The winners of 2023
Discover best practice form across the FMCG landscape
Every point of growth in FMCG spend represents billions in extra consumer spending, from the essential purchases to the personal indulgences that make life a pleasure.
This year’s strong performance across Latam is a record of which brands found a way to become an essential. The ones that identified a way to appeal to more people and their wallets at a time.
But brands do not just compete against each other, but also battle with the economy and other rivals.
Globally, for example, the $1,360 that buyers of FMCG products part with annually, has seen a 60% hike over the past decade, even as the wages of many have stagnated. Rises like this change consumer behaviour in any market.
But the response is not always to cut back. In some markets, consumers have bulked up on larger pack sizes, drawn by the lure of volume discounts and trying to manage their consumption as part of their budgeting.
This trend has further helped the growth of discounters and wholesalers. There has been value growth of 25% for discounters and 22% for wholesalers in the region, compared to the market average of 14%. Discounters are a powerful force in every market bar Brazil while wholesalers are mainly in Brazil and Chile
Similarly, consumers can strategically ‘trade down’ to private label. Private label now represents 22.7% of share globally and 5.5% by value in Latam. It’s a big competitor in markets such as Colombia (where it hits 28% value share), Ecuador (10%) and Mexico (6%).
Success against such a competitive backdrop is hard and every brand in our ranking deserves huge congratulations.
Beer Bud and Heineken
This year has seen strong performances from both Budweiser and Heineken at the top of the Alcoholic Beverage category.
Budweiser, for example, has growth its CRPs by nearly 25% (24.4%) with strong gains in Brazil and Chile, while Heineken is up 17.3% with strong gains across Brazil and Ecuador.
Both brands have seen investment in sports events paying off as people consumer more beer at home, while they enjoy the action.
This strategy builds on Budweiser’s global approach and connections with the FIFA World Cup and the Super Bowl. Heineken similarly has invested in Champions League and F1.
With millions of fans tuning in to highly anticipated sporting events, both brands have found a powerful route into homes across the region. The result has been growth across the beer market, with both Bud and Heineken standing out as more meaningful and different to their competitors.
Snacks growing a lot
The snack category has identified new moments in people’s life. Post pandemic the focus is on flavour and pleasure rather than simply basic needs for eating at home. Well positioned snack brands have sought to find ways to appropriate this territory to drive growth.
By understanding consumer demand, successful brands have found a way to identify the best product for the right moment, whether that’s with the family or alone.
At the heart of many strategies has been demographic targeting, focused on Gen Z. We’ve seen TikTok activity from Pringles and Cheetos, while Doritos has pushed a diversity message as part of its “For the Bold in Everyone” message.
Pringles has seen CRPs up by nearly a third (+32.7%) thanks to a mix of new flavours designed to appeal to more people, TikTok and Influencer marketing. In Mexico the brand has risen six positions. Penetration is up 26%, with frequency rising just 6%.
Cheetos has looked to find new spaces, pushing its potential as an innovative ingredient for cooks, as well a new partnership with sports to help it find growth in Mexico, Brazil and Peru. Its performance on penetration is 5% growth, with a 7% rise in frequency.
Doritos has seen growth in the same markets, pointing to a category-wide resurgence on the back of Gen Z. The brand records a similar performance to Cheetos with penetration up 6% and frequency up 5%.
Home care Vanish and Duck Innovation
Innovation has driven strong performances in the Home Care sector with Vanish and Pato/Duck/ Canard both showing strong double-digit growth in CRPs. In the latter case CRPs are up by nearly 30% (29.2%) but both have added millions more shoppers.
Pato/Duck/Canard has growth penetration by 21% and frequency by 10%, while Vanish is up 13% on penetration and just 4% on frequency.
Brazil has become the largest market in the world for Reckitt brand Vanish, thanks to its position as the natural brand for stain removal. In 2023 it was a constant presence on social media, point of sale as well as promotional activations, helping to drive regional penetration up 13% and frequency up 4%.
In this category Private Label is a big competitor, with Home Care in Columbia, for example being almost 50% Private Label.
