Albalact, made by the company by the same name, Creminos by Lacto Food, Napolact, a brand of FrieslandCampina, and Covalact are the best selling butter brands by volume along with private labels, with a market share of 65.8% in the period considered. Nielsen did not reveal information about the value or the volume of the market. According to ZF’s estimates and market data, butter sales amount to EUR55 million to EUR60 million a year.
Price is the driving factor when buying butter, therefore the best-selling brands by volume are the cheap private labels of the major retailers. A 200-gram Albalact pack (65% fat) costs 5.63 lei (EUR1.27) or RON28.15 per kilo in Carrefour’s online store. On the other hand, a similar pack of Carrefour’s private label, No 1, butter costs RON4.45 or RON22.25 per kilo.
Private labels such as Carrefour Discount, No.1, Auchan (of the hypermarkets by the same name), Cora, Winny (retailer Cora) and Proxi (Profi) attract customers with lower prices. It should be said here than market research companies do not compare Carrefour private label butter to Albalact brand name butter, but analyze the ‘private label’ category as opposed to brand name products in this segment.
The most expensive of the top brands is President, made by French-held Lactalis. A 250-gram pack of President (82% fat) may cost as much as RON12.06 or RON48.24 per kilo, according to carrefour-online.ro
President is the fourth best-selling butter brand by value, behind Albalact, private labels and Napolact, with Napolact costing about RON41 per kilo. The five brands’ cumulated market share is 62.2%, according to Nielsen.
Other brands on the market include LaDorna (Lactalis), Raraul (Albalact) and Lurpack (imported by Delaco).
Consumers bought most butter from hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount-type stores (83.3% of the total sales) in August 2012-July 2013, followed by stores with a retail area of more than 40 square meters, 13.8%.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)