The Grocer – 24 August 2019

focus on... batteries

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 24 August 2019 | The Grocer | 37

38 The battle with Amazon

Battery sales are seeing huge

growth on Amazon – how are the

supermarkets competing?

41 Energizer powers up

Energizer is closing its gap with

Duracell, but smaller bargain

brands are on their tail

38 Larger packs boost value
A shift in consumer preferences
towards larger pack sizes is
driving value, says Kantar data

Race for power

Duracell is in pole position, but Energizer is hot on its heels. So

who can win as batteries face a change in consumer habits?

That performance is even more impres-

sive considering the lacklustre state of the

overall batteries market. Over the past year,

value has edged up just 1.5% to £306.6m,

while volume has fallen 0.2% [Kantar 52 w/e

19 May 2019].

So how has Energizer managed to race

ahead against the odds? Can it ever hope to

catch the market leader? And what of the rest

of the players?

In terms of image, Duracell is still miles

ahead of the competition. A Streetbees poll

T

he race for power is hotting up in
bat ter ies. No longer is Du racel l i n
a safe leading position. Number
two brand Energizer is fast catch-
ing up to become a serious challenger.
Yes, Duracell is still the number one brand
by far with sales of £120.4m [Nielsen, 52 w/e
29 June 2019]. That amounts to 40% of the
entire batteries market. But it is suff ering a
slowdown. Value sales fell 1.3% in the past
year and volume was down even further,
dropping 5.9%.
By contrast, Energizer is speeding up. Its
value shot up 10.9% to £72m, with 4.6% more
packs sold. “The brand accounts for almost
80% of the category’s growth in the past year
and is the only brand out of the top three
that also managed to grow unit sales,” says
Nielsen client manager Julia Kaiser.

Rob Brown of 1,039 consumers revealed 77% named
Duracell as the longest-lasting battery brand.
By contrast, only 7% said the same about
Energizer – even though its Ultimate Lithium
line claims to be the world’s longest-lasting
AA battery.
But Energizer has a more critical factor in
its favour: price. Nielsen’s numbers reveal
Energizer has been selling for an average
of £4.42 a pack , versus Duracell’s £5.18
(the highest price of the brands). In such a
price-sensitive market, that has been key to
Energizer’s growth, says Nielsen’s Kaiser.
That affordability is despite average
Energizer pack prices rising a whopping
10.9% over the past year. It’s not down to
the average battery getting more expensive,
though. Nielsen says the fi gures point to
growing consumption of larger packs.
It’s all part of a wider trend in the market.
Duracell said last Christmas – the most

“Rather than lowering

pack prices to compete

with Amazon, supers are

off ering larger packs”