How do you rack up $324 million in sales in your first year of business? Easy. Just make an ice cream that doesn’t make you fat.
That’s what Halo Top did. The low-calorie ice cream—which ranges from 240 to 360 calories per pint—did so well in its first year of business that its sales surpassed the next five new food brands combined, putting the brand at the top of IRI Worldwide’s 2017 New Food and Beverage Product Pacesetters list.
The Chicago-based market research company annually benchmarks new CPG brands, searching for trends. What it found this year is that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. Of the thousands of new brands on shelves this year, 49 percent of the top-ranking products were from small manufacturers, and they accounted for 26 percent of the overall dollars spent.
“Consumers are demanding products that are customized to their needs, and this type of targeted innovation continues to put small and niche companies on the New Product Pacesetter map,” said Susan Viamari, Vice President of Thought Leadership for IRI. “Just five years ago, an estimated nine out of every 10 Pacesetters launched were extensions of existing brand lines. In 2017, 40 percent of food and beverage and 25 percent of non-food Pacesetters were brands entirely new to the CPG marketplace. This clearly demonstrates consumers’ willingness to try ‘unknown’ brands. Millennials, in particular, are more moved by experiences and solutions to their needs and less likely to purchase based solely on brand name.”
“Smaller, more targeted product launches have become the new norm in CPG aisles,” added Larry Levin, executive vice president of Consumer and Shopper Marketing for IRI, “as manufacturers look to enhance impact with launches that align more closely with key consumer needs and wants. In a testament to the power of this shift, 20 percent of this year’s top-selling launches earned less than $10 million during their first year on the shelves, continuing a trend we found in last year’s analysis.”
The remainder of the Top 10 in the food and beverage category included Good THiNS, Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee, Nestle Splash, Lifewtr, Smartmade by Smart Ones, Hershey’s Cookie Layer Crunch, Hillshire Snacking, Well Yes and Cracker Barrel Macaroni and Cheese.
Not only did Halo Top top the IRI chart, it dethroned longtime staples Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs from atop the best-selling ice cream list.