The UK biscuit market is competitive, but with evolving consumer tastes, there’s ample opportunity for brands to shine. By embracing innovation and quality, brands like Border Biscuits are driving growth with new flavours and convenient formats that cater to modern snacking habits.
There are few places in UK FMCG as tough as the biscuit aisle.
While the market is dynamic and competitive, with discerning, price-conscious shoppers and a strong own-label presence, it presents a unique opportunity for brands to truly shine. Rapidly evolving consumer preferences mean there’s space for exciting new offerings. By focusing on genuine innovation and cultivating a distinct point of difference, brands can capture consumer attention and achieve remarkable success in this vibrant marketplace.
Traditional flavours with a twist
Innovation is a key differentiator in biscuits when it comes to achieving volume growth. New product development drives trial and recruits new consumers to the category. Over the past 18 months, indulgence has been a key trend seen within the biscuit category, with new launches putting a twist on classic flavours.
It’s no secret that chocolate biscuits are a best-seller in the UK. However, traditional chocolate biscuits are being upgraded with innovative flavours that have piqued the interest of shoppers.
While chocolate orange is a classic flavour combination, there is one fruit flavour that is making a more recent appearance in the biscuit aisle – raspberry. Raspberry as a flavour trend within biscuits is in double-digit growth for both value (+33%) and volume (+21%) sales [Circana]. The success of Border Biscuits’ Dark Chocolate Raspberry biscuit has contributed to this growth.
Since its launch, Border’s Dark Chocolate Raspberry biscuit has been performing strongly, achieving the highest rate of sale across the Border range in its first six weeks of launch, and subsequently delivering strong value into the luxury biscuit segment, reveals the company.
Tina Cunningham, CEO of Border Biscuits, says: “At Border, we simply make good, honest biscuits. Our award-winning Dark Chocolate Raspberry biscuit has been crafted to combine the richness of dark chocolate with the sharpness of raspberry. This flavour combination is resonating with shoppers, and after launching initially in Waitrose, we’ve recently achieved UK-wide listings in Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and Co-op giving us a strengthened national presence.”
Although flavour is a key sales driver for biscuits, quality is the leading reason why shoppers pick up a biscuit brand off the shelf. Nearly three-quarters (74%) [Market] of shoppers say that quality is the most important factor when it comes to biscuit choice.
Ingredients used in biscuits matter to shoppers and they are looking at the back of the pack to inform their purchases. So, the use of premium, quality ingredients is likely to be one of the main reasons why luxury biscuits form the second-largest segment within the biscuit category in terms of value sales, worth more than £370m and growing in value by nearly 10% (9.8%) [Circana].
Border continues to pride itself on developing new biscuits based on genuine consumer insight in line with market trends and that deliver on quality and flavour.
Unlocking new consumption occasions
A core consumer demographic of sweet biscuits is 30- to 50-year-olds who consider themselves to be foodies and like to explore new products [Market]. For this demographic, sweet biscuits’ share of sweet snacks is over half [Market]. Now, however, the biscuit territory is expanding into even more snacking occasions. In fact, this core biscuit demographic over-indexes in biscuit consumption occasions that are out of home, such as train journeys, lunch on-the-go, or a morning snack on-the-go. Within this, the biscuit bar format lends itself well for the on-the-go consumption occasion.
Biscuits are also increasingly part of meal deals, even though this space has traditionally been reserved for crisps and confectionery. With the opportunity to offer individually wrapped biscuits, the occasions where biscuits can play in are growing.
Border Dark Chocolate Ginger Bars tap into this trend perfectly, offering a premium-quality flavour experience in a convenient format perfect for today’s busy consumers. The biscuit bar shopper is looking to indulge in a chocolatey treat, but not necessarily consume a whole chocolate bar, and therefore biscuit bars offer a natural solution with Border consistently outperforming the chocolate biscuit bar category in the last 52 weeks [Circana].
Why Border?
For over 40 years, Border has evolved its offerings to meet changing consumer preferences, delivering its innovation with a commitment to both people and product. From modest beginnings in the Scottish town of Lanark, the brand has grown from a four-person operation to an award-winning family-run business with over 150 employees, a turnover of more than £20m, and has just had another record-breaking year. Border continues to develop products based on genuine consumer insight, using the highest-quality ingredients.
Giving back to the local area is also something Border’s CEO and all the colleagues who work at Border are passionate about, with the company having donated over £1m to local causes through their registered charity (Border Biscuits Community Support).
With a commitment to quality, community, and a passion for crafting biscuits that turn everyday moments into something special, Border is poised for another 40 years of success.
To discover more about Border Biscuits and the wide range of flavours and formats available, go to https://www.border.co.uk/ or sales@border.co.uk
