: This feature will pay close attention to how butter players have sought to capitalise on the home baking trends and the rise of so-called ‘foodie’ culture through NPD, advertising, marketing and in-store merchandising. Is this trend to thank for the strong growth we’re seeing in flavoured and alcoholic butters?

Health: A key focus of this feature will be how the market’s key players are looking to use healthy eating messages in their marketing. Is part of butter’s success in recent years down to the perception that butter is somehow a more ‘natural’, less processed product than other spreads? And can other spreads use their lower sat fat content to their advantage in their marketing?

Prices: This will be central to this feature. Particular attention will be paid to how much butter’s growth has been driven by lower prices and fiercer promotions. The impact of surplus milk stocks on the future price of butter will also be a key focus. Are butter prices likely to fall and how will this affect other spreads’ efforts to claw back market share?

Advertising and marketing: This feature will also investigate how the marketing and advertising strategies of the category’s biggest brands have evolved over the past year and how they will develop in the coming year to sustain growth or return brands to growth. We will look at the ad spend of the biggest players in a separate box out.

Innovation: This will be key to this feature. We will be investigating how new product development has shaped the category over the past year and what is in store for shoppers in 2016. We will be profiling four of the most interesting launches in a separate innovation panel.

Promotions: This feature will explore how the promotional strategies of retailers and brands have changed over the past year. Attention will be paid to the promotional strategies of retailers and how this has affected average prices over the past year.

Key questions the feature is likely to address: