MULTIPACKS are a must when it comes to ice cream, says Mars Ice Cream. As nights in at home have become increasingly popular frozen has become the third largest category for in-home treats, and some 42% of frozen products shoppers have children under 18, it reports. And, referring to Nielsen Scantrack research, it says wrapped handheld products are still the most popular choice of frozen treats, with sales worth £516m, accounting for 54% of the ice cream market.
Mars says research shows 48% of shoppers reckon it’s worth paying extra for quality. With that in mind, and with products such as Mars ice cream bars, Galaxy Vanilla ice cream bars and Galaxy Caramel ice cream sticks in its range, it plans to spend £52m on brand advertising this year.
A spokesperson said: “Retailers can maximise the benefits of these campaigns by stocking the full Mars Ice Cream range, bringing ice cream options to fans of the confectionery brands.
“Within convenience, wrap-ped handheld accounts for £115m, or 63.2%, of ice cream sales. Single wrapped handheld is worth £77.6m and four-packs £17.5m.”
The spokesperson said the Mars Ice Cream Bar is the most popular ice cream bar within convenience stores, with a total sales value of more than £1.5m and added: “The must-stock single variants are Mars ice cream bar, Maltesers Teasers, Galaxy Caramel and Galaxy Almond ice cream sticks and Galaxy Vanilla ice cream bar.”
Mars Ice Cream also recommends that retailers with enough space should consider stocking more of the range including ice cream bars linked to confectionery brands such as Snickers, Bounty and Twix as well as its M&Ms ice cream cone.
Mars Ice Cream offers a range of POS material including freezer stickers and freezer basket cards which retailers can view at www.marsicecream.co.uk.
