Shopper marketing blog

Coca-Cola retains their crown as the UK’s favourite online supermarket brand

CheckoutSmart, Europe’s No.1 grocery cashback app has released the UK’s Top 100 Online Grocery Brands report based on our online data. Once again, Coca-Cola was on sparkling form accounting for 66p in every £100 spent online by shoppers. This is an important club because £16.15 of every £100 spent is accounted for by the Top 100 brands.

Who else was a winner? Aptamil baby milk is growing up well as the fastest climber within the top 25, moving up 9 places to 19^th. The No.1 Beer brand was Stella Artois, up 14 places to 32^nd closely followed by Fosters up 12 places at 38^th. Their perfect accompaniment Walkers Crisps was a new entrant in the Top Ten at 9^th.

Brands are facing a changing world. Our online survey offers facts like these to present an unbeatable insight into your highly competitive shopper marketing world. It is a large-scale study based on proprietary data from major supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury's, ASDA, Ocado & Waitrose. It gives you invaluable information about sales of your brand over the past year, not to mention that of your competitor’s. It also reveals trends that could inform and sharpen your marketing programme over the coming year.

A healthy rise in meat-free eating. Our survey shows that healthy eating is positively affecting brands like Quorn, up three places to 6^th place, and Alpro moving up six places to 15^th. But then it’s estimated that around 2% of the UK population are vegetarian with teenagers making up the highest proportion. It was also reported recently that more than 3.5 million people are following celebrities like Paul McCartney and David Haye and choosing a vegan diet. Supermarkets, like Tesco, M&S and the Co-Op are also responding to this trend with vegan-friendly ready meals, cakes and wines. But how will this affect traditional food suppliers?

Richmond sausages haven’t lost their sizzle. Despite the vegan trend, Richmond actually made the biggest gains in 2017, moving up a remarkable 28 places. As one of CheckoutSmart’s clients we know the focus for Richmond has been to stay relevant and top of mind. By running campaigns consistently throughout the year, on both NPDs and more traditional lines, they have managed to move swiftly up the ranks, sitting proudly with only a handful of other meat brands that made the top 100.

The razor market is sharpening up. Gillette lost its edge in a big way moving downwards from 39^th to 92^nd place. Could it be that in the cut-throat world of razors, customers are being lured away by web-based direct selling brands? Shaving clubs like Harry’s, Cornerstone and Dollar Shave Club are keen to take their share of a market worth over £25 billion a year, and it seems to be taking its toll on brands relying on retail sales. But in the face of adversity usually comes the greatest innovations, so we’ll be keeping a close eye out to see if that’s the case for Gillette and co.

8 out of the Top 25 brands were CheckoutSmart clients. So what do they know that you don’t?

CheckoutSmart is a free, fun and simple app that lets your customers earn cashback when they shop. They just browse the brands and rewards on offer, upload a photo of their receipt and get paid. 

So shoppers benefit but so do you. Checkoutsmart is much more direct than traditional promotional methods. It allows you to instantly connect with supermarket in-store and online customers before, during and after their shopping visit. Using our proven approaches you can:

• Support rate of sale and drive market share

• Economically trial NPD launches

• Digitally create on-pack marketing activities, like competitions, without expensive pack changes 

• Create retailer specific shopper marketing activities

• Get reviews on retailer websites

• Benefit from surveys of shoppers and brand users

And it works for CheckoutSmart clients like Richmond (+28), and Arla who gained places with their Lurpak (+4), Cravendale (+4), Anchor (+16) and Lactofree (+17) brands.

Shouldn’t your brand be connecting directly with customers and gaining places in 2018?

Be smart. Order your free survey and discover more about our app before your competitors do! 

Get our Free report here: Top 100 Brands online report