Celebrating Ireland’s 100 most chosen brands

In the face of economic uncertainty and the huge financial strain experienced by many households, the FMCG industry has proven its resilience.

Kantar’s 100 Master Brands at Home report for 2023, which is exclusively published by ShelfLife, reveals the ranking of the most chosen FMCG brands by Irish shoppers. The top five most chosen brands have remained unchanged for many years with Brennans leading in the first position followed by Avonmore, Tayto, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Denny.

As the cost-of-living crisis has driven shoppers to search for greater value, retailer own label lines have benefited with own label now accounting for 48.9% of the grocery market. However, the rankings show just how resilient brands are as well as how important they are to shoppers with households purchasing an average of 81 brands over the course of the year down just 4.4% from the previous year It’s those brands that have adapted to changing shopper needs in these difficult times that are coming out on top –and even in a cost-of-living crisis, innovation and indulgence still feature highly in shoppers’ minds, alongside value for money.

This can be seen clearly in some of the biggest movers within the ranking. For example, Pringles jumped seven positions to reach number 18 in the Irish FMCG ranking, thanks in part to the brand’s ability to meet changing consumer needs by attracting new

Q&A with… Emer Healy, business development director, Kantar

Q: The cost-of-living crisis has been a major factor affecting shoppers’ habits in recent times. How have you seen this reflected in the Kantar 100 Master Brands at Home ranking? Has a focus on providing value delivered results for certain brands?

A: 2022 and into 2023 has brought about rising costs for consumers on many fronts, with more of an importance than before being placed on managing budgets. Grocery shopping is no exception to the list. We have seen price inflation increase significantly across the second half of 2022 and early 2023, standing at 15.8% in the 12 weeks to 11 June 2023. Irish consumers are looking for ways to mitigate rising costs and looking for the best deals amongst the retailers through loyalty card schemes, vouchers, promotions or choosing private label products over branded goods. In the first quarter of 2023, brands and private label were neck and neck with only 0.6 percentual points share between them. What this has resulted in is that the environment was much more challenging for brands to grow their Consumer Reach Points during 2022 versus 2021. For example just three of the top 20 brands (Tayto, Müller and Pringles) grew in terms of CRP, compared to 11 in 2021. shoppers with the launch of its new ‘‘Sizzl’n Spicy’ flavours to its existing range

Q: Another consumer trend reported by Kantar has been that shoppers are returning to stores more often compared to the previous year, with the “little and often” shopping trend gaining further traction. Have you seen this trend affect the performance of particular brands?

A: According to our latest data to 11 June 2023, shoppers returned to stores more often during the month of June (+9.2%) compared to last year, making on average an additional two trips.

Yoplait climbed seven positions in the ranking to reach number 19 by appealing to the large number of shoppers seeking dairyfree alternatives, with the launch of the dairyfree Petit Filous range

ShelfLife spoke to business development director at Kantar, Emer Healy to learn more about the many market insights that can be gleaned from this year’s report.

Activia saw the strongest frequency growth amongst the most chosen 100 – growing 31.5%, moving up 33 places in the rankings to number 43 with 6 million Irish households purchasing the brand over 2022. Activia also expanded its functional yogurt range

Q: The largest increase in this year’s ranking was achieved by Glenilen Farm, up a massive 89 places! What factors would you attribute this success to?

A: Glenilen Farm was the top riser by Consumer Reach Points in the top 100 with growth of +88% moving the brand up 89

Kantar’s latest data to 11 June 2023, shows shoppers returned to stores more often during the month of June (+9.2%) compared to last year, making on average an additional two trips

What this research IS:

✔ Data is sourced from 5,000 demographically representative Irish households recording their take home grocery

✔ Comprises over 200 FMCG categories which are recorded by Kantar on a continuous basis – including those in the beverages, food, health and beauty and home and care sectors

✔ The list is based on a measure of how many households purchased a brand at least once during the year (penetration), and the average number of times households bought the brand (frequency)

✔ These two numbers are multiplied to calculate each brand’s ‘Consumer Reach Points’ (CRP) score

✔ The report covers the period of 52 w/e October 2021 vs 52 w/e October 2022

✔ Kantar contacted respondents on average at least twice a week

✔ Kantar provided households with barcode scanners in order to scan the goods that they had purchased for at home consumption

What this research IS NOT:

✘ It is not based on sales or EPOS data, measuring either value or volume sales

✘ The data does not reflect food purchased and eaten out of the home

✘ Impulse pack products have been excluded from the dataset places in the rankings. It has also seen the biggest penetration increase of 9.4ppts; making the brand a new entrant into the top 100 Glenilen Farm benefited from more presence across 2022 gaining listings in both Aldi and Lidl.

In addition to Glenilen Farm and Activia, the largest increases compared to last year’s positions were achieved by Kellogg’s Rice Krispies (up 27 places) and Hovis (up 24 places). What have these brands done well in order to capitalise on sales during the past year?

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies jumped 27 places, holding number 52 in the ranks and being chosen on 5 million occasions over the course of 2022. The brand saw strong growth in both frequency (up 16.4%) and penetration (up 1.4 percentual points). Kellogg’s Rice Krispies grew its brand’s presence with the Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camps on-pack competition.

Hovis had suffered shortages due to staff strikes during 2021. Hovis jumped 24 places to hold number 54, being chosen 5 million times by Irish households over 2022. Hovis saw penetration grow 0.6 percentual points and frequency 11.3%.

Q: Which brand’s marketing has really stood out for you in the past year and why?

A: Keogh’s saw one of the biggest increases in terms of penetration, growing 3.8 percentual points and moving up 11 places in the rankings at number 25. Keogh’s continued to attract new shoppers by launching new flavours to its core lines.

Q: Traditionally, Irish brands have always performed strongly within the Kantar 100 Master Brands at Home ranking. How has this pattern continued in the past year?

A: Over the course of 2022 Irish brands held strong. Four out of the top five brands were Irish (Brennans. Avonmore, Tayo and Denny) once more emphasising how important Irish brands are to Irish consumers.

Q: We know that sustainability has become increasingly important for both retailers and brands based on consumer demand for sustainable options. Have you seen greater sustainability measures deliver tangible results for certain brands?

A: Fairy is at number 20 in the rankings, up four places from 2021. Fairy was chosen 8 million times over 2022 and created more targets by launching its non-bio pods a softener – the dream team for sensitive skin.

Q: Are there any other trends that you found notable from this year’s ranking or perhaps any findings that were slightly surprising considering previous results?

A: Nine out of 10 winning brands do so through improving their penetration. Year after year our data proves that the only way to grow is through finding more shoppers. 2022 was a more challenging year for brands to grow and was a year of resilience competing against private label. This year’s rankings revealed that only 20 out of the most chosen 100 brands grew in terms of penetration which was a significant decline on last year in which 47 brands saw penetration growth. ■

How is the Kantar Brand Footprint calculated?

The complete ranking comprises over 200 FMCG categories tracked around the world by Kantar Worldpanel across beverages, food, health & beauty and homecare. The ranking is based on an innovative metric created by Kantar called Consumer Reach Points (CRP), which measures each time a consumer chooses a brand. The data for this year’s ranking was collected in the 52 weeks to October 2022.

✘ The following categories are not included in the Brand Footprint ranking: batteries, tobacco, nappies or alcoholic drinks According to industry observers, these are the

Ireland’S #1 choice

Because Ireland knows anything baked is better with Brennans.

At Brennans, we carefully combine long tradition and product range to cater for every taste in Ireland. This is why we’ve kept our place as Ireland’s most chosen brand for seven years in a row Our goal is always to bake a wide range of fresh, high-quality breads that are great value and satisfy the needs and usage occasions of your customers. That’s why anything baked is