Mondelez is expanding Belvita - back in growth after a weak performance last year - with a range of softer biscuits.
Rolling out from next week, Belvita Soft Bakes come in two flavours, Red Berries and Golden Grain, in packs of five individually wrapped biscuits (rsp: £2.79).
Biscuits marketing manager Rick Lawrence said the texture of traditional breakfast biscuits had been a barrier for some consumers. “Breakfast biscuits are reaching maturity in their current form, and Soft Bakes is a different, and more versatile, eat.”
Soft Bakes will be backed by a £3m push that will break in September and include TV, digital, in-store and experiential activity. The new products are packaged in a box with a sloping top to help shoppers differentiate between products in the brand.
Mondelez expanded the range late last year with Belvita Tops, which it said had helped return the brand to growth.
Value sales rose 19.6% year on year to £66.2m in the 52 weeks ending 20 June 2015, in contrast with last year when sales fell 5.1% to £52.3m [IRI 52 w/e 24 May 2014].
Lawrence added sales had been hit last year by the “distraction” of rival breakfast biscuits.
“Retailers experimented with a number of competitor breakfast biscuit brands and that took focus away from Belvita,” he said. “We have got through that period and are now back into driving penetration growth, and growing the category by appealing to consumers not currently buying breakfast biscuits.”
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