The crisis made wiener buyers more rationalistic

Consumers accept pre-packaged wieners and do not think of deli counter wiener as better. The price advantage of the latter is also dwindling and it is important to be aware of this before the New Year’s Eve sales peak. Consumers are economising and one of the winners is “red products”, especially wieners which improved in terms of both volume and value – reveals Nielsen’s comparison of the last two 12-month periods. In July-August 2009, pre-packaged wiener cost HUF 1,088/kg (up HUF 104 compared to the same period last year), while deli counter wiener was at HUF 996/kg (up HUF 191). At the moment, pre-packaged wieners represent three quarters of sales and according to Zoltán Szántó, PICK Szeged Zrt.’s product manager brand building is easier in their case, not to mention that consumers do not consider deli counter wiener to be fresher. However, in the case of cold cuts consumers they associate freshness with slicing and buy 65 percent of them at deli counters. Not to mention that unpackaged wieners have a shorter shelf life. This year private labels’ market share reached 40 percent. Mr Szántó says that PICK intends to stay on the beaten path of offering consumers high quality wieners only. Krisztina Bódi, Kométa ’99 Zrt.’s marketing director hopes that their top quality products will attract many shoppers during the holiday season. Their Bécsi wiener is still highly popular, despite belonging to a higher price category. Dr Endre Tamás, Wiesbauer-Dunahús Kft.’s managing director is of the opinion that medium category wieners suffered the biggest blow. New Year’s Eve is traditionally a strong period for wieners. Mr Tamás thinks that sales at the end of the year will surpass last year’s, with prices oscillating between HUF 200 and 2,000/kg. In the last months of the year, unpackaged wiener sales slightly increase. Zsolt Kazai, Landhof Hungária’s managing director is also optimistic, since their wiener sales grew significantly in terms of both volume and value in the last period. – Consumers like an expanding product variety, easy-to-handle packaging, optimal package size, quick preparing, good taste and an added value. Retailers focus on long shelf life, secure packaging, marketing support, POS and a good margin – says Zoltán Szántó. According to data by Nielsen, the market share of PICK’s wieners grew in both volume (to reach 5.3 percent) and value (topping at 7.6 percent) in 2009 May-June. They try to reach consumers with more intensive promotion activity, using chain-specific price promotions. At Kométa ’99 they focus on Bécsi wiener, using BTL tools. Thanks to continuous innovation by its mother company, Landhof Hungária can always put novelties on the market. This December they come out with Sacher wiener. Their price promotions keep focusing on their partners’ promotion leaflets. Wiesbauer-Dunahús’ Bécsi Hosszú wiener is extremely popular in the last 10 days of the year, selling 3-4 times more than in an average month. They will start an intensive campaign in the leaflets of big retail chains.