17th of December 2024
Freeing the ‘slam’ across the gluten barrier
Dr Arry Tanusondjaja, senior marketing scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, delves into how Arnott’s removed the barrier to entry for its products by introducing a gluten-free range, and explores what this means for the brand.
Earlier this month, Arnott’s released their ranking of Australia’s favourite biscuits for 2024. Guess who’s on top of the ladder? It’s Australia’s much-loved Tim Tam Originals. Despite their popularity, a section of Australia’s population could only read and weep in the past. Not anymore!
In April 2024, Arnott’s also released their gluten free range by producing nine of their popular biscuits and snacks. These include Tim Tam Originals, Scotch Finger, and Barbecue Shapes. There were probably many Australians who rejoiced at the introduction of this range — according to Coeliac Australia, around 1 in 70 Australians have coeliac disease which make them unable to eat any products containing gluten. Worse, only 20% of this number are formally diagnosed.
When Gregg’s — a British bakery chain — introduced vegan sausage rolls in 2019, they recorded 11% year-on-year sales. They also reported that two in ten buyers of the vegan sausage rolls were new consumers. Since then, they tested the market by releasing more vegan offerings to serve the changing dietary habits of British consumers.
These types of product introductions expand the brand across consumers who could not buy the products in the past. The products removed the barriers to purchase by providing options that suit their needs and occasions. For these two examples, the barriers are consumers with special needs, like plant-based diet and gluten intolerance. For other product categories, there is a need for hypoallergenic, sugar-free, or salt-reduced options. The benefit of these barrier-breaking products is the expanded potential brand buyers, especially if these products are well-supported with wide distribution and advertising support.
Contrast these introductions with the steady churns of new variants or flavours by the same brands. In Tim Tam’s case, beyond Tim Tam Original, they also released Tim Tam Deluxe products with a variety of flavours that are released one week and probably heavily discounted the following week. Planning and managing frequent product launches surely take a lot of valuable resources that could be directed into more productive endeavours. Research conducted by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute found that a single top-selling product contributes four out of ten buyers for the brand. When we extend this to the top half of the product options, the products already contribute 80% of brand buyers and three-quarters of sales.
Read the full article in Mumbrella.
