Irish consumers stand by home-grown brands

Irish consumers are continuing to support home-grown brands; the top four most chosen brands in the country are Irish, the latest figures show.

The fifth annual ‘Brand Footprint Ireland’ ranking from Kantar Worldpanel has shown that products from Avonmore, Brennans, Denny and Jacob’s are top of the majority of consumers’ shopping lists.

This ranking measures which brands are being bought by the most consumers the most often, Kantar Worldpanel added.

In Ireland, six of this year’s top 10 brands – Avonmore, Brennans, Jacob’s, Heinz, Coca Cola and Tayto – have seen the frequency at which their goods are bought increase by an average of 6.6%.

However, across eight of the top 10 names the percentage of the population buying the brand has gone down; overall branded sales have decreased by 0.2% in comparison to private label growth, figures show.

‘Irish retail landscape has become more challenging’

Brands across all sectors are finding the Irish retail landscape more challenging, the Director of Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland, David Berry, said.

“Traditional retailers have responded to a more competitive marketplace by expanding and improving their own-label lines – and brands and manufacturers are feeling the impact.

“While own-label is growing by almost 6.2%, the proportion of the population buying the top 10 branded products is down by an average 2.8%.

Consumer behaviour is changing at a rapid pace.

To keep up, brands and manufacturers will need to recognise consumer needs which aren’t being met or identify a demographic group which is under-performing, Berry said.

Brands will then need to come up with innovative new products and experiences that can successfully tap into these markets, he added.

Native successes

Topping the list of the most popular brands among Irish consumers was Avonmore; it leads the Irish ranking for the fifth consecutive year.

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

A total of 73.4% of the population picked Avonmore products from supermarket shelves an average of 28.8 times a year, according to Kantar Worldpanel.

Meanwhile, Brennans and Denny remain in second and third place respectively; Jacob’s has climbed one place to fourth, as consumers buy its products 3.4% more often than the year before.

The biggest success story of this year’s ranking is John West, which has risen 16 places to 37th in the overall Irish ranking; it achieved the highest penetration increase among any brand in the top 50.