For the 17th year in a row, Coca-Cola has topped the annual Checkout 100 Top Brands, which is published by Checkout magazine. The Checkout Top 100 Brands lists the top selling brands in Ireland by sales value through mainstream grocery outlets and is produced in partnership with NielsenIQ.
Coca-Cola was followed by Tayto in second position with Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, Lucozade and Avonmore making the top five brands. Three other drink brands also make it into the top ten – Monster (7th), 7Up (8th) and Red Bull (9th). Jacob’s, meanwhile, came in 10th place. Meanwhile, Brennans, which dropped down two places from its number-three position in 2019, to fifth place in 2020, falls further this year, to rank sixth.
According to the Checkout research, “a particularly high number of brands have delivered impressive performances in the rankings this year. Our biggest mover is Fitzgerald’s Family Bakery, which vaults a staggering 35 places, from number 76 in 2020 to number 41 in 2021. Other brands making very big moves up the rankings are Nestlé Aero, which is up 28 places, from number 87 to number 59, and Ben & Jerry’s, which is up 26 places, from number 75 to number 49. Alpro rises by 22 places, from number 67 to number 45, while M&Ms moves up 20 places, from number 71 to number 51.”
Other performances of note, according to the annual brand survey include Lindt, which rises 15 places, from number 26 to number 11; Magnum, which rises 18 places, from number 32 to number 14; and Walkers, which goes up 12 places, from number 27 to number 15, in 2021. Elsewhere, Doritos goes up 13 places, from number 46 to number 33, while Schweppes, which was one of three brands that made their Top 100 debuts last year has climbed 18 places this year, to number 82 on the list.
“It is great to see so many Irish brands among this year’s biggest movers, with wonder brand VITHIT leaping up the rankings by 25 places, to number 43, from number 68 in 2020,” says Maev Martin, editor, Checkout. “Another highly successful Irish brand, Stafford’s Bakeries, rises an impressive 24 places, from number 86 to number 62, while family-run brand Keogh’s, which entered the Top 100 in 2018, at number 96, rises 23 places, from number 93 to number 70 this year. While Irish brands continue to make their mark on our Top 100 Brands list, well-known Irish brands are also newcomers to a few of our Top 100 Categories. These include Keogh’s, in Popcorn; The Happy Pear, in Chilled Pizza; Keohane’s, in Frozen Prepared Fish Products; and Chicken with Attitude, in Frozen Prepared Poultry Products.”
Other Irish brands that have delivered some big improvements on their rankings this year include Denny (Prepacked Sliced Meat), which is up 13 places, from number 34 in 2020 to number 21 in 2021; Carroll’s of Tullamore, which rises 11 places, from number 37 to number 26; Charleville, which is up 16 places, from number 53 to number 37; Clonakilty, which rises by 17 places, from number 73 to number 56; and O’Donnells Crisps, which is up 14 places, from number 78 to number 64.
“Like 2020, 2021 has been defined by the Covid-19 pandemic, which created a seismic shift in consumer purchasing habits,” says Martin. “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 this has benefitted FMCG brands in the grocery retail sector, and Irish brands have, once again, excelled in Checkout’s Top 100 Brands 2021. 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, making it the most accurate barometer of the biggest selling brands in the marketplace. In compiling the report, NielsenIQ measures the sales performance of over 5,000 brands from over 200 product classes.
“During the past year, the Irish FMCG industry has come up against unprecedented challenges in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Karen Mooney, Commercial Market Leader Ireland, NielsenIQ. “Not only did consumers shop more than ever before, but the ways in which they shopped also changed. This year’s Checkout Top 100 Brandsreport, in partnership with NielsenIQ, showcases those who were able to adapt to offer consumers what they needed during this uncertain time. As well as this, the positive performance of many Irish brands shows the nation’s effort to back local. While pandemic fads like banana bread may already have passed, a focus on buying local is set to continue as we begin to recover from this pandemic,” she says.
