Focus On Yoghurts and Pot Desserts: 11 April

Focus On Yoghurts and Pot Desserts by Rob Brown and Natalie Brown

Download the synopsis here

Publishing: 11 April

Submissions deadline: 24 March

The story

It’s the moment of truth for low-fat yoghurt. Yet again, it has shed the pounds – and not in a good way. Sales are down 10.2% to £373.8m, according to Kantar data. As consumers look for positive health credentials rather than ‘low in’ claims, low-fat yoghurts may simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, some of the giants still have faith in the format and are investing in reinventions. So can low-fat yoghurt fight back? Or should the giants be focusing their efforts on growing formats such as big pots and indulgent recipes?

Key themes:

The low-fat reinvention: Who is investing in the low-fat format? How are they hoping to attract shoppers once again? Is that by changing the recipe, changing the language, investing in marketing – or a mix of all of these things?

Healthy yoghurts: It’s not just low-fat fare that’s struggling. Yoghurts with active health claims, which have typically fared better, have flatlined this year. Why?

Luxury yoghurts: While healthy yoghurts are struggling, luxury yoghurts are up 5.2% to over £160m. It’s a hotbed of innovation that has seen the launch variants over the past year. So why are these indulgent propositions working where low-fat is failing? And what does that tell us about Britain’s tastes?

Pot desserts: Continuing the indulgence theme, small desserts are up 2.1% to nearly £600m. What is behind this figure? Again, what does this tell us about Britain’s eating habits?

Big pots: The big pot has delivered yet another year of growth, with plain variants up 6.8% to just shy of £300m. What has driven this growth? Can it continue?

Volume declines: All of this activity comes against a backdrop of declining volumes in the yoghurts and pot desserts category. Why are shoppers buying less, and how can the category get sales up again?

Kantar: Using Kantar data, we explain the reasons behind the rise and fall of yoghurt sub-categories, from children’s yoghurt to free-from variants. We also explore the performance of branded and own label sectors.

Nielsen: Using Nielsen data, we look at the performance of the top 10 yoghurt brands over the past year.

Innovations: We identify four new products that have ideally not appeared in The Grocer before including launch date and RSP, and a picture of each.

Shopper Intelligence: Using Shopper Intelligence data, we explore how consumers shop the category