Also competing for a share of children's pocket money and adults' disposable income are mobile phones. Ever increasing numbers of young people now own them, while computer games have also created the fastest growing category within the market this year. Both are likely to have contributed to the notable decline in confectionery sales which have also suffered a drop in impulse outlets, the confectionery manufacturers' perennial friend. While there has been a lot of activity throughout the year, it has been mainly limited to brand extensions and re-launches. There have also been significantly fewer new product launches this year compared to last. The Cadbury's Dairy Milk megabrand, including all its many variants, is the bestselling brand this year, overtaking Kit Kat ­ although as a single bar the four-finger version is still the highest seller. The Kit Kat brand falls down the ranking this year due to the removal of the two-finger multipack Kit Kats, which are included in the biscuits category. This has also affected other multipack lunchbox snack versions such as Twix and Time Out. As with many other categories, brand extensions have become commonplace. Launched in September 2000, Mars Galaxy Silk Collection was the best performing new product from the last year in terms of value sales and is currently worth over £12m. The Galaxy range has been further expanded with the launch of the Galaxy Liaison bar this year. The most eagerly awaited launch must have been the re-launch in September 2001 of Cadbury's Snowflake, initially launched last year and selling out due to high demand. This has performed particularly well, especially considering that the white chocolate sector is not as big as milk chocolate. Snowflake has driven the 7% growth in the total Flake brand. An extension of the traditional Mars Bar is 5 Little Ones, featuring five bite-sized Mars chunks. This was the second bestselling new product this year with sales of more than £7m. However, it was not enough to halt the decline in the total Mars brand. Snickers has also been extended for the first time within the chocolate confectionery market to include the Snickers Cruncher which was launched in August. Snickers Cruncher contains crisped rice to make it lighter to eat and more popular with women. Bounty Calapuno was launched at the beginning of this year within the boxed chocolates sector and has achieved sales of almost £5m so far. Cadbury's Crunchie Nuggets have also been launched in the form of a bag containing chocolate-coated honeycomb chunks. Nestlé All Stars were launched this year as a competitor to Celebrations and Miniature Heroes. Although the latter products are aimed at adults, Nestlé claims to have found a niche in the market by targeting its selection at children. The newcomer's arrival coincided with the launch of the company's Christmas range. All Stars includes individually wrapped mini versions of popular Nestlé products such as Milky Bar, Rolo, Smarties and Fruit Pastilles. All Stars' differentiation lies in the fact that they combine chocolate and sugar confectionery. The sugar confectionery market is also in decline, driven by the mints sector, which has declined by over 11%. All the mint products in the top 20 have tumbled in value, suggesting that the repositioning of chewing gum as a healthy alternative for teeth has caused consumers to switch. Wrigley's Airwaves have grown by 22%, driven by new flavours and the nose and throat-soothing added benefits. In August this year Procter & Gamble announced it would be teaming up with Wrigley's to produce gums with dental benefits under the Crest brand. This move was closely followed by Colgate Palmolive, which became the first specialist oral care manufacturer to enter the confectionery market. The Colgate gum has been performing well with sales of more than £100k to date. The popularity of Haribo jellies continues, although they are some way off taking the top position from Wrigley's Extra, which has continued to grow and has achieved a 16% increase in value sales. Brand extensions have also characterised the sugar confectionery market. Extensions to the Skittles brand were the most successful launches this year. Skittles Mints were launched in March and are already at a comparable level to Smint mints, bucking the downward trend in the mint sector. Following the success of their mint counterparts, Skittles Sours were launched in August. Both these new launches have been driving the 20% growth in the total Skittles brand. Cadbury Trebor Bassett has also implemented lateral extensions to its core mint ranges this year with the launch of Mini Softmints and a new Trebor Extra Strong Menthol flavour. It has also recently launched Trebor Bassett Mint Favourites, a bag featuring various mint brands from across its sugar portfolio. Jellies and beans have become more popular this year with a variety of new product launches. Rowntree's Mega Beans were launched in July, aimed at teenagers and young adults and backed by the oingy boingy' adverts. The Wonka brand has also been extended with Wonka Oompas, a novelty bean for children with bizarre flavours such as burnt toast, mashed potato, popcorn and baked bean. But the children's sugar sector would not have been complete this year without the inevitable Harry Potter sweets. Launched by Mars in October in time for the opening of the blockbuster film, they feature flavours from the books such as Horseradish and Chocolate Frogs, and include a collectable Harry Potter card. The Harry Potter, Willy Wonka and Powerpodz brands are a direct attempt by manufacturers to match the threat of phonecards and kids' collectables by making the brands more three-dimensional. In the adult sector, Werther's Original has branched out into a soft version of the creamy toffee sweets as an alternative to the hard variant. Campino and Polo Smoothies have continued to compete head on with price promotions such as buy one get one free offers. Campino is just outside the top 20 with sales of more than £12m. Further down the list, Polo Smoothies have been performing well although this has not been enough to offset the decline in the other Polo non-mint products. Both Campino and Polo have been the best performing products of the year in terms of growth in value sales. {{P&P }}