- Ferrero is spreading the festive cheer again this year, with seasonal NPD set to reinforce the portfolio as well as expand it into new categories and segments
- With a total portfolio-wide investment of £6.8m (confectionery and spreads), the company’s iconic brands will be unmissable in the lead up to Christmas, with activity spanning multiple channels.
Intro – investment
Ferrero will be investing £6.8m (confectionery and spreads) this Christmas while launching an array of new products across its brands, including novelties, figures and advent calendars.
Levi Boorer, Customer Development Director at Ferrero, comments: “Christmas is a key seasonal trading spike for the confectionery category, and it’s important that retailers stock the right range of quality products to cover every shopper’s needs. That’s why we are providing customers with the right support for them to grow their sales through a winning core range and exciting new products reinforced by a £6.8m investment in consumer support.
“Ferrero’s diverse portfolio contains a number of best-selling, quality brands that help to drive category growth, offering shoppers great tasting products to gift and share during the Christmas period. Many shoppers love Ferrero products throughout the entire year, and when stocked alongside our seasonal launches that add more interest to the category, it gives retailers the opportunity to excite their shoppers over the Christmas period.”
Adult seasonal confectionery
The boxed chocolates category, worth £539m at Christmas[1], is one that Ferrero is synonymous with through its Rocher, Collection, Raffaello and Thorntons ranges, and presents a great opportunity for retailers to drive sales over Christmas.
To coincide with last year’s strong Continental boxed performance and spread seasonal excitement amongst shoppers, which saw growth of +14.2%[2], Thorntons is launching a Continental Winter Markets box (273g). With six chocolates joining the selection, Continental Winter Markets present rich and evocative flavours from every corner of Europe, and special-edition flavours for 2019 include Italian Panforte, Dutch Speculoos and Clementine Caramel.
Thorntons has also given its Mint Collection (232g) a new look and feel, with a modern and premium update to the design that will complement the brand’s existing core boxed range. The Thorntons Snowflake collection (160g) will also feature two new flavours, including Salted Caramel Snowflake and Burnt Sugar Snowflake.
After the successful launch of The Cheeky Elf figure last year – the 2nd biggest NPD in the novelties category[3] – Thorntons is adding The Snowy Bear (200g) to its range of figures, while also updating its newly named Cheeky Reindeer (200g). Thorntons’ Cheeky Elf character is also expanding into new consumer occasions with the launch of a self-treat product, such was the popularity of the figure in 2018. With the self-treat market worth £19.4M, and growing by 10%,[4] the Cheeky Elf product will come in four different elf shape mould designs that will surprise and delight shoppers.
Raffaello will be launching a new 100g round box with a decorative bow to offer shoppers its sweet, smooth and nutty flavours in a smaller giftable format.
Christmas 2019 will see nutella bring back its popular seasonal packaging across its 200g, 400g, 750g & 1kg jars. The year will also see the launch of the novelty nutellino Christmas trio pack, which contains 3 x 30g jars with seasonal designs that will make for the perfect token gift during the festive period.
Kids confectionery
2018 was another strong year for Kinder, with its seasonal range growing by +£1.8m during the seasonal period[5], helping to spread the festive cheer amongst families in the run up to Christmas.
“The Christmas period is often a great time for retailers to bring some extra excitement to their shoppers. As the number one Kids Confectionery brand since 2012[6], Kinder is there to help add that little bit of magic, so that the festive season is all the more enjoyable for all” said Boorer.
To help retailers tap into the novelties segment during the festive period, Kinder is launching the Kinder Mix Reindeer Headband which will make for the perfect treat leading up to Christmas. The new 167g product comes with a selection of Kinder Mini Bueno, Kinder Mini Chocolate and Kinder Mini Chocolate with Cereals, as well as the fun Reindeer Headband to drive seasonal relevancy, and will join Kinder’s existing range of Novelties.
Kinder Surprise will build on the successful performance of its 100g egg last Christmas, after it saw growth of +126% and is now worth over £1.6m[7]. As the sixth biggest SKU in the Novelties segment[8], the Kinder Surprise 100g will now feature new Polar Bear toys with great playability, including water shooting and colour changing features.
Kinder Joy has enjoyed good growth in recent years, with the brand seeing growth of +5.2%[9]last Christmas. The spoonable favourite will return this Christmas with new exciting festive designs that will drive seasonal relevancy and stand out in store.
This year, Kinder has added adding additional features to many of its new products, to help consumers extend their imagination and playing time. The new Kinder Mix Hexagon (152g) been redesigned to feature more engaging features to add further excitement and fun to the product. The Kinder & Love (37g) – a perfect self-treat or stocking filler item – is both hangable and stickable, and can be turned into a decoration to help shoppers spread the festive cheer around their home.
Calendars
The Advent Calendars sector saw impressive growth of +14.7% at Christmas 2018[10], with Kinder performing remarkably, and experiencing growth exceeding that of the advent calendar categories overall[11]. Kinder is also looking to retain its top position in Kids Advent Calendars and outperform the continued double digit growth (+10%) that was seen in 2018[12], by refreshing the look of its 135g Advent Calendar.
As premium products always tend to have a greater appeal to shoppers over the Christmas period, Thorntons has enhanced its existing Continental Calendar, including 25 days of Thorntons chocolate with a Viennese bar added in for the final day to give shoppers something luxurious to enjoy. Thorntons is also tapping into the impressive advent calendar market growth with the launch of its Cheeky Elf Advent Calendar. The advent calendar will come in a book format, bringing to life the world in which the Cheeky Elf lives in an exciting way.
Ferrero will also be innovating in the Advent Calendar category, with the launch of the brand new Ferrero Collection Advent Calendar. The product has a unique opening and makes for a premium seasonal offering with its range of Ferrero Rocher, Raffaello and Rondnoir products within.
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