It's been a mixed year for the retailers in jams & spreads. As the discounters continue to seize market share, value sales are down for three of the big four, with only Sainsbury's managing to deliver growth. While Ocado enjoyed double-digit success, Waitrose saw sales tumble 7.9%, making it the worst performer [Kantar Worldpanel 52 w/e 7 October 2018].

Ocado attributes its success to nut butters and boozy jams. "We have seen strong sales of larger, 1kg tubs of peanut butter, and have added to our wider range with lines including macadamia, coconut and praline," says Ocado's trading manager Lucy Hamblion. "In regards to jam, our customers are enjoying our more adventurous offerings such as the Radnor Preserves range, which includes the option of Plum & Prosecco Preserve," she says. 

Shoppers looking for bigger formats prompted Pip & Nut to launch its crunchy peanut butter in 1kg tubs in October. "We've seen across our customer base that the average weight of purchase has increased," says Pip & Nut's founder Pippa Murray.

Aldi is the fastest-growing bricks and mortar retailer, with value up 10.8% and you don't have to be a mathematician to work out why. While the average price of jam in the category is now £2.81 per kg [Kantar], Aldi's Everyday Essentials strawberry jam costs just 28p per 454g jar - that's 62p per kg.

We're all going nuts for nuts. Although honey remains the largest sector in value terms, peanut butter is the standout performer, with value sales up almost £10m over the past year.

With total value sales in the category up 3.5% to £529.2m - equating to an additional spend of £17.9m - on volumes up 1.5%, penetration is up 3.6% for peanut butter as Brits switch from other sectors and existing shoppers buy even more. 

Its performance is driven by the perception that peanut butter is a healthier alternative to spreads such as jam or marmalade, and comes in spite of an average price increase of 5.2% to £4.63 per kg. 

Average prices are up in all sectors due to a decrease in promotions.

However, the opposite is true in honey, which has seen a 0.5% fall in average price. "The proportion of sales on deal has actually increased in this category, driven by greater use of price reductions, up 6.9% year on year," says Kantar Worldpanel analyst Chantel Kennaugh.

We might be going nuts for nuts but the same can't be said for jam: the third-biggest sector is continuing to struggle, with value sales up just 0.2% on volumes down 1%.