With the final part of 'The Grocer's

Frozen Challenge' being published this week, the Promotrack team has taken the opportunity to update the frozen category review, published in the 24 June issue.

The top five brands over the

period from 1 April 2006 to 22 July 2006 have remained consistent, with Birds Eye accounting for 23% of

activity, McCain 15%, Goodfellas 14%, Wall's 11% and Young's Bluecrest

just managing to hold off Aunt

Bessie's for fifth place with 10% of

the category share.

In the overall category chart,

frozen continues to hold its own within the top 10 each issue. When last focused on, the frozen category was in fifth place overall, but in this issue it has moved down one place to sixth. It is a different story, though, when looking at the branded and own-label charts.

Frozen has dropped to eighth place in the branded chart, being overtaken by both the household and biscuits/cakes categories. Its fortunes fair better when looking at own label, with the category in

second place behind chilled.

For the purposes of the Promotrack feature, the charts and data

relate to a category rather than being broken down by sub-category.

However, when looking at the branded activity over the last four issues, it is plain to see that the ice cream sub-category has started to make an impact on the frozen sector. Both Carte D'Or and Wall's Ice Creams are in the top five for the frozen category in each issue and Mars Ice Creams and Del Monte - with its Frozen Smoothie Lollies - recorded activity twice.

While remaining second overall, McCain has not reached the top five branded frozen chart in the past five issues, having been overtaken by the ice cream brands above.

When looking at the own label sector, Asda has taken over from Tesco as the leading own label

frozen promoter for the last two issues, accounting for one-third of

the activity.