• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, May 18, 2018

Coca-Cola and Colgate are the world’s “most chosen” fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s 2018 Brand Footprint report. 

Kantar researches how many households around the world are buying brands (penetration) and how often (consumer choice), to derive “consumer reach points” (CRPs). This year’s study was based on analysis of more than 18,000 food, beverage, homecare and beauty/personal care brands across 1 billion households in 43 countries (73% of the world’s population) during the 12 months ending November 2017. 

Just 17 FMCG brands were chosen more than 1 billion times during the study period. 

Coca-Cola, which was purchased 5.8 billion times (5.8 billion CRPs), retained its #1 ranking for the sixth consecutive year. The brand had 41.3% penetration, and an average-per-consumer purchasing frequency of 12.7.  

Second-place Colgate had 3.9 billion CRPs, with lower per-consumer frequency (5.7), but higher penetration: 62%. That makes Colgate the only brand chosen by more than half of the global population.

Maggi, Nestlé S.A.’s international seasonings, instant soups and noodles brand, ranks third, with 24.9 CRPs, and is the fastest-growing Top 50 brand, with 14% CRP growth.

The other 15 brands with 1 billion or greater CRPs are, in order, Lifebuoy (23.8 billion), Lay’s (20.7), Pepsi (19.7), Nescafé (19.6), Indomie (18.2), Sunsilk/Sedal/Seda (18), Knorr (17.5), Dove (17.5), Lux (15.3), Nestlé (14.4), Sunlight (13.2), Downy (12.9), Palmolive (11.1) and Sprite (10.4).

Unilever leads the manufacturers ranking, with 36 billion combined CRPs across six of the 17 brands with 1 billion-plus purchases: Lifebuoy, Sunsilk, Knorr, Dove, Lux and Sunlight.

Despite changing consumer preferences and brand loyalty challenges, 22 of this year’s top 50 FMCG brands showed CRP growth during this year’s study period.

“Growth opportunities are there to be taken,” but brands “will need to dive deeper to find them, because they may not be in the old well-known spots,” observed Kantar Worldpanel CEO Josep Montserrat. “Our data show that out-of-home and channels such as e-commerce, discounters, cash-and-carry outlets and convenience stores are growing faster than the overall FMCG market. It’s time to invest more decisively in what consumers are asking for.”

The research also shows that local brands continue to take share from global brands.

In 2017, local FMCG brands garnered 64.6% of all brand spend (up from 64.2% in 2016), versus global brands’ 35.4% of share. Each 0.1% gain is estimated to be worth $500 million.

Local brands’ market shares by FMCG category in 2017 were 73.4% in food, 61.7% in drinks, 80% in dairy, 41.6% in beauty/personal care, and 53% in homecare.