British Brands Rule the Ranking As Kantar Worldpanel Reveals

19 May 2016

British brands rule the ranking as Kantar Worldpanel reveals the UK’s most chosen brands

In its fourth annual barometer of the nation’s most chosen FMCG brands, Kantar Worldpanel has revealed that British brands are continuing to outperform their foreign counterparts as six home-grown favourites make up the UK top ten.

The 2016 Brand Footprint ranking measures which brands are being bought by the most consumers, the most often. Bolton-based Warburtons leads the ranking – its products have been chosen by 85.4% of the population, on average 26.7 times a year, meaning it was picked from supermarket shelves 611 million times during the course of the year. The breadmaker has continued to develop new products to widen its appeal beyond standard wrapped loaves and launches including its Thin Bagels range contributing to a 6% increase in consumers’ purchase frequency.

While Heinz remains in second place it declined in both frequency and penetration this year. The brand is currently bought by 89.9% of the population 16.0 times a year but its position in Britain remains ahead of total Europe, where it sits in fourth place.

In third place with a penetration of 88.8% and purchased an average of 14.8 times a year, McVitie’s increased its popularity with shoppers particularly through its flagship chocolate digestives – a strong performance at a time when sales in the overall biscuit category are down.

Hovis is this year’s fourth most chosen brand and the third British brand on the list, having managed to increase both penetration and frequency this year with its ‘Good Inside’ range tapping into the increasing trend for health-conscious consumption. Kingsmill follows it in fifth place with 74.6% of the population buying it 14.3 times a year.

Soft drinks giant Coca Cola retains first place in the worldwide Brand Footprint ranking this year. However, the enduring popularity of domestic brands has led it to slip into tenth place in the British table, with penetration down by 2.9 percentage points this year.

Only Heinz and Coca Cola appear in both the British and European top 10, though the most chosen products across the continent will not be unfamiliar to most consumers – Kinder, Knorr, Activia and Dr Oetker all feature. Globally the top ranking is more diverse – with data from 44 countries and covering 15,000 brands it features a range of FMCG categories including health and beauty, hygiene and cleaning brands.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, explains: “British brands remain an important part of our shopper repertoire and it’s encouraging to see so many continue to succeed in a world of multinational conglomerates. This doesn’t just extend to the overall top ten – looking at sector specific rankings we see familiar names including Robinsons, P.G. Tips, Radox and Andrex coming in ahead of their global competitors. With many brands capitalising on the Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations and underlining their British heritage we’re likely to see this trend continue.”

Sally Stanton, head of marketing communications at Warburtons, says: “We are proud to be named as the most chosen brand in the UK for the fourth consecutive year. The last twelve months have been some of the most action-packed in Warburtons’ 140-year history with our mission to bring more excitement to the bakery aisle taking us from our heartland in Bolton to the bright lights of Beverly Hills.

“As we celebrate our 140-year milestone our commitment to providing UK families with innovative, top-quality baked goods that everyone can enjoy remains as important as it was five generations ago. As a family business, it’s not just our top-selling products that keeps us thriving – the support of our people and our customers is what has really helped us grow to become one of Britain’s most-loved brands.”

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint Ranking reveals the strength of brands in 44 countries around the world, across the food, beverage, health and beauty and homecare sectors. It uses an insightful metric called Consumer Reach Points which measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (its penetration) and how often (the number of times shoppers acquire the brand).

This unique calculation of penetration and frequency helps FMCG manufacturers to clearly understand their UK and global reach in terms of actual basket reach and provides a vital guide on which regions present the biggest opportunities.

The top 10 UK FMCG brands revealed by the Brand Footprint study are:

Consumer Consumer Reach Ran Penetration Brand Frequency Reach Points Growth % k % Points (M) 2015 v 2014 1 Warburtons 85.4 26.7 611 6 2 Heinz 89.9 16.0 386 -3 3 Mc Vitie's 88.8 14.8 353 2 4 Hovis 76.0 16.3 331 3 5 Kingsmill 74.6 14.3 285 -1 6 Birds Eye 77.3 11.3 234 0 7 Walkers 74.1 10.7 212 2 8 Muller 62.1 12.4 207 4 9 Cadbury Dairy Milk 72.0 8.8 170 -3 10 Coca-Cola 58.1 10.6 165 -6

To access the full global, regional, country and sector rankings and a complete index of the brands included in the Global Top 50, please visit http://www.brandfootprint-ranking.com

Brand Footprint Methodology

Kantar Worldpanel’s Brand Footprint is based on research from 74% of the global population; a total of one billion households across 44 countries, and 76% of the global GDP. The complete ranking comprises over 200 FMCG categories tracked around the world by Kantar Worldpanel across the beverages, food, health and beauty, homecare, alcoholic drinks, confectionery and nappies sectors. The ranking is based on an innovative metric created by Kantar Worldpanel called Consumer Reach Points, which measures every time a consumer chooses a brand. The data for this year’s ranking was collected over the 52 week period between 12 October 2014 and 11 October 2015. All data relates to purchases that are brought into the home.

About Kantar Worldpanel

Kantar Worldpanel is the global expert in shoppers’ behaviour.

Through continuous monitoring, advanced analytics and tailored solutions, Kantar Worldpanel inspires successful decisions by brand owners, retailers, market analysts and government organisations globally.

With over 60 years’ experience, a team of 3,500, and services covering 60 countries directly or through partners, Kantar Worldpanel turns purchase behaviour into competitive advantage in markets as diverse as FMCG, impulse products, fashion, baby, telecommunications and entertainment, among many others.

For further information, please visit us at www.kantarworldpanel.com. Twitter: Google+: LinkedIn: RSS: Newsletter:

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Notes to editors:

For further information please contact:

Alyona Levitin / Rebecca Daley Camargue 020 7636 7366 [email protected] / [email protected]