The grocery category this week accounts for 23% of branded promotions, with big household names the best performers

Promotional activity over the last quarter reveals a great affinity for custom and consistency. Over the past three months there has been little alteration, with the best performing categories - grocery, alcohol and health/baby/beauty - typically ­securing and dominating promotional space in stores.
This week it is grocery that leads, accounting for 23% of branded ­promotions compared with its ­second place position three months ago with 20%.
Alcohol is the second featured category this week with 17%, ­although it was topping the table last quarter with 22% of featured promotions. At that point wine brand ­Kumala and Belgian lager Stella ­Artois were the two most recorded alcohols on offer, with half-price ­offers and save mechanics. This week, lager comes up trumps with Carling and Beck&'s on multi-buy and &'save&'.
The best performing brands, as expected, are huge household names. Nestlé tops this chart with 17% of ­total recorded activity, with Mars at 14%, Coca-Cola at 12%, McVitie&'s at 11% and Princes at 10%. At the same point three months ago, several of the same brands were also present within the top five. Nestlé topped the chart with 23% of total recorded activity, followed by Cadbury with 12%, Birds Eye with 11%, Coca-Cola with 10% and health & beauty brand Dove deviating from the other grocery lead brands with 8%.
Nestlé&'s continuous position at the top of the promotional league is supported by the number of categories it chooses to promote ­under. Its activity crosses four categories: grocery, confectionery, dairy and biscuits/cakes. Grocery is its biggest promotional category with regular offers available on cereal brands, particularly Cheerios and ­Shreddies as well as coffee brand Nescafé.
For Nestlé, grocery promotions generally account for half of all promotional activity within retailers; confectionery is a consistent second with a third of its offers devoted to sweets and chocolate.
Magdalena Korczak