Top 10 UK chocolate brands: IRI

By Rod Addy

- Last updated on GMT

Cadbury Dairy Milk is top of the chocs
Cadbury Dairy Milk is top of the chocs

Related tags Mars incorporated Chocolate Iri

Cadbury Dairy Milk kept its position as top of the chocs in a chart of top 10 UK chocolate brands by value sales issued by market analyst Information Resources (IRI).

The product, which is owned by Mondelēz International, chalked up sales of £491M in the 52 weeks to August 16, 2014.

Brand

Sales (£) 2013

Sales (£)2014

% Change

Volume sales 2013

Volume sales 2014

% Change

Dairy Milk

474,409,934

490,978,872

3.5 %

50,502,150

51,934933

2.8%

Galaxy

225,147,919

213,379,376

-5.2 %

23,647,041

22,935,737

-3.0 %

Maltesers

112,487,450

119,202,695

6.0 %

9,661,158

10,671,901

10.5%

Kit Kat

126,784,908

106,845,438

-15.7%

15,630,244

13,529,803

-13.4%

Kinder

77,328,064

99,570,638

28.8%

4,792,645

5,724,738

19.4 %

Mars

114,658,474

98,178,362

-14.4%

17,690,588

13,008,890

-26.5%

Snickers

101,192,471

82,894,345

-18.1%

15,876,359

10,373,789

-34.4%

Twirl

71,956,909

78,752,608

9.4%

6,758,905

8,021,689

18.7%

Wispa

67,894,010

73,723,806

8.6%

6,092,784

6,857,876

12.6%

M&Ms

67,211,016

67,238,768

0.0%

7,609,816

7,667,440

0.8%

Mars Confectionery’s Galaxy melted the hearts of consumers, romping home in second place, as it did in data provided by IRI last year.

Nestlé’s Kit Kat slipped from third to fourth place, while a solid single-digit sales increase for Maltesers saw it overtake Kit Kat into third place.

Powerful new entrant

One powerful new entrant to the chart this year, storming into fifth place, was Kinder, which achieved almost 30% annual growth, by far the biggest leap seen by any brand. There was little to separate it from Mars Confectionery’s eponymous Mars bar, which took sixth place in IRI’s table. 

“Kinder has grown mostly through the Kinder Surprise eggs, supported by a lot more trade promotion in the latest year,”​ said IRI director of strategic insight Tim Eales. And the brand looks set for further growth, with plans to expand into sharing and countline bags in 2015.

IRI’s figures burst Aero’s bubble, giving Nestlé little reason to celebrate. The chocolate brand disappeared out of its rankings altogether, having been in eighth place in last year’s table.

“Aero has indeed been struggling recently, despite increased levels of trade promotion,”​ said Tim Eales, IRI director of strategic insight. There is a theory that it is losing to other ‘light’/’aerated’ products like Twirl, Wispa and even Maltesers, which have been doing very well.”

Other major movers

Mars and Snickers, in sixth and seventh place were the other major movers, suffering double digit declines in value, according to IRI. Meanwhile, M&Ms just nudge into the number 10 position.

IRI’s figures indicate growth in total value sales of chocolate confectionery remained largely flat at £2.5bn. Volume sales declined by 2.8% to 270.4M units.

Chocolate remains by far the largest sector in the confectionery category. The next biggest according to IRI is sugar confectionery, which is less than half the size, with value sales of slightly more than £1bn and volume sales of 152M units in the year to August 16.

IRI figures include major supermarkets, convenience stores, independent grocers and petrol station forecourts, but not discount or online channels. 

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