FMCG in the Philippines remains challenged versus other neighbouring countries. But we are already seeing signs of improvement, with increased mobility and economic recovery. Prolonged disruption has engrained new shopping habits in consumers. Sari-Sari Stores (neighbourhood stores) continue to be highly relevant through proximity shopping, controlled cash-outlay and convenience. With purchasing power impacted, Filipinos continue to seek value in their shopping. Food remains a priority, but there are some clear winners among Non-Food who have moved up the CRP charts. With slow but steady recovery for the Philippines FMCG market, it’s important for brands to continue to consider how to expand their buyer base and feature back into the baskets of consumers. We expect 2022 to be a year of recovery for FMCG as we observe the first signs of the new normal.
Almost all household names retained their spot in the Top 10 most chosen brands in the Philippines. These brands have remained highly relevant in-home despite the challenged FMCG market.
Retaining its title for the past 7 years, Lucky Me, a local noodle brand, is the number one brand in the Philippines. The brand continues to innovate, with new formulations for their core flavours, introducing bigger pack sizes, promoting their secondary flavours, and recently launching a new flavour. Lucky Me remains a staple in all Filipino homes.
Silver Swan, a local condiment brand, retains its number 2 spot. Another condiment brand, Datu Puti, climbs in the ranking; more buyers and occasions helped it breach the top 10 most chosen brands in FMCG. As shoppers adapted to the new normal, with cooking at home still very relevant, Datu Puti communicated how to use its brand in a variety of dishes and shares steps on how to prepare these at home, likely causing part of this rise in the rankings.
Meanwhile, Bear Brand, a Powdered Milk product, remains a top choice for Filipinos. Among the top 10 brands, only Bear Brand grew double digits in 2021, with growth being driven by a rising number of shoppers. As Filipinos adapt to the new normal, Bear Brand is likely an increasing choice given the heightened demand for products focused on health and nutrition.
Prioritization of Food in shoppers’ baskets in 2021 continues to hamper Non-Food brands, but 3 brands remained as a top choice: Surf for laundry, Safeguard for soap, and Palmolive for hair care.
With shoppers still visiting stores less frequently throughout the pandemic, expanding their consumer base was the key to the growth of most of the Philippines’ Top 10 fastest rising brands in 2021. Brands from both the Food & Beverage sectors and Non-Food sectors increased their rankings. Food remains a top priority in the Philippines but as the economy starts to recover, consumers are beginning to also spend a little more on Non-Food brands.
Keratin Plus, a haircare brand, saw growth from both its hair treatment and shampoo line. With the closure of many hair salons due to the pandemic, Keratin Plus Hair Treatment satisfied the salon-level treatment shoppers were seeking in their absence. Its shampoo line also gained twice as many consumers vs the previous year.
With the importance of hygiene, Bioderm, a local soap brand, remained a top growing brand in 2021, adding an additional 1.8 million homes. Wings and Calla, laundry brands, also increased in penetration. Both brands improved consumer recruitment through their availability in Sari-Sari Stores (neighbourhood stores).
In Food, Fita, a biscuits brand, is another brand that leveraged the rise of Sari-Sari Stores, where the majority of buyer gains stem from. Payless Instant Noodles continued to grow in 2021, as it key messages resonated with consumers: taste and value.
Coffee is a staple for Filipinos, led by Nescafe, Kopiko, and Great Taste. Though we’ve seen fewer occasions for these brands vs last year, the top 2 players managed to further increase their buyer base in 2021, as did Tang. Tang continues to launch new flavours to attract new shoppers to the brand.
The Philippines is a milk drinking country, with Bear Brand, Birch Tree, and Alaska at the top of the rankings. Bear Brand has grown both due to higher penetration and consumer choice, solidifying its position as number 1 in Dairy. More homes also purchase Milo and Yakult, which offer energy and targeted nutrition-related benefits.
Top Food brands have relatively higher CRP than other sectors as food remains a priority in shoppers’ baskets. Datu Puti manages to move up by one spot, followed by cooking aids Ajinomoto and Maggi. Maggi in particular is a growing choice among shoppers, rising in CRP.
Laundry Detergent dominates the top 5 for Home Care. Wings managed to secure the no. 3 position (previously no.7) with its ability to attract shoppers year on year. This is likely because hygiene, together with value, is important for Filipinos. These brands, especially Surf, Wings, and Ariel, are able to offer products that meet the needs of these shoppers.
Health and beauty are already showing signs of recovery, though admittedly along a longer journey than other sectors. Most of the top brands suffered the loss of CRP, but at a slower rate when compared to 2020. The top 5 brands retained their rank in 2021 with Palmolive, Sunsilk, and Creamsilk increasing their buyer base.
Laundry in general remains a category that is purchased less frequently, and shoppers have lighter baskets for Laundry.
Despite this, Wings has seen rapid growth as it continues to recruit shoppers to the brand. Even during the height of the pandemic in 2020, Wings managed to gain 1.8 million shoppers. They have continued this momentum in 2021, gaining another 1.8 million homes.
The pandemic caused many households to tighten their belts. Even in Laundry, shoppers are turning to more affordable brands. Wings, a value brand, is well placed to meet the budget needs of Filipinos. Shoppers favour the most affordable variants; Calamansi Clean and Floral Fresh.
Wings first launched in Visayas and Mindanao, their home-turf markets. Since then, the brand has expanded beyond its original strongholds: specifically North and South Luzon, as it taps more shoppers in the region.
With the increased relevance of proximity stores, Wings improved its consumer recruitment through their availability in Sari-Sari Stores (neighborhood stores), Market Stalls, and Grocery Stores. Shoppers predominantly picked up the 70g Powder pack size, driving growth for the brand.
Though the Philippines is a Milk drinking country, Cultured Milk gained more relevance than expected, especially in 2021. Yakult, the number one brand in the category, saw rapid growth as more homes purchased the brand (+1.3 million homes).
Yakult gained buyers across the country especially in its core regions, NCR and Visayas. More homes purchased both its single 80ml offering and its multipack (80ml x 5) offering. The brand leveraged the increasing importance of proximity stores, recruiting through their availability in Sari-Sari Stores (neighbourhood stores).
Due to the pandemic, health and nutrition may remain top of mind for shoppers. Yakult communicates targeted health benefits such as proper digestion, highlighting its Lactic Acid ingredient that helps normalize muscle movements, aiding in the absorption of nutrients and in bowel movements.
Its tagline “YakultEverydayEverydayOK” is truly embodied as Yakult sees an increase of 6.9 million more purchasing times in the past year.
1. What makes you unique as a business? Instant Noodles has become what we may call global food, as it is part of the diet of people around the world, with more than 100 billion servings consumed annually.
In the Philippines, Instant Noodles is a category that is present in 9 out of 10 households, clearly playing a very important role in the lives of consumers. Through its well-loved noodles and flavors, Lucky Me! has become the family's go-to for comfort and nourishment; to satisfy a taste craving; and a partner to create instant bonding moments.
Lucky Me! is a brand that most consumers have grown up with and it remains meaningful and distinct to different consumer segments through innovation.
Lucky Me! is the flagship brand of Monde Nissin – a company that strives to be an innovator to help change how food is produced, to be better for people and planet. Early on, Lucky Me! pioneered micronutrient fortification; launched no artificial preservatives added; and recently has started the use of HSAF (High-speed Airflow) technology to reduce fat and calorie content. The same focus, innovation and creative spirit that has led Lucky Me! to where it is now, is fueling the company to make better for people and for planet possible.
2. Lucky Me! has been the Most Chosen FMCG Brand in the Philippines for several years. How has Lucky Me! stayed successful through these years? We are grateful that consumers are loyal and have preferred the brand strongly over the years.
Lucky Me!’s success comes from a combination of areas of focus.
Foremost is innovation and renovation. Lucky Me! has a solid history of firsts in the market. Lucky Me! pioneered the dry instant noodle, now the biggest in the whole category; introduced locally popular flavors like Batchoy, Bulalo and foreign flavors like Jjamppong; popularized a range of spicy variants like Extra Hot, Chilimansi and Sweet and Spicy and the Spicy Labuyo range; launched different noodle formats like Sotanghon and Lomi and a better for you offering, Lucky Me! Milky Me.
Lucky Me! Products are known to be the taste standard. We aim to delight consumers with the crave-worthy, distinct taste and aroma of Lucky Me! And every so often, products are renovated to give consumers a better experience.
Second is building a brand that consumers love. Beyond functional benefits, Lucky Me! has made consumers feel the comfort a warm bowl of noodle brings on good and not so good days; the joy of bonding over your favorite food; and reminding families of the values that can be taught over a shared meal on the dining table.
We take inspiration from real life stories - the OFW who eats Lucky Me! for a taste of home; the tween whose initiation to cooking is through Lucky Me! Pancit Canton, the dormer who is powered in an all-nighter by a plate of noodles, and many others whose instant happy pill is Lucky Me!.
Third is keeping the brand relevant to more consumer segments and in more usage occasions. Lucky Me! has a wide range in formats, flavors, and sizes, that can serve different needs of different consumers. The team has built a variety of moments through communication that has educated consumers about different meal occasions that noodles can be served and different ways it can be prepared and enjoyed.
The final focus is distribution. Lucky Me! is a staple in the household. Distribution is key, making the product widely available in the appropriate channel be it general trade, modern trade, institutional, and e-commerce.
3. Where is your biggest opportunity for growth moving forward? Despite high penetration, compared to other countries, there is a lot of room to grow in terms of consumption per capita. Recency and frequency of use can be improved. There are still targets and moments to work on. We are also developing the better for you range starting with Lucky Me! Milky Me and are looking at premiumization as another growth space. 4. What about consumer behavior has surprised you the most over the past 10 years? Specific to Lucky Me!, what surprised us is the power of Brand Love. A few years back, there was a renovation that was not well received – we faced serious backlash on social media.
The reaction showed very strong attachment and love for the brand; otherwise, consumers would not have cared at all.
It was a humbling learning experience for us. Zeroing in on the brand communication, we humanized the brand with an asset that acknowledged that Lucky Me’s change disappointed them, and an invitation to give us another chance. Not many brands can and will do this.
Another asset featured the real life bashing we got from actual consumers, but the twist is, it showed that Lucky Me! listens to them. We released an asset that essentially said, here it is, because you said so… And consumers reacted positively to that. To this day, we look to that episode, as one of our biggest learning moments, and one of our biggest growth drivers, as well.
5. What consumer trends do you think we can expect in the next 10 years? Health and Wellness will continue but its implication will vary per category.
Consumers are becoming more aware about sustainability. As environmental issues personally impact them, they will look towards brands that are part of the solution.
For both health and sustainability, taste and accessibility are key to create bigger impact.
Digitalization as the norm in the way consumers and brands engage through the path to purchase.
Finally, we expect more consumer choices - having more segments of consumers rather than treating them as a whole.
These are challenging but very exciting times.
