Winter wonderland

Cuisine de France is offering an appetising range of Festive Delights for the Christmas season.

By stocking the right selection of best-selling festive essentials this Christmas, retailers can help make the season a lot less stressful for their busy customers

Brand Central

15 November 2012

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Xmas

AT A GLANCE: CHRISTMAS ESSENTIALS

Christmas remains the most important season for confectionery with sales of €42.6 million (Source: AC Nielsen Box Choc and Christmas Novelties 16 w/e 25 Dec 2011)
Kraft Foods is the number one confectionery supplier at Christmas with a share of 42.6% (Source: Value Share ACNielsen Box Choc and Christmas Novelties 16 w/e 25 Dec 2011)
Sellotape remains the nation’s favourite tape with number one brand share of the utility tapes market
Seven out of ten consumers claim that they would buy products from Sellotape in preference to other brands of sticky tape
Avonmore Cream is Ireland’s favourite cream
The Tayto Bistro range has demonstrated share growth of 5%*
In the sharing snacks arena, Tayto Bacon Fries and Tayto Party Mix products have achieved year-on-year growth of 13.6% and a market share in the snacks category of 3.1%*
The sharing crisps sector grew by +13.1% last year*
Hunky Dorys is the best-selling share bag crisp in the market*
Since launching, Hunky Dorys Nuts sales have grown by +19.5%, making Hunky Dorys Nuts one of the fastest growing nuts brands in Ireland**
King Crisps command a 11.4%* share of the Irish crisps market
Over 54% of all King Crisps sales come from outside Dublin*
Since launching, King Gold Standard Crisps have secured over 8.2% share of Ireland’s hand cooked crisps market*

*(Source: AC Nielsen, Market Track, MAT July/August, Value, 2012)
**(Source: AC Nielsen, Scan Track, July/August, 2012)

Christmas represents the greatest chance for retailers to drive incremental sales in-store, and a focus on value offers and promotions will help capture the traditional Christmas spend during challenging economic times. A number of manufacturers have risen to this challenge by providing superb value-for-money promotions and attention-grabbing price marked packs (PMPs) for consumers.

Cuisine de France is offering an appetising range of Festive Delights for the Christmas season.

What’s more, as successful store managers will know, innovative point of sale (POS) and merchandising remain central to generating footfall during the festive period. Abundantly stocked displays with a full suite of POS materials will enhance your customers’ Christmas shopping experience by creating memorable in-store theatre and subsequently encouraging impulse sales.

Maximise your in-store bakery sales this Christmas

Tis the season to enjoy the sound of ringing tills, and Cuisine de France believes there’s no better way to drive incremental sales within your store than stocking up on its range of Festive Delights. With a mix of Christmas classics, such as Mince Pies and the irresistible Cranberry & Orange Muffin and new contenders for the title of family favourite, such as the traditional winter Apple Pie or the seasonal Sage & Onion Bloomer, there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

By following the Cuisine de France six-point plan, you can drive consumer footfall to your in-store bakery and bring festive cheer to your sales.

1. For an optimal consumer offer, stock the full range of seasonal treats from Cuisine de France
2. Manage your baking throughout the day, the smell of freshly baked Mince Pies in-store will create an appetising aroma and will maximise your sales
3. Use the unique Cuisine de France Festive Delights secondary display unit to ensure availability of the range, whilst not impacting your regular in-store bakery sales
4. Place the Cuisine de France Festive Delights secondary display unit in a high footfall location, either at the front of the store or at the entrance of the fresh food area
5. Ensure POS material is on display in all locations, this will create theatre in-store and correctly priced product always encourages consumers to shop the area
6. Keep the Cuisine de France Festive Delights display full, an abundant display means you will never have a lost sales opportunity

Roses

Sweet treats for all the family

With a product portfolio including favourites such as Cadbury Roses, Milk Tray and Toblerone, Kraft Foods is the number one supplier of Christmas confectionery

Christmas remains the most important season for confectionery with sales of €42.6m (Source: AC Nielsen Box Choc and Christmas Novelties 16 w/e 25 Dec 2011)

Kraft Foods is the number one supplier with a share of 42.6% (Source: Value Share AC Nielsen Box Choc and Christmas Novelties 16 w/e 25 Dec 2011) offering a full range of Christmas treats including much loved brands such as Cadbury Roses, Milk Tray and Toblerone. The Cadbury novelty range with favourites like Cadbury Snowman and Selection Boxes bring the magic of Christmas to life for adults and kids alike.

In order to create Christmas theatre in-store Kraft Foods has a range of pre-filled hods available and impactful point of buying displays to create a Christmas zone in-store.

The unChristmasable favourite

When it comes to biscuits, Jacob’s believes it’s ‘the unChristmasable favourite’ in Ireland. Afternoon Tea 1kg is the quintessential gift that brings a smile to the faces of all the family. The assortment caters for everyone’s tastes including favourites such as the jelly star biscuit and chocolate rings. Traditional favourite USA is an iconic staple in all homes during the festive season and at 1kg offers great value for money. Christmas wouldn’t be complete without a tin of Elite Chocolate Kimberley and Elite Chocolate Mikado – Kimberley and Mikado biscuits smothered in smooth milk chocolate.

The iconic trio of Jacob’s Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Creams are also available this year in revamped family-sharing cartons containing two individually wrapped trays, keeping the biscuits fresher for longer. Jacob’s Chocolate Mallows and Jacob’s Biscuits for Cheese complete a mouth-watering line-up which are all well-established seasonal favourites.

Jacob’s continues its sponsorship of the family favourite The Big, Big Movie on RTE 1 which will feature new Christmas themed stings. A new outdoor campaign, couponing and a new digital campaign will all drive retail sales in-store this Christmas.

A Christmas classic

Lemon’s sweets have been a favourite confection for successive generations of Irish people since 1842 when Graham Lemon opened the Confectioners Hall at 49 Lower Sackville Street in the heart of Dublin City. Lemon’s became pioneers in developing sweet assortments including a well-known Saturday assortment. This popular product later became a Christmas assortment, now known as Lemon’s Seasons Greetings, which is still as popular as ever with both children and adults alike.

The iconic and festive Santa Claus motif is carried throughout all packaging within the range and is a must have item at Christmas. The range of sweets contained within the box is constantly being updated, to add interest and variety, each season but will always contain an assortment of chocolates, caramels, fruit jellies, toffees, fudge and the lemon’s own unique iced caramel.

Lemon’s Seasons Greetings are offered in three different sized gift packs – 750g plus 20% free (RSP €10), 550g (€8) and a 300g box (€5) available in all major accounts nationwide.

Within a world of chocolate confectionary available at Christmas, Irish owned Lemon’s Season’s Greetings offers something different as either a gift or for enjoyment at home.

The Lemon’s brand is proudly owned and distributed by Robert Roberts Ltd. from its manufacturing and distribution hub at Broomhill Road, Tallaght.

Oatfield will be a popular choice for consumers who are keen to support the economy by buying Irish this year

A uniquely Irish festive offering

Oatfield, the Irish owned chocolate and confectionery manufacturer, has a tradition lasting over 100 years. It is synonymous with Ireland and in particular Emerald – the original Irish Caramel. With the return to all things traditional and Irish, Oatfield has in recent years opened two traditional style sweet stores in both Clery’s Department Store and at Dublin airport – the wide range of confections available is both a treat to children and adults alike and both are highly popular.

Two of Oatfield’s top selling lines, Emerald and Colleen (an assorted range of toffees, éclairs, caramels and soft centres), are available in festive packaging making it the perfect gift for the Christmas period. Both Emerald and Colleen are available in seasonal 600g star shaped tins and a 400g traditional style tea tin which are both re-usable, making it the perfect gifting offer. At Christmas, these lines will be available nationwide with competitive pricing offers from €5. Also, for the festive period,

colleen

Oatfield offers a unique range of boutique style jars (320g) of traditional boiled sweet favourites such as Rosey Apples, Rhubarb and Custard, Cola Fizz Bombs and Bulls Eyes among others. These are available from €3.99 – a perfect price point for that little festive token.

Refreshingly festive treats on-the-go

As the festive season approaches, the hustle and bustle of Christmas time means that, for most of us, the pre-Christmas season will be one when we are on-the-go – shopping, visiting relatives and friends and planning the Christmas party. While Christmas represents a huge opportunity for take home deferred soft drinks, retailers should not forget the major profit opportunities, which on- the-go soft drinks also offer, as consumers get busy and active for the festive season.

Britvic’s on-the-go soft drinks range, including firm festive brand favorites such as Club, 7up and Pepsi, as well as new pack additions to the range, including its Value Warrior €1 price marked packs (PMPs) – Energise Edge 440ml can, Mountain Dew 500ml, Pepsi Max 440ml can and Energise Sport 500ml, will guarantee to be a refreshing festive treat to busy shoppers.

Britvic’s on-the-go soft drinks range offers a variety of festive brand favourites and Value Warrior €1 PMPs

"Christmas presents a massive sales opportunity for retailers to drive impulse purchase of soft drinks," says Sharon Yourell Lawlor, head of on-the-go Britvic Ireland. "Make sure to keep your leading brands well stocked and merchandised, both in the main cooler and beside key touch points such as the deli/till area. Consumers are time strapped at this busy period, but still need hydration, an energy boost and refreshment and it represents an opportunity for retailers to catch the consumer’s attention and drive incremental purchase in store. Our advice to retailers is to think around day part opportunities for the festive season and place point of sale triggers in high footfall areas in store."

Adding some sauce

The Lakeshore seasonal range has a luxurious, premium best-selling range. The perennial favourites – Ham Glaze, Brandy Butter, Cranberry Sauce and Mincemeat are once again available. Each of these products is made to a traditional recipe using only the best ingredients, carefully sourced.

Available again this year is the very popular range of gourmet fats – Goose Fat and Duck Fat. Both of these products appeal to the home chef, keen to add flavour to home prepared dishes and interested in using the finest ingredients in preparing their Christmas meals.

The Lakeshore seasonal range also includes Lakeshore Hot Toddy Chutney, Lakeshore Cranberry Chutney, Lakeshore Mulled Wine Chutney and Lakeshore Redcurrant Jelly with Port.

Lakeshore continues to be supported by attractive trade promotions, tailored in-store point of sale and appealing press advertising.

The Lakeshore seasonal range includes a variety of tasty chutneys

Have an Olivey Christmas with Giovanni Di Firenze

Sick of the usual dips and crisps for this year? Can’t stomach any more tins of sweets and biscuits? Why not treat your Christmas callers to a tasty, healthy alternative? The Giovanni Di Firenze olive range offers a variety of flavours and stuffings including: Feta, Garlic, Pesto and Italian Spices. They are excellent for snacks (either on a platter or in a salad) and are also useful as an appetiser before the main event of Christmas dinner.

Olives are a perfect fit for a low carbohydrate diet and are loaded with healthy monosaturates which can contribute to the reduction of cholesterol and heart disease.

Giovanni Di Firenze has been bringing the best of authentic Mediterranean food to Ireland for the past decade. The brand is perhaps known for the range of attractive spice grinders which add a touch of Italy to each and every meal – the range includes: Four Seasons Pepper Corns, Black Pepper, Mediterranean Sea Salt, Garlic and Chilli.

This Christmas why not choose the healthier options – look out in your local supermarkets for our full range of Giovanni Di Firenze products and bring a touch of the Mediterranean to your festive fare.

The cream that makes Christmas

At the top of everyone’s shopping list this and every Christmas is Avonmore Cream. Ireland’s favourite cream has a wide range of creams to suit every occasion over this festive season including Avonmore Freshly Whipped Cream, which is already whipped for added convenience for festive treats, Avonmore Sour Cream for party dips or a traditional hot jacket potato, indulgent Double Cream for the perfect soup or pasta and new Avonmore Fresh Dessert Cream, a thick cream, perfect for Christmas Pudding, Mince pies and all favourite Christmas treats.

Luxuriously thick and ready to pour, Avonmore Fresh Dessert Cream is perfect for pouring directly over your favourite festive desserts. This smooth, thick
consistency is the perfect accompaniment to mince pies, Christmas pudding, trifle and all your favourite Christmas treats. Avonmore Fresh Dessert Cream is an extra thick cream and requires no additional whipping providing consumers with added convenience during the busy festive occasion. Avonmore Fresh Dessert cream will be supported above the line through Avonmore’s weatherline sponsorship and in-store.

Available in a 250ml and 500ml re-sealable bottle, Avonmore Fresh Dessert Cream is a must stock item for the Christmas period.

With such a wide range of cream products, Avonmore Cream has a cream to suit every consumption occasion this festive season. Ireland’s favourite cream, Avonmore Cream is made locally in Ballytore Co Kildare from the quality fresh Irish milk, ensuring only the best for your customers’ Christmas dishes.

Bags of fun at parties

Hunky Dorys is the best-selling share bag crisp within the Irish market

Christmas is a key trading period for retailers as the festive season results in a significant uplift in consumer spending. It is a period where consumers are much more susceptible to impulse purchasing and this behaviour is particularly evident within the crisps and snacks category.

Retailers are always conscious of the importance of creating "theatre" within their stores during the festive period and one of the great traditions at this time of year are Tayto and King Christmas Boxes. Largo Foods will again have an abundance of these festive favourites for retailers to stock up on. In addition to Christmas Boxes, Largo Foods also believes that adult sharing bags present a massive sales opportunity for the period as a result of families congregating in their homes more over the holiday season.

Tayto Bistro and Tayto Occasions continue to be popular with consumers, with the Bistro range demonstrating share growth of 5%.* In the sharing snacks arena, Tayto Bacon Fries and Tayto Party Mix products have scored a major hit with consumers with a year-on-year growth of 13.6%* and have achieved an impressive market share in the snacks category of 3.1%*.

Hunky Dorys consumers continue to really enjoy munching through large share bags with the sharing crisps sector growing by 13.1%* last year and Hunky Dorys is the best-selling share bag crisp in the market. Recognising the high level of consumer interest for the brand in this sharing/party format, Hunky Dorys entered the Tortilla and Nuts markets earlier this year. With the launch of Hunky Dorys "Flaming Chilli" and "Cheesey Cheese Tortillas 175g and Hunky Dorys Dry Roasted and Salted Nuts 200g, the brand is certainly well positioned to capitalise on its ever increasing popularity. Since their launch, Hunky Dorys Nuts sales are +19.5%, making Hunky Dorys Nuts one of the fastest growing nuts brands in Ireland.**

Commanding 11.4%* share of the Irish crisps market, King Crisps, continues to win fans outside of its core Dublin base and now over 54%* of all King sales come from outside Dublin. To build on its increasing popularity, King entered the hand cooked crisp category with the launch of King "Gold Standard" Crisps. Since launch, King Gold Wexford Vintage Cheddar Cheese & Spring Onion and King Gold Burdock’s Traditional Salt & Malt Vinegar has secured over 8.2%* share of the hand cooked crisps market. This strong consumer uptake resulted in a range expansion to King Gold 125g Sharing Packs in both flavours.

This year Tayto’s Christmas Boxes will contain a very exciting promotional offer whereby Tayto are giving consumers a chance to win one of 5,000 family passes to their massively successful Tayto Park. The promotion is an instant win offer where 5,000 of Tayto boxes will contain a family pass so they can visit Mr Tayto at his Park over the holiday period if they wish. Tayto Christmas Party Boxes are packed with Ireland’s most loved flavours: Tayto Cheese & Onion, Tayto Salt & Vinegar and Tayto Smokey Bacon.

Largo Foods is confident that its extensive range of products to suit all consumer needs during the festive season will greatly support retailers in generating strong sales over the Christmas period.*(Source: AC Nielsen, Market Track, MAT July/August, Value, 2012)**(Source: AC Nielsen, Scan Track, July/August, 2012)

Holy Molys hit Ireland’s shelves

Holy Molys

New to the market, Emma Jeans has introduced Holy Molys – tasty biscuit bars with caramel and milk chocolate. These treats are individually wrapped in a box of six, ideal for indulging with the family or on the go. With their unique features, Holy Molys will have the whole family hooked. Kids love the funny holes in the biscuit bar as well as the crunchy taste, playful name and colourful packaging.

Now listed in major multiples and stores across Ireland, for more information, contact Flanagans Foods on 01 450 6100 or log on to www.flanagansfoods.ie.

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