In our first European edition of Innovation Barometer, we see a decrease across the total market with almost 5000 less innovations launched compared to the previous 52 weeks.

Looking at individual categories, only Home Care counts an increase in total innovation launches: a staggering 2% increase compared to this time last year and 4% growth over the past 12 weeks.

Source: BASES Innovation Measurement, West Europe include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK; Latest 52 weeks up to July 18th, 2023

Home Care also holds the top spot when looking at innovation sales growth, marking a +42% increase. When looking at average innovation velocity, Confectionery & Snacks show the highest average, whereas Home Care again leads the pack for highest innovation contribution to total sales: +9% growth compared to last year.

This isn’t surprising, considering that Home Care was the only category that showed an increase in innovations launched over the past 52 weeks (+2% vs. LY).

Category with greatest growth of innovations sales

Category where innovations have the highest average velocity 

Highest innovation sales contribution to total value sales

Innovation contribution is best described as a measure of how much of total sales is attributed to  innovations. Over the past 52 weeks, we see that innovations have contributed to 7.7% of total sales between all six key super-categories.

However, Home Care innovations have contributed the most: 26% of innovation sales across all categories. Confectionery and Snacks immediately follows, with 24%.

Source: BASES Innovation Measurement, West Europe include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK; Latest 52 weeks – w/e 06-18-2023

Looking at the most active brand owners in innovations over the past 52 weeks, P&G takes the top spot with 2774 innovations launched.

With growth coming from every FMCG category, consumers have shown that they’re willing to spend on consumer-packaged goods; we see a total increase of +8% in value sales across all categories. Furthermore, there’s been a 10% total increase of innovation sales in all categories—except for Alcoholic Beverages, which saw a 9% decrease.

This decline is also in line with the double-digit drop in the number of new innovations in Alcoholic Beverages across Europe. In fact, the number of innovations launched across all categories dropped 9% compared to last year; Home Care with a 2% increase was the only exception. Home Care also saw the highest innovation sales growth in France, Spain, and Italy, but Breakfast Cereals came out on top in Italy, whereas Confectionery & Snacks led in Germany.

Overall, the average item velocity decreased by -5%, whereas innovation items saw a velocity increase of 3%.