Irish brands “are putting it up to their international counterparts” in the latest edition of the Checkout Top 100 Brands.
The list – produced by Checkout magazine in partnership with NielsenIQ – shows that for the 17th year in a row, Coca-Cola has been named as Ireland’s biggest selling brand.
However, Tayto comes in at the number two spot, pushing Cadbury Dairy Milk to number three this year. These are followed by Lucozade, Avonmore, Brennans Bread, Monster, 7UP, Red Bull and Jacob’s.
Big movers
The biggest mover in the list this year is Fitzgeralds Family Bakery, which jumped up by 35 places, from number 76 in 2020 to number 41 in 2021.
Other brands that made big moves include: Denny, Carrolls of Tullamore, Charleville, Clonakilty, O’Donnells Crisps, Stafford Bakeries, Keogh’s, VITHIT, and Alpro.
New entrants to the top 100 list include Odlums, The Happy Pear (in chilled pizza), Keohane’s (in frozen prepared fish products), Chicken with Attitude (in frozen prepared poultry products), and Felix.
Seismic shift in consumer habits due to pandemic
“It is great to see so many Irish brands among this year’s biggest movers,” Maev Martin, editor of Checkout, said.
“Like 2020, 2021 has been defined by the Covid-19 pandemic, which created a seismic shift in consumer purchasing habits.
“In 2020, we witnessed a big transition to in-home food and drink consumption. This continued into 2021 and will remain with us until there is a return to an open economy.
“We are also seeing strong sales growth for Irish brands, and shoppers have moved away from shopping little and often and are making fewer and bigger trips.
“All of these performances, and the many other big ranking improvements by non-Irish brands, should generate some optimism in the grocery retail industry about the prospects for growth over the coming months.”
The Checkout Top 100 Brands is based on branded value sales across the Irish grocery sector. In compiling the report, NielsenIQ measures the sales performance of over 5,000 brands from over 200 product classes.