Ferrero invests £6.7 million in new Christmas confectionery ranges

The Ferrero group has confirmed major product development investment valued at £6.74 million across its confectionery ranges and spreads, with a number of new seasonal series planned.

Its latest UK releases include novelties, figures and advent calendars, after the company reported last year’s festive period delivered a significant upturn in its trading performance.

Overall, Ferrero reported five years of consecutive growth during the Christmas period. Last year, its boxed portfolio was up by 7.3%, boosted by its Thorntons brand returning 12% growth – having been acquired by Ferrero in 2015.

Among its key launches this Christmas will be Thorntons Pearls, premium boxed chocolates. Its latest luxury series is available from September in 167g size, retailing at £4.99, in two flavours – salted caramel and nutty crunch varieties.

“Confectionery is one of the few categories where shoppers are willing to spend money on products they love, especially at key seasonal trading spikes such as Christmas and spring,” explained the company of its seasonal campaign.

As the business revealed, the latest addition to its range is targeting a younger market, with 25-34 year-old women expected to be among its core buyers, competing within the ‘sharing occasion’ sector, which is now reportedly worth a total of £84 million. This figure is growing at a rate of 6%.

The Thorntons brand will also gain a further seasonal boost this year with the arrival of a new figure to its novelties range, a cheeky elf, adding to existing jolly reindeer and snowman characters. The brand’s advent calendars and figures showed growth of 21%.

After delivering £4.2m to the category in its initial year, Thorntons seasonal selection boxes and its Christmas collection will be returning for this year’s festive period. The selection boxes will also feature a new design and limited edition flavours.

In addition, there will a renewed marketing campaign valued at £2.4 million) including a new TV ad, video, social media and in-store activities supporting its Continental chocolates range, which will feature newly-redesigned packaging.

The company recorded a marked success for its Ferrero Rocher core range, which experienced its sixth consecutive year of growth over the festive period last year.
Ferrero Pralines – which envelopes the brands Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero Collection and Raffaello – also saw growth, up by £2.9m. The company said that Ferrero Rocher T24 remains the number one all year round boxed SKU across total market.

The company’s novelties segment reportedly delivered the biggest growth into the category at Christmas last year, up £2.4m, with its Grand Ferrero Rocher 125g. This was the 3rd biggest SKU in the novelties category, growing by over 20%.

A spokesperson for Ferrero said: “Ferrero had a successful Christmas in 2017, which saw the total brand grow by £8.6m. It is important as a leading confectionery manufacturer to offer retailers products and ranges that help them to cater for the different types of festive shopping needs. Whether it’s to gift, to share or simply to treat and enjoy with loved ones, we know shoppers love Ferrero products and that they are a staple at Christmas.

“We are thrilled to share the news of our new all-year-round product for Thorntons and we are particularly excited as this NPD range will expand the Thorntons footprint into the sharing category, bolstering its heartland in gifting.”

The company is also reported that its Nutella brand had proved particularly popular at Christmas 2017, with expectations of a similarly strong performance for this year. Its 2018 festive range will feature limited edition jars giving the range enhanced presence in store. Four festive designs will be available across the 400g, 750g and 1kg jars, plus Nutella’s first glow-in-the-dark design will feature on seasonal editions of the 200g jar. Shoppers will also have the opportunity to create a personalised jar – for them or a loved one – available exclusively at Debenhams stores in the run up to the big day.

 

In addition this year, the Kinder brand, which marks its 50th anniversary, will continue to be supported digitally with a campaign across Facebook and YouTube.
This will invite families to share their one wish for Christmas and, for one lucky family, Kinder will make this wish come true.

According to industry figures, the brand remains the number one kids confectionery line since 2012, and it is consequently adding new Kinder Surprise hollow figures.

These 36g products will join the brand’s existing range of novelties, including the surprise santa figure, which will feature a new surprise toy to drive seasonal relevance. The business added that advent calendars were the fastest growing segment in the Christmas confectionery sector (increasing 28%), adding £2.2m to the category.

As a result of an initial launch last year, Kinder will be presenting two new variants, the mini mix advent calendar (351g), and a Kinder Surprise egg adventure calendar (431g). Ferrero added that it would build on its other advent calendar launches, including releases for Thorntons Continental (in 280g format), Santa (93g), The Snowman (93g), and The Snowman and the Snowdog (180g), with some of the chocolates containing fondant filling, featuring within its extensive seasonal confectionery line-up.

 

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