The impulse category is one of the most heavily promoted in supermarkets and often tops the chart – proving that, despite the healthy eating trend, consumers still enjoy those impulsive treats.

Looking at the sub-categories in impulse, each retailer promotes them in different ways.

Last weekend, Asda and Sainsbury’s both allocated more space to ambient confectionery, which accounted for 35% of the top five offers at each. 

At Asda, carbonated drinks came second with 26%, crisps, snacks & nuts was third with 19%, biscuits fourth with 13% and waters & squashes fifth with 6%. Asda’s main brands were Nestlé, Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Walkers and Burtons.

Sainsbury’s remaining four places were allocated to crisps, snacks & nuts (28%), fizzy drinks (19%) water & squash (10%) and biscuits (9%). The top five impulse brands for Sainsbury were Walkers, McVitie’s, Ribena, Bassetts, Cadbury and Coca-Cola.

Morrisons stood alone in its top choice with biscuits accounting for 40%. Fizzy drinks was second with 24%, crisps, snacks & nuts third with 18%, water & squashes fourth with 13% and ambient confectionery was fifth with 5%. 

McVitie’s was the top brand with Walkers, Fox’s, Coca-Cola and Burton’s also making its top five branded impulse chart.

Tesco and Somerfield opted for carbonated drinks as their lead promotion. Tesco gave fizzy drinks 35%, biscuits and ambient confectionery 22% each, water & squash 13% and crisps, snacks & nuts were fifth with 9%. Top brands in order of promotional activity were Coca-Cola, Walkers, Tango, Cadbury and Bahlsen.

Somerfield’s top five impulse categories were fizzy drinks with 34%, crisps, snacks & nuts with 29%, ambient fruit juice with 17%, biscuits with 11% and water & squash with 9%.

The top five brands in Somerfield for impulse were McVitie’s, Coca-Cola, Walkers, Robinsons and KP/Pepsi.