Life, strength, health – and enjoyment

Angéla Majthényi
trade marketing manager
Sole-Mizo

The first wave of the pandemic didn’t induce serious changes in the market of milk desserts and dairy snacks. We learned from Angéla Majthényi, Sole-Mizo Zrt.’s trade marketing manager that their sales data shows: the pandemic didn’t have a negative effect on this convenience product category. In October 2020 sales of chilled dairy snacks were up 8 percent in comparison with the same period of 2019.

Adapting to the new conditions

Szilvia Dandé
product manager
Dr. Oetker

Dr. Oetker experienced market expansion in the spring. Szilvia Dandé, product manager of Dr. Oetker Kft. underlined that many shoppers buy these products in hypermarkets, and in March-April 2020 milk dessert sales soared by 17-18 percent in this retail channel. Paula puddings performed exceptionally well in this period.

Éva de Gereczné
Rudnai
purchasing manager
Real Nature

Éva Gereczné Rudnai, Real Nature Kft.’s purchasing manager revealed: consumption habits have transformed significantly in the category, as many people are working or studying from home. As a result of this, how and what they have for snack is very different from the pre-pandemic period. The company reacted to this by developing innovative new products.

Italian feeling

Market leader Milli managed to increase its market share in the dynamically growing cottage cheese dessert segment – informed Katalin Massimo, FrieslandCampina Hungária ZRt.’s brand manager (Milli). This is true for cottage cheese cream product Krémtúró too, which is the biggest player in the segment. She said: the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic brought the market to a brief halt, but sales took flight again after a while. Last year Italian desserts were an important inspiration for the company’s new products. This year Milli plans to roll out more new innovations.

Dairy snacks’ vitality is well reflected in the fact that although they are highly impulsive and are bought for the convenience they provide, their market position has not been shaken by the pandemic

One-of-a-kind flavour experiences and new variants for new-type needs

Last year Sole-Mizo’s flagship products among cottage cheese desserts were those which stand alone in the Hungarian market. Their best-seller is Mizo Super Rudi Duó, which is made with real milk chocolate and is available in 2x15g version. The second most popular from their dairy snack selection is the floating island variant of the product, and this flavour also performs very well in the milk drink category. In 2021 they plan to launch the strawberry and the lemon version of Mizo Super Rudi Duó.

In 2020 Dr. Oetker concentrated on launching the Paula Go! range. For 2021 the company is preparing with several new innovations that satisfy the latest consumer needs. Ms Dandé called attention to how important good stock management is in this category, as people go shopping less often and they spend less time in stores, too – consequently, the products must be available when the customer is finally standing in front of the shelf.

Currently, keeping an appropriate inventory is of extreme importance because the number of shopping trips has lowered and their duration are also shorter, which is why customers have fewer occasions to place a desired product into the basket

Treats for every generation

Real Nature put its Milka chilled dairy snack on the market in the autumn of 2018. Soon it became one of the top products in the category. The company’s purchasing manager informed that last year’s new innovation was the Oreo chilled dairy snack, with which they try to reach not only young consumers but adults as well. Éva Gereczné Rudnai also talked to us about launching the Minions-themed chilled dairy snack in banana flavour, which hit the shops at the same time as abroad and became popular very quickly.

As people are still staying home most of the time, they like to treat themselves to snacks even more than before. This increases the importance of innovation work and is one of the reasons why Real Nature put the Baileys bar on the market already at the end of 2020. More new innovations can be expected from the company in 2021. //

Discounters perform above the average in the dairy snack category

András Kuntner
business development
manager/retail
GfK

Discounters’ share in FMCG sales is 30 percent in Hungary, but these stores have a share in dairy snack sales that is bigger than 38 percent. Between 1 November 2018 and 31 October 2020 households kept spending more on these milk-based desserts, HUF 530 per buying occasion. The average purchase per household got 12 percent bigger. Private labels’ (PL) market share increased by 7 percent and buying frequency jumped 10 percent in this segment.

Hungarians spent 17 percent more on PL dairy snacks per buying occasion; the average price of these products is about 35 percent lower than that of branded dairy snacks. This category is typically purchased for the children, so the penetration of dairy snacks is bigger in 3-4 member households, where there are children too. //