Perfetti van Melle Brands OUT PERFORM Others!

November 2019

Are you carrying Perfetti van Melle brands in your c-store? If you aren’t, it’s time to stock up. Perfetti van Melle brands out perform their peer group in total, especially in the gum category!

Perfetti van Melle’s top selling brands are their super popular Mentos gum and the fun candy AirHeads. These are top performing brands year after year in convenience stores! In fact, Perfetti van Melle has consistently grown overall shares over the last 5 years. ALL of their brands are growing in all channels. This past year alone has shown an 11.2% increase for their brands!

2019 has shown some key innovation in their products: their Mentos CleanBreath mints provide customers with 30 minutes of clean, fresh breath. Customers love these hard mints because of their “power mint” mentality. Their strong mint flavors with Green Tea extract have consumers feeling confident. The new AirHeads gummies in their chewy confection category have five fun interactive shapes that kids love to play with! AirHeads are a trusted and loved brand by all ages. Gummies are the fastest growing non-chocolate segment in the candy category, making these playful gummies a must have in your store!

Make sure you’re carrying top selling products in your c-store! Check with your wholesaler for availability and to place an order today!

NEWS ALERT: Exclusive Independent Retailer SNEAK PEEK!

August 2019

Coming soon from Perfetti van Melle is a new, innovative product to their Mentos line. Mentos Chewy & Fresh has the classic Mentos freshness, encapsulated in a soft chewy bite. It is a smaller, soft bite-sized mint with fresh taste and chewy texture. Eat it all or save it for later with the re-closeable container that is easy to carry and doesn’t take up much space!

Taste-testing consumer reviews call the up-and-coming new mint absolutely delicious and easy to carry and dispense. Mentos Chewy & Fresh have the perfect consistency and size, making it an easy on-the-go chewing experience. Tested against one of the best-selling mint bottles, it exceeds with strong ratings on chewiness and softness. Consumers report, “I love everything about this!” – making this new product from Mentos a must-have in your c-store.

Mentos Chewy & Fresh will be offered in two flavors: Mixed Fruit and Peppermint. The new chewy mint will be available for shipment in November 2019. Be on the look out for order forms for this new product from Perfetti van Melle and be the first to have it in your store!

Airheads® & Xtremes® are the 5th Largest Non-Chocolate Brand in C-Store!

June 2019

Airheads® and Airheads® Xtremes continue to be one of the most popular non-chocolate items in convenience stores! These brands have three top 20 peg items and are all in top 25 items of total non-chocolate in convenience. Some of the top selling Airheads items include Airheads® Gummies, Airheads® White Mystery, Airheads® Xtreme Bites and Airheads® Gum!

Airheads® Gummies are brand new to the brand portfolio. This product is expected to be 80% incremental to the Airheads® brand, has strong trial and repeat potential versus competition. Airheads® Bites White Mystery, another innovation item, is an iconic brand asset, inspiring fun and intrigue in the aisle with five fun mystery flavors inside. The white mystery flavor has grown 131% with Airheads® White Mystery Bars up 4%.

Xtremes Bites 6oz is one of the largest and most productive back end items. It is ranked 12th of total back end items in the latest 52 weeks and is the #4 back end sour candy item. This product is one of the most efficient items in the category (top 2%) and velocity has improved over 23%. It has also seen 20% dollar growth in total U.S., making it the 6th largest growth contributor and growth is nearly 2x the rate of any higher ranking item in non-chocolate. Airheads® Gum is a huge opportunity for c-store retailers. This gum is sugar free, made with Xylitol. It has Airheads® flavored micro-candy bits and an Airheads® Candy strip layer. Available in three flavors that consumers love.

Make sure you’re carrying the best selling Airheads® products today. Check with your wholesaler for availability and to place an order!

Perfetti Van Melle Gum is Growing at Double Digits!

April 2019

Perfetti Van Melle’s gum brands continue to see double digit growth year over year! The company continues to exceed total category growth at 7.9% in convenience as well while the total gum/mint/non-chocolate category only grew 2.7%. The total gum category continues to grow slowly. The total gum category in convenience only grew 1.5% in 2018 while Perfetti Van Melle’s gum brands Mentos and AirHeads Gum grew 38.4%.

It is truly impressive that Mentos Gum continues to be on a steady growth path. The brand is thriving in a declining category and is somehow able to continue to captivate consumers as a quality, premium gum that keeps them coming back for more!

One of the reasons the brand continues to grow is their constant innovation. In 2014 with the launch of their Mentos Gum Pocket Bottles the brand saw 17% growth. In 2015 with the launch of their Mentos Gum Big Bottles, the brand saw 27% growth. Lastly, in 2017 with the launch of the new Mentos Velcro Wallet packs, the brand grew 15%. To say the brand will continue to thrive is an understatement.

Are you carrying Mentos Gum in your store? If not, you need to be. Check with your wholesaler for availability and to place an order.

Perfetti Van Melle® Has a Portfolio of Thriving Brands

February 2019

We all know and love Perfetti Van Melles® confection brands. From AirHeads® to Mentos®, the company’s brands continue to thrive. In fact, their portfolio of brands outpaces the total category by 7 TIMES! These brands continue to demonstrate strong growth in a weak and declining category with total confection down 3.9% and Perfetti Van Melle® UP 1.4%. One of their biggest successes is in the gum category. Gum continues to be a declining category, but AirHeads® and Mentos® Gum have demonstrated astounding growth in the category. Total gum only grew 1.5% in 2018, while Perfetti Van Melle’s® gum brands grew 38.4%!

Perfetti Van Melle® has a variety of pack types for their mint brands. Stand-up bags currently represent a small share of the category but see all the growth. In fact, in the total mint’s category, stand-up bags share grew 4.3% while dollar sales grew 12.2%. Be on the look out for more mints to be popping up in stand-up bag pack sizes in the future.

Now where do mints sell the most in the store? Over 60% of mints sold in the food channel are purchased from the checklane. In fact, over 90% of convenience channel mint sales come from the checklane. Mentos® is the 4th largest mint brand in the country and is the 3rd largest mint brand in convenience. Make sure you are stocking Mentos® in your checklane in order to maximize sales on this top selling brand. It is recommended to place the following Mentos® Rolls in there: Mint, Fruit, Strawberry, Rainbow, Cinnamon and Spearmint. Fruit and Mint Mentos® Rolls are the top sellers, so those are a must have. Two other products you should stock in your checklane are the NEW Mentos® CleanBreath Mints. These new mints are available in Peppermint and Wintergreen.

Mentos is Asking You to PAY IT FORWARD

October 2018

This year, Mentos will help make FRESH CONNECTIONS with Big Brothers Big Sisters during the 2018 Back to School season. In 2018, Mentos is giving you the hance to PAY IT FORWARD by sharing a discount on mentos products you love with friends and also enabling fresh connections through a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America®. This promotion started on August 1st and will run through October 31, 2018.

Mentos will introduce the Limited Edition “Say Hello” roll as a flow-through for Mint and Fruit 14pc during the promotion. Each piece will have 1 of 34 greetings printed! This promotions works by texting “connections” to a number and receiving a coupon for a discounted Mentos Say Hello Roll. Shoppers are then encourages to share the coupon with a friend, classmate etc. For every coupon redeemed, Mentos will make a donate to the Big Brother Big Sisters organization to help make life-long connections.

There will be dedicated marketing for this promotion to drive awareness including dedicated digital campaign to support and reach shoppers near point of impulse. In addition, these campaings will be optimized based on learnings from 2017. But what is in it for a retailer? This promotion coupons will push customers back to the store ad well as create excitement at the store. Dedicated displays are available for each promotion as well as external media support. Shoppers will love the chance to give back to Big Brothers Big Sisters with every Mentos purchase.

​Introducing Airheads® Brand Packaging Refresh June 2018 Perfetti Van Melle has just announced a packaging refresh for their Airheads brand. In order to better unify their brands and elevate their positioning, the brand has developed brand new packaging. The new packaging delivers meaningful improvements in stop/hold/close measures. The new packaging grabs consumers attention with a 42% increase in unaided brand recall. It also helps consumers navigate items and their benefits quickly. With the new packaging, there is a significant increase in speed to final product consumers are looking for, about 12-30% faster. Lastly, it gets the product in the cart with price appeal. This increase the franchise share by 20%. The new packaging performs higher on key equity attributes:  • Is good for the whole family 68% to 72% • Is a brand I love 73% to 77% • Graphics make it easier to tell difference between versions 76% to 78% • Is a high-quality product 77% to 82% • Packaging brings to life the Airheads brand 79% to 84% • Brand provides playful fun experience 82% to 84% • Has a visually appealing package 82% to 87% Below is a list of the products that have received the packaging refresh:  • 9oz Soft Filled Bites • 9oz Xtremes Sourfuls • 30oz Xtremes Bites • 5ct Check Stand Pack • 5ct Check Stand Counter Unit • 9ct Check Stand Pack • 60ct & 90ct Gravity Feed Box • Fruit Bites 2oz • Soft Filled Bites 6oz • Xtremes Rainbow Berry Belt 2oz • Xtremes Rainbow Berry Bites 2oz • Xtremes Rainbow Berry Bites 6oz

Airheads Exceeds Category Growth Year-Over-Year

Airheads & Xtremes Growth is Currently Over 4 Times Category Growth

April 2018

The Airheads brand is one of the fastest leading brands in the non-chocolate candy segment. The well-known, popular brand has a 4% share in the non-chocolate candy segment and sales grew 6.9% in 2017! Perfetti Van Melle non-chocolate brands are consistently exceeding category growth with Airheads and Xtremes growth that is currently FOUR TIMES category growth. In addition, sour is a huge trend in confection. Sour is growing faster than non-chocolate and makes up a large portion of growth dollars. Sour items are also up 8.4% compared to total non-chocolate of 3.1%. This trend is still growing in ALL channels.

New to the Airheads brand is the Xtremes Bites 30.4oz, Airheads Soft Filled Bites Stand Up Bags and Airheads Sourfuls Stand Up Bars. The new Xtremes Bites have a zipper closure which ensures freshness, is easy to open, reach in or pour out and is a great value with almost 2lbs of product! This product stands-up, won’t spill and has a high profile so it is easy to find in the pantry. The new Airheads Soft-Filled Bites and Sourfuls Stand Up Bags are designed with sharing in mind. They each have a zipper closure so they are resealable for freshness, are easy to dispense and are pantry friendly.

Expanding a brand portfolio with stand-up bags is incremental. They are also brining in NEW households. Those that were already buying, are buying more. 3.5% of stand-up bag dollar sales were from households new to the category and 64% were from households who expanded their spend to buy more stand up bags. That is 67.5% in total incrementality.  In addition, all of Perfetti Van Melle’s leading peg bags will be available in stand-up bags in May. All four of their peg sku’s are top half ranking in the total US. These include Airheads Bites, Airheads Soft-Filled Bites, Airheads Xtremes Bites and Airheads Xtremes Sourfuls.

Another new addition to the line is Airheads Bites White Mystery. This new product inspires fun and intrigue in the aisle with five fun mystery flavors inside! The Mystery Flavor Category growth is 27% and Airheads White Mystery Bars are up 8%.

Make sure you’re stocked up on these new products now! Check with your wholesaler for availability.

Perfetti Van Melle Continues to Grow in Convenience

The manufacturer of top brands like Mentos & Airheads continues to rock sales!

February 2018

Perfetti Van Melle is one of those candy companies that continues to innovate and grow year after year. The manufacturer of top brands like Mentos, Airheads, Mentos Gum and more continues to out-perform their peer group over 9 times in total, as well as in each sub-category. The company was up 10.5% in dollar performance in total convenience candy in the last 52-week period ending December 31, 2017.

While the gum category continues to decline, Mentos Gum continues to grow! In the last 52 weeks, Mentos Gum was up 30.8% while the rest of the category was down 3%. Non-chocolate is another category that continues to grow. Perfetti Van Melle's non-chocolate products was up 10.3% while the rest of the category was up only 5%.

The candy company's continued growth is attributed to their ability to innovate and desire to always improve their products processes and products to meet their customers satisfaction. Their focus on constant improvement and focus on the future is what makes them so successful, and what will continue to make them successful in years to come. C-store retailers need to make sure they are carrying Perfetti Van Melle products.  Your customers are looking for them, so make sure you're providing them!

Source: IRI National Convenience - 52 week period ending  December 31, 2017 DOLLAR PERFORMANCE* Composite of Gum, Mints and Non-Chocolate

New Velcro Wallet from Mentos Gum

December 2017

Perfetti Van Melle has recently expanded their Mentos Gum into a Velcro Wallet pack. This is a smart move as 6 of 10 gum shoppers ONLY shop wallets!

Mentos Pure Fresh Velcro Gum is the strongest performing tier 1 gum concept. This concept was originally tested with consumers in early 2016 as part of a packaging research initiative. The updated Mentos Pure Fresh Velcro Wallet Gum is the most appealing concept to Gum Users. The re-closable Velcro packaging as well as variety of mint and watermelon flavors drives affinity for this winning concept.

This concept is only seen as different to other gum products by approximately half of Gum Users. 80% of consumers really want this product. Priced at $1.09, Mentos Pure Fresh Velcro Gum is the best value compared to almost all other tested gum concepts. This winning concept also earns the highest flavor and taste perceptions. Make sure you’re adding the Velcro Wallet pack to your set in 2018.

Perfetti Van Melle Brands Continue to Out Perform

Mentos Gum & Mentos Mints Continue to Grow

September 2017

Perfetti Van Melle continues to have brands in the convenience store segment that out performs peer group brands by nearly 23 times in total as well as in each sub category. In addition, Perfetti Van Melle brands are also delivering strong performance in dollar changes in the last 52 weeks. Two of Perfetti’s top selling brands are Mentos Gum and Mentos Rolls. Both brands grew in total dollar performance in the last 52 weeks with Mentos Gum growing 21.9% and Mentos Rolls growing 5.3%!

Mentos Gum offers long tasting freshness in convenience on the go packaging in a variety of different flavor variations. They come in either packages of 15 count, 45 count or 50 count. Available flavors include: Pure Fresh Fresh Mint, Pure Fresh Spearmint, Pure Fresh Wintergreen, Pure White Sweet Mint, Pure Fresh Bubble Fresh, Red Fruit Lime, Tropical, Ice Flurry and Bubble Fresh Cotton Candy.

Mentos Chewy Mints are offered in several refreshing flavor varieties. Mentos Mins provides the benefit of a mint with an enjoyable chew! Available flavors include: Mentos Mint, Mentos Fruit, Mentos Spearmint, Mentos Strawberry, Mentos Cinnamon, Mentos Rainbow, Mentos Green Apple, Mentos Caramel & Chocolate, and Mentos Caramel & Mint Dark Chocolate.

Make sure you’re stocked up on these two brands that are sure to be top sellers in your store(s).

New Airheads Gum

Brand New Product from Perfetti Van Melle!

May 2017

Gum sales have been in decline for several years, however we saw an uptick in 2015 as innovative items were introduced. Mentos and Ice Breakers continue to grow the gum category. Mentos had a $28M growth and Ice Breaks had a $40M growth. Which other innovation generated over $100M (Starburst Gum, Extra and Sour Patch Gum).

Right now, there are so many opportunities in fruit flavored, slab gum. Non-mint flavored gum represents 34% of the gum category and fruit flavors account for only 12% of slab gum dollar sales. Perfetti Van Melle has introduced Airheads Gum! This gum launched on May 1st and is made with Xylitol and is sugar free. It comes in three different flavors: Watermelon, Blue Raspberry and Cherry. Each slab of gum has micro candies (Airheads flavored bits) and a candy strip layer which is also Airhead flavored.

These new items offer a mix of classic and innovative fruit flavors that will appeal to a wide range of consumers. Watermelon is the #1 fruit flavor in the gum category and is ranked #3 of Airheads bar flavor. A hero sku of line-up gives Airheads Gum a strong foundational flavor of gum. Blue Raspberry ranks #1 of Airheads bar flavor and has a unique flavor Airheads is known for. Lastly, Cherry ranks #2 of Airheads bar flavor and is a universally loved flavor, but underdeveloped in the gum category.

The launch of this new product is a winning idea. Airheads has been growing at a faster rate than the category due to innovation over the last 5 years. Airheads and Xtremes 2016 growth is over six-times category growth. In addition, Perfetti tested Airheads Gum against the top fruit skus in the category and outperforms and is the #1 and #3 fruit skus in the category.

This product should be merchandised next to other fruit gum slabs with Trident Layers/Fruit or Extra Fruit on either side of it. Make sure you’re stocking up on this delicious new product today!