There’s a surprise in the top 10 bestselling free-from brands. Gourmet yoghurt brand The Collective is now the fourth bestselling brand, overtaking category stalwarts Genius and Eat Natural simply by virtue of putting ‘gluten-free’ on pack (when it is naturally gluten-free).

Meanwhile almond and soya milk are the growth drivers for the category’s top brand Alpro. They have helped it grow value sales 13.9% and volumes 12.4%.

Alpro says its unsweetened almond drink is its bestselling line, followed by its portfolio of soya-based big pot and little pot yoghurt alternatives, which head of marketing Vicky Upton says is now worth £38.6m. 

“More than one in four households buy Alpro every week,” she says. And they’ve got plenty of reason to. So far this year the brand has added a super-premium almond salted caramel variant to its plant-based ice cream range and bolstered its Caffè range of one-litre ready-to-drink chilled coffee drinks with a single-serve variant.

Although just outside the top 10, Oatly is also worth noting for its 68% value growth to £15.5m.

Amid all this stellar growth, Nielsen sees one fly in the ointment. Client business partner Rupert Austin asks whether free-from shelf space can grow any more. “Is there a point where on shelf space will start to saturate consumer demand? The signs in ambient grocery are that this point might be approaching.”

Source: Nielsen 52 w/e 19 May 2018

Brands have the majority share - 74.4% - but they’re fast losing it to own label, which has delivered more than £375m in sales in the past year.

With total value sales in the category up 37.5% to £147bn on volumes up 26.2%, own label is growing at 55.7% with value sales of £376.8m on volumes up 39.2%.

“Private label growth is driven by new shoppers, with penetration increasing 22.8% since last year, meaning almost two in three households bought a private label free-from product this year,” says Kantar Worldpanel analyst Alice Cadman. 

Those own label free-from products include ready meals, crisps, nuts and snacks, now the category’s best-performing sectors. Sales of chilled convenience (ready meals) are up 108.7% to £126.5m on volumes up 87.1% and take-home savouries (crisps, nuts and snacks) have grown from £18.3m to £80.6m - a whopping 340.8% - on volumes up 505% [Kantar]. 

Aldi and Lidl have both launched own label free-from lines in the past year (see p64), earning them growth of 168.7% and 312.1% respectively. Brands vs own label

Source: Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 26 March 2018