2020 was an unprecedented year for all of us. FMCG is no exception to that. We observed a lot of changes in consumer habits. They started to visit physical stores less often but each time they went, they would they spend more than in the past.
Shoppers also purchased more categories especially from food and hygiene sectors. Multiple lockdowns and people staying at home helped many food brands to grow due to increased in-home consumption.
Despite the general growth trend for FMCG , there are some clear winners who moved up the CRP charts. One of the example is Farm Fresh, which maintained high loyalty and grew its shopper base significantly.
We suspect in-home consumption will continue to grow in the next 12-18months as people are spending more time at home compared to previous years.
Malaysia
It is no surprise that Food and Beverage brands have maintained their stronghold in the most chosen FMCG brands in Malaysia, especially during a year in which in-home food consumption has significantly increased. Most of these brand have significantly higher penetration in the market with and a high number of purchase choices from its shoppers.
The top 3 brands retained their leadership position on the scorecard in 2020 thanks to penetration.
At No. 1, Maggi not only attracts the highest numbers of shoppers in Pen. Malaysia, it has also the highest consumer choice. At No. 2 is Milo, from the same company, which attracts slightly fewer shoppers than Maggi.
Other key brands are from Dairy and Beverages companies such as Dutch Lady and Marigold, which are also bought by around two-thirds of the population in Pen. Malaysia.
Nineteen of the top 20 fastest-growing brands are within the Food & Beverage sector as the pandemic boosted the in-home consumption of food items.
Farm Fresh tops the growth chart as it gained the highest number of shoppers, who also picked the brand off the shelf more often. Growth came mainly in chilled liquid milk but Farm Fresh grew significantly in other formats.
Dettol is the only non-food brand to feature – thanks to the fear of COVID-19, more shoppers picked the anti-bacterial soap in 2020.
Milo remains the number one beverage brand thanks mainly to its large shopper base. It also enjoyed the highest number of consumer choices over the year. Other key players are mainly in the Coffee, Tea and Isotonic drink Sectors.
Most of the Dairy brands’ imrpovement came on the back of growth in liquid milk, which was one of the fastest-growing categorines in Pen. Malaysia for 2020.
Dutch Lady expanded its shopper base strongly in liquid milk, its core stronghold. Marigold grew mainly due to dairy sector as juices did not perform well during the last year.
Within the Food category, Maggi claims the #1 position with highest number of Shoppers and consumer choices. Maggi has not only increased its shopper reach in Instant Noodles but also expanded into the Instant Pasta category. The brand also gained more shoppers in Ketchup, Bouillon and Condiments.
Local brands such as Ayam and Adabi also grew fast, while biscuit brand Munchy’s managed to enter the Top 5.
Surf / Sunlight has jumped two places in 2020 to take the No. 1 spot, taking over from Top Detergents, which is now No. 2. Its success could be due to additional dishwashing activities caused by the increase in in-home cooking and eating occasions as part of the pandemic restrictions.
Within Personal & Beauty care sector, Colgate maintains its No. 1 position with a significantly higher shopper base than its rivals.
Dettol and Lifebuoy gained substantially as people were washing more hands due to COVID -19 and were able to claim the No. 3 and No. 4 positions.
The Fastest CRP Gainer in 2020
Farm Fresh became the fastest-growing brand by shopper base in 2020, gaining 800,000 new shoppers. This is in addition to almost doubling its CRP.
The dairy sector was one of the main FMCG sectors that consumers relied on for in-home consumption during the Pandemic.
Farm Fresh was able to leverage on this increased consumption amongst repeat buyers and influx of new shoppers by:
1. Building its presence within the more mass-market ambient milk format;
2. Creating product differentiation between fresh milks and recombined milks.
3. Smart retail strategy via home-dealers, getting its products to the consumer via a more convenient channel.
4. Increased activation of flavoured milks – particularly the growing dates (kurma) space.
Farm Fresh is currently the No. 1 brand within the more premium chilled format and is driving the growth of the segment. Future plans should be geared towards becoming the No. 1 overall liquid milk brand, which can be achieved if the current momentum continues.
Spokesperson Geetha Balakrishna, Business Executive Officer, Foods.
What makes MAGGI unique as a brand? MAGGI has been present in Malaysia since the 1950s and is an integral part of Malaysian home life. Rooted in our strong heritage of noodles and culinary solutions, MAGGI has continuously responded to the ever-evolving needs of meal providers by putting consumers at the heart of everything that we do. The iconic MAGGI 2-Minute noodles is the market leader in the instant noodles category, while the MAGGI culinary range continues to grow thanks to our keen understanding of the local cuisine and dish landscape. What has been the key to MAGGI’s success in 2020 under COVID-19? Why? COVID-19 brought changes in consumer behaviour within the food category due to the extended periods of being confined at home. There was a sharp increase in home cooking during the lockdown period and, more importantly for MAGGI, there was an increased desire to cook more authentic Malaysian dishes as this was a way of providing comfort to the family. Moreover, it was also important to support new cooks who were cooking for the very first time and needed a trusted ally in the kitchen.
Trying times brought out the best in Malaysians and we noticed that many people used food parcels and supported home cooks as a way to help those affected by the pandemic. We realised it was more important than ever that we went beyond product, ensuring that the brand had greater purpose. We reflected this through our key campaigns: MAGGI Cukup Rasa’s Wanita Cukup Berani, advocating female empowerment, and the MAGGI Sah Malaysia campaign, celebrating the country’s shared love of authentic Malaysian food at a time when everyone needed to be reminded of the comfort and joy of home-made taste. In a nutshell, we needed to be there for our consumers.
What did you do differently during the pandemic, to keep reaching consumers? And what enabled you to do that in the evolving environment of COVID-19? (i.e. data, insights) Digital media channels accelerated at an increased rate during the lockdown months, when consumers could no longer eat out and were forced to work from home, and we saw a rise in the popularity of social cooking influencers. We developed a series of simple recipe ideas using everyday ingredients that significantly increased traffic to our MAGGI website by +80% organic traffic. We also leveraged high search trends, for example ‘recipes with egg’, to drive awareness and usage of MAGGI Sambal Tumis, which was launched just before lockdown. This period also drove increased adoption of ecommerce and live-streaming that offered purchase options. In order to stay connected with our consumers, we leveraged MAGGI’s social media platforms to engage them and give them recipe inspiration, for instance using Facebook live-streams to share tips and hacks for moms working from home, who had to manage cooking for the whole family. What consumer behaviour has surprised you the most during COVID? The shift of grocery shopping to online, with rapid adoption of grocery delivery services, was expected. The shift to proximity shopping was somewhat unexpected. What surprised us most, however, was the growth in categories that had been stagnant for many years, but which suddenly saw an increase in sales when the pandemic happened.
Where do you see the FMCG market and your category going in the coming months (short-term) and in the long-term? With COVID-19 persisting, we expect in-home cooking to remain strong in the short- term and there will be continuous demand for instant noodles, cooking aids and time-saving recipe solutions. In the longer term, we expect out-of-home to recover once the COVID-19 vaccination is rolled out to the wider population in the next 12 to 18 months.
