2021 has witnessed a normalization trends in the FMCG purchases after an unprecedented high growth in 2020. Though some categories like Foods are still at higher side compared to 2020 but the growth rate has slowed for all.
Overall we observed that majority of the Most Chosen brands holds their ranking vs. last year with several new entrants due to increased consumer demands during the new norm such as dishwash brand Sunlight growing on the back of sustained in-home cooking and eating occasions.
We predict that the in-home consumption will gradually move to similar level pre-covid. Post-Covid, many would expect OOH consumption to recover but the new concern now is how consumer would react to the raising inflation. In due course, we will share you latest update from our observation.
As restrictions on movement extended into 2021, Malaysian households sustained high levels of in-home food consumption, keeping most of 2020’s brand rankings on the list. Despite penetration growth slowing down, these brands are growing and maintaining CRP through a higher number of purchase choices.
Maggi, Milo and Prai maintained their Top 3 rankings from last year. In fact, nine out of these ten brands featured in last year edition, with Nestlé becoming the new contender within the Top 10. Despite overall food category trends slowly returning to normal, Maggi has been able to grow its shopper base and increase consumer choice, resulting in an 18% CRP growth. Milo and Prai are also returning to normal levels – both brands have seen declining penetration and consumer choice. They have been able to secure their position by keeping a higher CRP than other brands.
As a leading household brand, Maggi’s portfolio comprises of instant noodles, seasonings and sauces – categories that have been large movers during the pandemic, due to increased in-home cooking. Maggi has a penetration of 92%, which is 7 points higher than the second-ranked brand, placing itself securely at the number one spot with 66 million CRP.
Milo comes second with 37 million CRP. Milo maintains its penetration at 85%, seeing a slight dip in consumer choice. Milo is a beloved chocolate malt drink enjoyed by Malaysians across the age spectrum. It is one of the beverages that has enjoyed growth from increased in-home consumption.
Similarly, Prai has experienced a dip in CRP in 2021, due to market normalisation. The sugar brand maintains its position in third, as Malaysians continue cooking at home.
As restrictions on movement continue to drive in-home consumption, Food and Beverage sit as the fastest-growing sectors in Malaysia. Farm Fresh continues to outperform others as the number one fastest-growing brand in terms of CRP, with double-digit growth in penetration and consumer choice. Cadbury Dairy Milk is the next fastest growing, which can be attributed to the brand’s innovative initiatives in confectionery.
This signifies importance of impulse categories, even when people stay at home. Ramly has grown both in penetration and consumer choice by providing convenient solutions to meal-prep at home.
Within non-food, household cleaning brands such as Sunlight Dishwash, Daia and Top Detergents have also started to show good growth in 2021, due to more time spent in the home by consumers.
Milo gained 28 million CRP last year, making it the number one drink in Malaysia’s beverage market. While some of these brands are going back to their pre-pandemic levels of growth, Sunquick is still able to recruit good quality shoppers base, growing CRP by 17%. This means that the brand has climbed a spot, making it into the Top 5 beverage brands.
Dutch Lady and Marigold sit comfortably at the top two spots with higher consumer choice, despite losing some shoppers on the previous year. We see new emerging players in the Dairy market, Farm Fresh and Nestle, making the list this time. Both brands have seen significant growth in penetration and consumer choice.
Staple brands enjoyed exponential growth in 2020 when the pandemic broke out. This explains why these brands (all except Maggi) are able to secure their top spot in the Food category, despite experiencing decline or slow growth on the rankings of the previous year. All 5 positions for these brands remain as they were in 2020, all able to sustain consumer choices with normalised levels of penetration.
Dishwashing and fabric care makes the Top 5 in the Home Care segment. Sunlight holds its #1 rank within Home Care with higher growth of 19% CRP, as it has expanded its shopper base into dishwashing products. Daia climbs two spots, with 17% CRP growth, by growing consumer choice, dethroning its competitors Top and Softlan in the fabric care category.
Colgate has been able to achieve a small CRP growth, while most Health & Beauty brands have declined. The oral care brand has lost a fraction of its shopper base but is keeping up with consumer choice. Similarly, Safi maintained its CRP with lower shopper base and s consumer points. Dettol has declined 10% CRP due to declining priority on hygiene however it is still enjoying the third spot with 10 million CRP.
In line with the rise of impulse category due to prolonged lockdowns in Malaysia, Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) won the fastest growing brand in the Food Sector thanks to higher frequency.
CDM’s double-digit growth is attributed to its commitment towards Mindful snacking, and offering its consumers high-quality ingredients. This ambition has led the brand to launch Cadbury Dairy Milk bites, bite-sized chocolates coated with chocolate. This launch was also supported by the learnings from Kantar’s Mission study.
CDM’s team is also responsive to the new market demands from its consumers, especially in a post-Covid world. CDM realised their chocolate bars were underperforming while its competition thrived. With the help of our Household Panel insights, the brand acknowledged the growth of multipacks and proceeded to revamp their share bags, now with new packaging and sizes. The team increased in-store activation across regions, resulting not only in consumers switching from competitors, but also gaining new chocolate buyers. In conjunction with the national day, they launched a limited edition Pandan Coconut flavoured chocolate bar, which has gained attention due to its resemblance to local cakes (kuih) flavour profiles.
Malaysia has gone through yet another year of lockdown, and we are seeing continuous growth in home-cooking. It is thanks to this that Ramly was the second fastest-growing brand in Food sector in 2021, with a higher shopper base and increased trip frequency.
Ramly built its brand equity on providing halal, hygienic and quality frozen food, targeting the majority Muslim population in Malaysia. It started as a beef and chicken burger patties provider to micro-stalls all over the nation. The brand have since expanded into retail, widening its range to include frozen sausages, nuggets, chicken and seafood.
The movement control order (MCO) became a catalyst for Ramly’s growth, launching the brand to attain over 10% sales growth for in-home consumption. Its frozen food range attracted over 120k new Malay buyers as well as increasing household consumption. Ramly gained popularity for its convenience in meal-prep, especially among Nesting families and Teens and Toddler families.
Ramly’s brand is resilient due to its synonymity with street food and appeal to generational Malaysians. Its adaptation from out-of-home to in-home consumption is the reason Ramly remains relevant to date.
1. What makes you unique as a business? Cadbury, Malaysia’s No.1 confectionery brand under Mondelēz International (Mondelez) has been serving Malaysians with delicious treats for over 70 years. As we continue to evolve over the decades and in line with the brand’s intrinsic goodness and generosity, we are committed to Mindful snacking, to offering high-quality ingredients and to driving sustainability. Last year, we started applying the humanizing approach - a unique, consumer-centric approach to marketing that creates real, human connections with purpose.
2. Where is your biggest opportunity for growth, be it a region, a category or a strategy? We put our consumers at the heart of our brand-building, focusing on meeting consumer demands and tastes. Our biggest opportunity for growth is definitely through building our brand purpose; inspiring a little Cadbury goodness in everything we do. The extent of the #KitaJagaKita movement, including the popularity of our #PurpleFlag and Generosity campaigns, clearly demonstrated the Malaysian spirit of helping each other in challenging times. The last two years of the pandemic showcased the caring spirit of Malaysians. Having said that, we saw an increase in in-home snacking led by the pandemic as well which we leveraged through our in-home communications and family pack sizes (sharebags).
Of course, when it comes to meeting consumer tastes, we want to help them enjoy the right snacks and inspire them to snack mindfully. As a result, we successfully launched Cadbury Dairy Milk bites, bite-sized chocolates coated with chocolate goodness to perfection, along with the crunchiness of hazelnut and almond. We also launched a special Merdeka flavour and Cadbury Dairy Milk Pandan Coconut flavour to drive local relevance with our consumers.
3. What has been your biggest success in 2021? Receiving this recognition of being the fastest growing brand in 2021 is our biggest achievement. Cadbury winning a place in the hearts, pantries and pockets of our Malaysian households is where we want to get to; to be a locally relevant brand that understands and respects Malaysians.
4. What about consumer behaviour has surprised you the most over the past ten years? We have seen unprecedented growth or changes in the last two years due to Covid-19; for instance, online shopping and shifts in brand loyalty, to name a few. Creating real, human connections with purpose will be the way forward for brands to win with consumers in the future.
