Ricola Herbal Caramel recently launched in Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland. The company brought the product to the UK this month.
Rebecca Collison, brand marketing manager for Ricola UK, said: “With consumer demand for indulgent sugar free confectionery showing strong growth, we’re confident that Herbal Caramel will attract many new customers to Ricola and will be a powerful addition to the sugar free confectionery category”.
Growing sugar free segment
Sugar free is the fastest growing segment of the UK sugar confectionery market with 9.2% growth in value Grocery Multiples versus last year, according to Nielsen data for the week ending January 27 2018.
Nielsen’s 'Grocery Multiples’ data is for select major supermarkets that includes all food sales in Marks and Spencer, but excludes Aldi and Lidl.
“Impulse outlets are behind the trend on sugar free,” a Ricola spokesperson told ConfectioneryNews.
“If they kept apace with multiples they would have added almost £2m ($2.8m) in value sales vs last year on sugar free lines alone.”
Ricola Herbal Caramel is sweetened with stevia and comes in click-shut boxes for a suggested price of £1.35 ($1.90) for a 45 g pack.