McVitie's continued to grab the lion's share of the biscuits/cakes category - leaving everyone in its wake.

With a 26 percentage point lead over its closest rival Fox's, McVitie's accounted for 45% of promotional activity in last weekend's chart.

It was on promotion in all five retailers down the biscuit and cake aisles, primarily using buy-one-get-one-free, x-for-y and save.

Fox's secured second place with 19% of activity, ahead of Cadbury, Mr Kipling and Burton's.

Fox's biscuits were featured in Asda using save, in Morrisons using buy-one-get-one-free, and half-price in Somerfield.

Cadbury achieved third place last weekend with 14% of promotional space. Morrisons and Sainsbury's had Cadbury products on featured space gondola ends, with Morrisons opting for the extra-free mechanic and Sainsbury's using x-for-y.

Burton's biscuit ranges were captured across three of the five retailers, accounting for 12% of activity in the chart, putting it in fourth place. Buy-one-get-one-free was the main mechanic while Asda favoured x-for-y.

The final brand to reach the top five chart was Mr Kipling, which accounted for the remaining 10% of activity. Using x-for-y for all promotions, Mr Kipling was captured in Tesco and Sainsbury's using gondola ends.

McVitie's is just as dominant in the year-to-date chart, which features the same five brands, albeit in different positions - other than McVitie's.

Mr Kipling, which in 2006 was in fifth place with 10% 0f activity, has climbed to second place with 16% in this year's chart

Meanwhile, Cadbury and Fox's this year share third place with 14% each. Both have scaled back their activity from 21% and 19% last year respectively.

Burton's occupies the remaining spot with 10% of activity, leaving Nestlé out of the top five.

Focus on Cakes & Biscuits p39

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