38 | The Grocer | 24 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
focus on... batteries
● Battery sales are going,
ahem, flat in the supers.
They’ve sold 1.5 million
fewer packs in the past
year, a dip of 0.2%.
Nevertheless, value sales
are up 1.5% to £306.6m,
thanks in part to growing
sales of larger packs.
● The standout performers
here are online and the
discounters. Lidl’s value
sales are up 24.6% and
Aldi’s are up 42.3%, albeit
from a small base.
● The big four’s
performance is mixed, with
Sainsbury’s and Morrisons
in growth and Tesco and
Asda in decline, by 1.3%
and 8.1% respectively.
● Bargain stores, which
collectively account for 24%
of the market, have seen
sales fall 4.6%.
● Commentators suggest
this is because Energizer
and Duracell are
increasingly being sold in
larger packs online and in
the mainstream multiples,luring shoppers away from
the cheaper offerings on
sale in the pound stores.
● Kantar’s read of the
market suggests just 21.1%
of sales have been on deal
in the past year, a fall of
1.3%. This decline partly
reflects the growth of
discounters, which are less
reliant on promotions, and
the growing sales of packs
with ‘x batteries free’.Larger packs boost value: batteries value sales
Kantar’s Worldpanel FMCG service monitors consumer behaviour across Great Britain. Its primary panel tracks
take-home purchases of 30,000 demographically representative households. Data on consumption habits,
nutrition and out of home sales is collected through subsidiary panels. Visit kantarworldpanel.com for details.Source: Kantar 52 w/e 19 May 2019 For the full data, visit thegrocer.co.ukGeneral
£263.5m
(▲ 2.6%)Alkaline
£230.7m
(▲ 2.2%)Specialist
£41.4m
(▼ 6.0%)Zinc carbon
£32.8m
(▲ 5.6%)Button cells
£23.3m
(▲ -1.4%)Rechargeable
£18.2m
(▼ 11.0%)important time of the year for the category,
accounting for a third of its value – that half
of its sales come from packs of eight to 12 bat-
teries. Energizer cottoned on to the popular-
ity of the larger pack and, crucially, offered it
at a lower price.
Tesco’s battery offering is a case in point. At
t he t i me of w r it i ng, a n e ig ht-p ac k of E ne rg i z e r
Max AAA batteries was going for £6 a pop,
or two packs for £7.50. Eight Duracell Ultra
AAAs are £8.50. It’s a similar picture across
AAs and lithium coins.
These larger formats are proving big busi-
ness, says James Tuck, marketing manager
at GP Batteries, the Hong Kong-based busi-
ness that claims to produce roughly four bil-
lion of the 15 billion batteries sold globally
every year.
“We’re seeing growing sales of four plus
four packs, eight plus fours, 10-packs,
12-packs and even 24-packs in some super-
ma rket s. R at her t ha n lower i ng pack pr ice s to
compete with the discounters and Amazon,
the supermarkets are offering larger packs.
This is helping them grow value sales while
staying competitive.”Demise of the £1 pack
As Tuck suggests, the increase in pack
sizes has influenced retailer performance.
Bargain stores – usually the go-to destina-
tion for cheap batteries – have suffered a 4.6%
blow to value. That’s because consumers are
no longer so tempted by the small £1 packs
typically offered by these stores. Instead, bar-
gain hunters are heading to the discounters
for competitively-priced larger packs.
That’s showing in the numbers. Aldi’s
value sales are up 42.3%, according to Kantar
figures, while Lidl’s are up 24.6%. It should
be noted that their growth is from a small
base – both Lidl and Aldi undertrade in bat-
teries – but, increasingly, it’s a channel that
cannot be ignored.
So much so that Duracell has launched
budget spin-off brand Simply Duracell into
Aldi as well as Poundstretcher. It’s a clear
bid to trade on Duracell’s brand equity while
hitting a lower price point and keeping its
customers in the mults happy (Simply is not
available in any of the big four).
In this ‘bigger is better’ climate, it’s not
just the discounters gaining ground. Online
is also a growing channel. “Battery sales are
going crazy on Amazon and the grocers“Battery sales are going
crazy on Amazon and
the grocers know theyh av e to c omp e te w it h it ”
Brands vs own label
Brands
£260.9m
(▲ 1.2%)Own label
£45.7m
(▲ 2.9%)