Golden Wonder: No waffle ­ they've got the nak Golden Wonder Limited Edinburgh House Abbey Street Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 9AA Tel: 01858 410410 Fax: 01858 414110 Key contactS Chief executive Clive Sharpe Commercial director Paul Monk Sales director Phil Collins Trading director, grocery David Revell Trading director, impulse Andy McCreath Category marketing controller, grocery Helen Green Category marketing controller, impulse Kirsty Brett Key Brands · Wotsits · Nik Naks · Wheat Crunchies · Golden Wonder Crisps · Golden Lights · Quite Hot Crisps Golden Wonder is playing a key role in growing the UK's £2.26bn crisps and snacks market, focusing on innovative new product development and increased promotional support for its key brands. As a result, flagship Golden Wonder snack brands Wotsits and Nik Naks are outperforming the market in terms of sales growth. According to Information Resources MAT for June 18, the total crisps and snacks market is growing by 1.7%, with sales growth in the impulse sector well ahead of the multiple grocers. Nik Naks are leading the charge as the UK's fastest-growing snack brand. Based on year-on-year sales performance, Golden Wonder has three of the top six best-performing snack brands ­ Wotsits, Nik Naks and Wheat Crunchies ­ for the year ending June 18, 2000, according to Information Resources. "We're now looking to build on this growth and backing our best-performing brands with significant marketing support over the next 12 months," says Helen Green, Golden Wonder's category marketing controller. "This includes back-to-back TV advertising for Wotsits throughout the autumn, representing an investment of about £4.5m. "Nik Naks will also be supported by its biggest ever TV advertising campaign, with a spend of £1.8 million," she adds. Successful new product development is an innovative and effective way of drawing new consumers into the market, says Golden Wonder. As the consumer base for bagged snacks is buying less frequently and spending less, innovation and new products that deliver genuine consumer benefits have become vital to future growth. Golden Wonder has delivered "focused" new product development to the category. Weenie Wotsits were launched in September last year, for example, and are achieving sales figures almost double those of recent launches from competitive brands. Then, in March this year, came Wotsits Wafflers, the UK's first waffle-shaped snack from a major brand. Wafflers are achieving a cash rate of sale 85% that of best-selling Wotsits cheese puffs where stocked, according to Information Resources. Significantly, sales of Weenie Wotsits and Wotsits Wafflers are largely incremental to the Wotsits brand. The Wotsits "whoosh" continues with the roll-out of Wotsits Wafflers into multiple grocers as a multi-pack (10 x 31g), which has a recommended sale price of £1.79. Golden Wonder is also the UK's largest manufacturer of private label crisps and snacks. Millions of pounds of investment by the company contributed to the launch in March this year of retailer-branded stackable potato chips, another first for the UK bagged snacks market. Golden Wonder has ambitious plans to maintain its active new product development programme. "New products will only succeed if they're supported through effective display, by making the product widely available to consumers and if retailers and manufacturers commit to generating strong visibility in-store," says Green. "We recommend that new products should be supported by off-shelf activity during the first three months to generate trial," she adds. To demonstrate its commitment, Golden Wonder has increased promotional support for its key brands by 20% this year. Since it is a key impulse category, a large proportion of bagged snacks sales are linked to promotions. Promoted sales must therefore be maximised, says the company, by: effective display, including secondary siting; relevant point of sale material being merchandised alongside the product; and ensuring that the mechanic has a genuine benefit to the consumer. That the sales of snacks have shown year-on-year growth of almost 5% in the impulse sector, according to Information Resources MAT, shows the important contribution independent retailers are making to their development. Golden Wonder offers retailers easy-to-follow merchandising advice, enabling thousands of independents to boost sales of their bagged snacks in the process. Golden Wonder spends more than £1m each year on field sales personnel, who visit more than 30,000 outlets once a month, advising on key aspects of merchandising and display and updating retailers on brand activity. The advice they give is tailored to individual outlets, taking into account each store's location and its customer profile. "Retailers turn to Golden Wonder for the most impartial merchandising advice available," says Helen Green. "This underlines our commitment to growing the whole category." {{Z SUPPLEMENTS }}