The Grocer – 24 August 2019

focus on... batteries

Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 24 August 2019 | The Grocer | 41

Energizer powers up: top 10 battery brands

● Duracell is winning

by a country mile in the

race for dominance in

the batteries market.

But its performance is

starting to stall. “It’s

been in constant decline

for the past two years

due mainly to a falling

unit rate of sales, as

well as losing space on

shelf,” says Nielsen client

manager Julia Kaiser.

● The top brand’s 1.3%

value decline on units

down 5.1% contrasts

with the gains made by

Energizer in the past

year. With value up

10.9% on units up 4.6%,

Energizer has managed

to narrow the gap

between the two brands

by 15.1% to £48.4m.

● “A lone , E ne r g i z e r

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 in units,”

explains Kaiser.

● Lower prices and

larger packs have

been key factors in

Energizer’s surge, with

the brand’s average price

per pack over the past

year standing at £4.42.

Meanwhile, Duracell is

a pricier offering at an

average of £5.18 a pack.

● Further down the

field, bargain brand GP

is making impressive

inroads. GP attributes

much of its growth to

increased distribution

and working more closely

with its retail partners on

merchandising and point

of sale initiatives.

● Meanwhile, Varta

has fallen 17.1% to

£174k despite pushing

its rechargeable lines

in a bid to attract

environmentally

conscious shoppers, as

well as selling greater

volumes in larger packs.

Source: Nielsen 52 w/e 29 June 2019 For the full data, visit thegrocer.co.uk

Duracell (▼ 1.3%)

£120.4m

Panasonic (▼ 23.5%)

£8m

Kodak (▼ 25.8%)

£0.8m

Rayovac (▲ 13%)

£0.4m

Energizer (▲ 10.9%)

£72m

GP (▲ 13.8%)

£0.9m

Excelltec (▼ 21.0%)

£0.5m

JCB (▼ 80.9%)

£0.2m

Sony (▲ 14%)

£0.2m

Varta (▼ 17.1%)

£0.2m

“What will be interesting

is how aggressively

Amazon pushes brands

over its own label”

Nielsen Scantrack monitors weekly data from a

national network of EPoS scanners to represent

sales in grocery multiples, co-ops, multiple off-

licences, independents, forecourts, convenience

multiples, symbols and online grocery retailers.

know they have to compete with it for
sales,” says Tuck at GP, which produces bat-
teries for own label and branded players in
the UK, as well as its own GP Ultra brand.
“We went into Amazon with GP Ultra four
years ago and were doing about £250k in sales
by the end of the first year. We’re now doing
£2m-plus. Now Energizer is starting to push
hard in Amazon and they’re growing fast.”
That growth is being fuelled by large packs
at competitive prices. At the time of writing,
24 Energizer Alkaline Power AAs were selling
on A m a z on P r i me for £7.9 9 , wh i le 2 4 GP U lt r a
AAs were on Prime for £9.99. Only Amazon
Basics or the online retailer’s Eono Essentials
brand were cheaper.
“What will be interesting to watch is
how aggressively Amazon pushes the pre-
mium brands over its own private label, and
consequently how much marketing resources
players like Energizer and Duracell will com-
mit to Amazon to push their products on the
channel,” says Peter Hobson, VP at invest-
ment research company Third Bridge.

Because as Amazon’s own brand demon-

strates, it’s not all Duracell and Energizer.

Smaller brands are also on the rise in this

price-conscious market. One of these is Varta,

up 13% to £408k. It has become the key bat-

tery brand sold through B&Q. That it comes

at a competitive price on Amazon – a pack of

40 AA batteries is £11 – can’t have hurt sales.

GP has seen similar growth, up 13.8% on

units up 13.2%. It’s also on Amazon, selling

at £9.99 for a pack of 24 AA batteries (or £6.99

on deal). Tuck says growing distribution is

the main factor behind its growth. “We’re

the only battery brand in WH Smith and the

only one in The Entertainer and we have won

distribution in various other places in the

past year too,” he says.

“We have increased battery sales in WH

Smith threefold since working with them to

bring batteries out from behind the counter

and on to the shop floor. Having batteries in

a more visible place in store is key to driving

sales growth.”

New formats are also generating extra

revenue. GP points to power banks as an

example. “They are still only between 3% and

5% of our total turnover but they are growing

at a ve r y s t rong r ate ,” s ay s Tuc k. “ T he re i s e ve -

rything to play for in this market. Over 90%

of people in the UK have smartphones but

less than a fifth of them have mobile power

banks. That means there is huge potential

for growth.”

Indeed, 79% of those polled by Streetbees

agreed they felt anxious when their smart-

phone ran out of battery and there was no

power source available. So whoever can crack

a mass market solution to that may just win

the race for power.