Every day 120 new innovations are launched in Europe in the top categories

Premium sales jumped during the pandemic

Péter Kurucz
retailer relations director
Nielsen

This year again Nielsen BASES published its Top25 Breakthrough Innovations list. Nielsen’s study reveals that in 2018-2019 120 new products were introduced in the main categories; what is more, in the first half of 2020 this number increased to 175 in the top 5 European markets. In the pandemic period, when people couldn’t travel or do basically anything fun outside of their homes, shoppers were happy to try new products as a form of indulgence. Sales grew in the premium segment like never before: 44 percent of the top 25 breakthrough innovations are premium-price products. In the current climate product manufacturers need to be flexible and ready to adapt to possible changes in consumption patterns.

Consciousness and indulgence

The latest Top 25 shows that product manufacturers were inspired by two things in their work: consciousness and indulgence. In Europe more consumers care about sustainable consumption than ever before, e.g. they want to buy plant-based products, they check whether the packaging is recyclable. More than half of the products on the list can be tied to a healthier lifestyle in one way or another – last year this was true for only 26 percent of the winning products. Most of this year’s winners come from the United Kingdom and they focus on indulgence. For instance McCoys identified a market niche in the crisps category and came out with a folded tortilla snack, which acquired a 5-percent market share already in its first year. //