Focus On Sauces & Condiments: 24 October

Focus On: Sauces & Condiments, by Alice Leader (alice.leader@thegrocer.co.uk)

Publishing: 24 October

Advertising deadline: 14 October

Download the synopsis

Submissions deadline: 8 October

The story

Prior to the pandemic, pricing was the key battleground for sauces and condiments. When one big brand went on promotion, their rival swiftly followed suit with an equally tempting price point. In fact, it was near impossible to find a week without major discounts being used as a sales driver. In the pandemic, everything changed. Price promotions suddenly became more scarce across grocery, and sauces and condiments were no exception. That trend looks set to continue as the major mults focus on everyday low pricing rather than offers. So how else are the big brands attracting the attention of savvy shoppers? What role are innovation/marketing/display promotions playing? And is the reduced focus on price promotions allowing craft brands to make in-roads with shoppers?

Key themes

Pricing: To what extent have price promotions fallen? Will these continue to fall as the likes of Tesco concentrate on everyday low pricing, rather than offers? And how will taking away this mechanism impact on the big brands?

Craft brands: How have craft brands fared during this time, as pricing promotions have become less frequent? Are they making further in-roads with shoppers? Or are they struggling as shoppers spend less time browsing in the aisles during Covid, and veer more towards big brands by default?

NPD: To what extent is innovation playing a part in recruiting new shoppers? Mayo seems to be a particular focus for NPD with ever more wacky/premium flavour combinations.

Display promotions: To what extent has display become more important as a promotional mechanism as price falls back?

Kantar: Using Kantar commentary, we explain the reasons behind the rise and fall of the sauces and condiment sub-categories.

Nielsen: Using Kantar commentary, we explain the reasons behind the rise and fall of the top 10 sauces and condiment brands.

Innovations: We identify four new products or product ranges that have ideally not appeared in The Grocer before including launch date and RSP, and a hi-res picture of each.

Shopper Intelligence: Using Shopper Intelligence data, we look at how consumers shop the sauces and condiments category