Nielsen: top ten sauce brands by value
Top ten sauce and condiments brands by value  
     
  £m % change
Heinz 201.3 3%
Hellmann's 98.1 -0.2%
H.P.  34.6 -5.5%
Colemans  31.8 -3.1%
Nandos 22.0 20.0%
Lea & Perrins 12.3 -1.8%
Blue Dragon 8.3 15.7%
Encona 7.7 1.6%
Maille 7.2 7.1%
Tabasco 5.0 1.2%
     
Data source: Nielsen, 52 w/e 13 July 2019    
  • Kingpin Heinz built on its lead with a £5.5m gain. A whopping 88.2% of that growth came from its Seriously Good Mayonnaise, now worth £25m. The £4.8m sales boost was down to a mixture of above the line marketing and in-store promotions.
  • Heinz Tomato Ketchup also edged up 2% to £123m. The 50% Less Sugar & Salt variant was a driver of that growth, says Nielsen senior analytical consultant Nicholas Corlett.
  • “That growth shows health trends are still a focus for consumers, with healthy tomato ketchup growing at 23% while standard is in 2.8% decline,” he says.
  • Hellmann’s lost £2.1m after scrapping both its salad cream and ketchup lines. In better news, its mayo returned to (moderate) growth of 0.7%, thanks partly to its vegan launch.
  • Nando’s emerged as the fastest-growing brand in the top 10, with a £3.7m gain on volumes up 19%. That was thanks to Britain’s growing love of spicy flavours, as well as its larger pack sizes gaining distribution.
  • Blue Dragon is the only other brand in the top 10 to achieve double- digit value and volume growth. It has bolstered sales by expanding its range of Asian flavours to include a new squeezy table sauce lineup and Sriracha Mayo.
  • Brown sauce and salad cream have seen the largest declines this year, as evidenced by the performance of HP and Heinz Salad Cream, down £1.2m and £1.7m respectively.
Shopper Intelligence: how Brits shop sauces
How Brits shop sauces and condiments  
     
% of people agree that    
  Sauces & condiments Total grocery average 
I don't want to run out of them 79% 35%
I plan in advance to buy a particular brand 56% 39%
The more  of it I buy, the more is likely to be eaten 9% 18%
     
Source: Shopper Intelligence survey of 77,000 shoppers     

Sauces and condiment shoppers have a higher than average rate of brand loyalty. More than half of shoppers know which branded sauce or condiment they want to buy before even entering the store.

That makes it all the more important for retailers to stock the big brands, says Jeremy Garlick, partner at Insight Traction. 

Nearly four in five shoppers said they wouldn’t want to run out of sauces or condiments at home. So it’s vital that retailers keep their shelves stocked, or they may find shoppers going elsewhere, says Garlick. 

Retailers should also bear in mind that sauces and condiments “aren’t a category like crisps or fizzy drinks, where the amount shoppers eat depends on how much they buy”, Garlick adds. 

That makes volume promotions less effective than they are in the average grocery category. 

Households that buy a higher volume of sauces or condiments on promotion will still consume them at their regular rate. So if they buy in bulk, that will simply result in a longer gap until their next sauce or condiment purchase. % of people who agree with the statementSource: Shopper Intelligence survey of 77,000 shoppers

Kantar: top eight sauce sectors
Top eight sauce and condiment sectors  
     
  £m % change
Mayonnaise   171.1 10.3
Ketchup   153.3 0.2
Salad Cream   57.0 0.1
Thick Brown Sauce   47.7 -2.8
Pourable Dressings   46.0 5.1
Mustard 32.6 2.9
Soy 24.5 3.7
Mint sauce 16.8 5.1
     
Source: Kantar 52 w/e 19 May 2019    
     
Brands vs Own Label  
  £m % change
Branded 488.4 4.8
Own Label 196 2.5
     
     
Retailers  
  Category value share % growth 
Tesco 25.7 2.8
Sainsbury's 15 1.7
Asda 25 3.2
Morrisons 10.3 3.3
Aldi 4.9 8.4
Lidl 4.9 17
  • Sauces and condiments remain a staple cupboard essential in UK households, enjoying sales growth of 4.1% (£27m) this year on volumes up 2.5%.
  • “Brits can’t get enough of livening up their plates, with 97.9% buying into the sauces and condiments category on average 15.7 times a year,” says Kantar analyst Radhika Dhamecha.
  • Full-price sales have reached a five-year high of £434m, accounting for 63% of total spend in the sauces and condiments category. By contrast, promotional sales have dropped 6%.
  • Branded growth took the lead for the first time in four years, up 4.8% versus own label’s 2.5%.
  • In terms of sauces, mayonnaise was the real winner this year. It racked up an extra £16m and 8% volume growth. The introduction of new vegan offerings and the Heinz Seriously Good range both contributed to the gains.
  • Condiments grew 2.3% in value, mostly driven by average price hikes of 1.8%. Mint and hollandaise sauces led the way with average price increases of 5.8% and 4.2% respectively, with the latter also managing to boost volume sales by 10.5%.

Source: Kantar 52 w/e 19 May 2019