Where the Gains Are
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
IRI and Nielsen show c-store gum sales down about 3% in 2014. While it’s a decline, it’s a somewhat smaller one than in 2013, when sales fell about 7%. What stanched some of the bleed? In regular gum, Wrigley’s new five-count packs—Double Mint, Juicy Fruit, Spearmint, etc.—saw dollar and unit gains, helping push that segment back into the black.
Sugarless sales fell about 5%, according to IRI and Nielsen. In breath fresheners, dollars rose, while units were relatively flat.
| Candy type | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Sugarless gum | $892.0 | -4.6% | 576.8 | -7.2% |
| Regular gum | $199.9 | 3.3% | 239.1 | 5.3% |
| Total gum | $1,092.0 | -3.3% | 815.9 | -3.9% |
Source: IRI
* Percent change from a year ago
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
| Candy type | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Breath freshener | $227.2 | 3.0% | 128.0 | -0.7% |
| Plain mints | $80.4 | 0.3% | 67.7 | -3.9% |
Source: IRI
* Percent change from a year ago
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
| Candy type | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Sugarless | $805.1 | -5.0% | 526.3 | -8.3% |
| Regular | $183.1 | 8.7% | 222.4 | 17.0% |
| Total gum | $988.3 | -2.7% | 748.6 | 2.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
| Candy type | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Breath fresheners | $253.6 | 4.3% | 154.8 | 0.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
Latest Quarter: Gum UPCs
C-store sales, 13 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
C-store gum sales grew slightly in the final quarter of 2014, an improvement over losses seen in fourth-quarter 2013, according to IRI.
| UPC | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Wrigley’s 5 Cobalt (15-count) | $10.9 | 5.2% | 6.1 | 4.4% |
| Wrigley’s 5 Rain (15-count) | $10.0 | 3.0% | 5.6 | 2.3% |
| Orbit Spearmint (14-count) | $8.5 | 9.7% | 5.6 | 7.6% |
| Orbit Peppermint (14-count) | $7.5 | 9.4% | 5.0 | 7.4% |
| Wrigley’s Extra Spearmint (15-count) | $7.4 | 11.6% | 4.9 | 10.2% |
| Total (including UPCs not shown) | $266.2 | 0.6% | 198.7 | 0.7% |
Source: IRI
* Percent change from a year ago
Best Practice
Are you giving gum the right amount of space in the set? With the segment’s sales in their fourth year of decline, retailers should right-size the space, suggests Joey Hendrix, senior manager of category strategy and insights, convenience store, for The Hershey Co. “If gum is 20% of sales, it needs to get about 20% of the space,” he says. “Many retailers are still allocating more space than they should to gum. Retailers that have cut gum space have seen the best resurgence in gum performance, because the remaining gum items become more productive.”
Dollar Share by Flavor: Gum
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
Mint gained 1.7 points to command nearly 70% of c-store gum dollar share in 2014, according to Nielsen, while fruit gave up 2.6 points.
| Flavor | Dollar share | Point change* |
| Mint | 69.7% | 1.7 |
| Fruit | 17.4% | -2.6 |
| Bubblegum | 5.2% | 0.0 |
| Cinnamon | 3.3% | 0.1 |
| Sour | 2.3% | 2.2 |
| All others | 2.1% | -1.4 |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
Customer in Focus
According to research by Mintel International, consumers who eat sugar confectionery (nonchocolate, gum and mints) are more likely to consume breath fresheners than chew gum. While 72% of consumers polled by Mintel said they chew gum at least sometimes, this figure jumps to 82% for breath fresheners. Consumers 18 to 44 years old are much more likely than other age groups to chew gum and consume breath fresheners.
Gum Trends
Sales of regular gum rose as new five-count packs of Wrigley’s Doublemint, Juicy Fruit and other brands rolled out to c-stores in 2014.
Brands
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 28, 2014
| Brand | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Trident | $166.1 | -1.0% | 111.9 | -5.7% |
| Orbit | $156.6 | -2.0% | 107.1 | -5.8% |
| Wrigley’s Extra | $94.6 | 10.5% | 63.9 | 9.4% |
| Stride | $57.0 | 13.8% | 39.0 | 9.0% |
| Dentyne Ice | $55.6 | 9.3% | 35.0 | 5.5% |
| Wrigley’s 5 Cobalt | $49.2 | -4.2% | 30.6 | -7.7% |
| Wrigley’s 5 Rain | $45.5 | -5.7% | 28.3 | -10.5% |
| Wrigley’s Eclipse | $42.2 | -5.7% | 25.9 | -6.5% |
| Wrigley’s Double Mint | $42.0 | 4.6% | 57.3 | 6.1% |
| Trident White | $39.9 | 5.1% | 25.0 | 0.6% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | $1,092.0 | -3.3% | 815.9 | -3.9% |
Source: IRI
* Percent change from a year ago
Sugarless UPCs
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
| UPC | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Wrigley’s 5 Cobalt (15-count) | $43.4 | 8.0% | 24.6 | 7.5% |
| Wrigley’s 5 Rain (15-count) | $40.6 | 5.7% | 23.0 | 5.4% |
| Orbit Spearmint (14-count) | $32.4 | 7.0% | 21.9 | 6.3% |
| Trident Spearmint (18-count) | $28.5 | -5.5% | 19.7 | -12.5% |
| Orbit Peppermint (14-count) | $27.7 | 4.6% | 18.8 | 3.9% |
| Total (including UPCs not shown) | $805.1 | -5.0% | 526.3 | 8.3% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
Regular UPCs
| UPC | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Wrigley’s Doublemint (15-count) | $28.5 | 13.4% | 19.2 | 13.0% |
| Wrigley’s Doublemint (5-count) | $13.6 | 25.5% | 39.1 | 26.0% |
| Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit (15-count) | $12.9- | -3.0% | 8.6 | -3.8% |
| Wrigley’s Big Red (15-count) | $12.7 | -5.5% | 8.5 | -6.2% |
| Wrigley’s Spearmint (15-count) | $10.4 | 4.3% | 7.0 | 3.7% |
| Total (including UPCs not shown) | $183.1 | 8.7% | 222.4 | 17.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
CONTINUED: Mints & Breath Fresheners
Breath-Freshener Trends
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
The Hershey Co. (Ice Breakers and BreathSavers) and Perfetti Van Melle (Mentos) gained share of the breath-freshener segment in 2014.
Dollar Share by Flavor
| Flavor | Dollar share | Point change |
| Mint | 68.8% | 0.9 |
| Fruit | 27.0% | -0.4 |
| Cinnamon | 2.3% | -0.5 |
| Sour | 1.6% | -0.2 |
| All other | 0.3% | 0.2 |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
Brand
| Brand | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Mentos | $51.8 | 8.0% | 41.9 | 1.1% |
| Ice Breakers Mints | $44.8 | 14.3% | 18.8 | 12.0% |
| Tic Tac | $40.5 | -1.1% | 27.3 | -1.7% |
| BreathSavers | $33.1 | 0.3% | 27.5 | -3.8% |
| Altoids | $31.8 | 15.4% | 13.4 | 16.0% |
| Ice Breakers Duo | $19.9 | 19.5% | 8.4 | 16.7% |
| Ice Breakers Frost | $12.3 | -9.9% | 5.2 | -11.3% |
| Altoids Smalls | $7.5 | -17.2% | 4.9 | -17.6% |
| Ice Breakers Sours | $4.1 | -7.7% | 1.7 | -8.4% |
| Certs | $3.6 | -25.4% | 3.6 | -25.0% |
| Total (including brands not shown) | $253.6 | 4.3% | 154.8 | 0.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
UPC
| UPC | C-store sales ($ millions) | PCYA* | Unit sales (millions) | PCYA* |
| Ice Breakers Cool Mint (1.5-oz.) | $21.4 | 13.1% | 9.0 | 11.7% |
| Tic Tac orange (1-oz.) | $16.9 | 3.5% | 11.5 | 4.0% |
| Altoids peppermint (1.76-oz.) | $16.3 | 1.4% | 6.7 | 0.0% |
| Tic Tac Freshmint (1-oz.) | $15.2 | -4.3% | 10.1 | -5.6% |
| Ice Breakers Winter Mint (1.5-oz.) | $17.6 | 13.2% | 7.4 | 11.8% |
| Mentos mint (1.32-oz.) | $15.4 | 0.3% | 13.1 | -2.6% |
| Mentos mixed fruit (1.32-oz.) | $15.3 | 3.6% | 13.0 | -0.1% |
| BreathSavers Wintergreen (12-count) | $12.9 | 5.0% | 12.0 | 3.0% |
| BreathSavers Peppermint (12-count) | $10.7 | 0.3% | 9.9 | -1.8% |
| Ice Breakers Duo Strawberry (1.3-oz.) | $9.1 | -4.4% | 3.8 | -6.5% |
| Total (including UPCs not shown) | $253.6 | 4.3% | 154.8 | 0.0% |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
* Percent change from a year ago
Refreshment Share
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
Breath fresheners continued to pick up share of c-store refreshment sales in 2014, according to Nielsen data.
| Category | Share | Point change |
| Gum | 79.6% | -1.1 |
| Breath fresheners | 20.4% | 1.1 |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
Gum Market Share by Sugar Content
C-store sales, 52 weeks ending Dec. 27, 2014
Sugarless gum gave up dollar and unit share to regular in 2014, according to Nielsen data.
| Candy type | Dollar share | Point change |
| Sugarless | 81.5% | -1.9 |
| Regular | 18.5% | 1.9 |
| Unit share | Point change | |
| Sugarless | 70.3% | -4.8 |
| Regular | 29.7% | 4.8 |
Sources: The Nielsen Co., The Hershey Co.
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