Freeing the ‘slam’ across the gluten barrier

Earlier this month, Arnott’s released their ranking of Australia’s favourite biscuits for 2024. Guess who’s on top of the ladder? It’s Australia’s much-loved Tim Tam Originals. Despite their popularity, a section of Australia’s population could only read and weep in the past. Not anymore!

In April 2024, Arnott’s also released their gluten free range by producing nine of their popular biscuits and snacks. These include Tim Tam Originals, Scotch Finger, and Barbecue Shapes. There were probably many Australians who rejoiced at the introduction of this range — according to Coeliac Australia, around 1 in 70 Australians have coeliac disease which make them unable to eat any products containing gluten. Worse, only 20% of this number are formally diagnosed.

When Gregg’s — a British bakery chain — introduced vegan sausage rolls in 2019, they recorded 11% year-on-year sales. They also reported that two in ten buyers of the vegan sausage rolls were new consumers. Since then, they tested the market by releasing more vegan offerings to serve the changing dietary habits of British consumers.

These types of product introductions expand the brand across consumers who could not buy the products in the past. The products removed the barriers to purchase by providing options that suit their needs and occasions. For these two examples, the barriers are consumers with special needs, like plant-based diet and gluten intolerance. For other product categories, there is a need for hypoallergenic, sugar-free, or salt-reduced options. The benefit of these barrier-breaking products is the expanded potential brand buyers, especially if these products are well-supported with wide distribution and advertising support.

Contrast these introductions with the steady churns of new variants or flavours by the same brands. In Tim Tam’s case, beyond Tim Tam Original, they also released Tim Tam Deluxe products with a variety of flavours that are released one week and probably heavily discounted the following week. Planning and managing frequent product launches surely take a lot of valuable resources that could be directed into more productive endeavours. Research conducted by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute found that a single top-selling product contributes four out of ten buyers for the brand. When we extend this to the top half of the product options, the products already contribute 80% of brand buyers and three-quarters of sales.

Of course, there are reasons why brands feel the pressure to release new products. These can include keeping the retailers happy, matching competitors’ products, special events and seasons. However, when these new products do not have a strong strategic case or are not properly supported, they may not contribute buyers nor notable sales to the brand. There is a danger that these products would languish on shelf and be relegated to the discount bin shortly after introduction.

Coming back to the Arnott’s gluten-free products, in the past, gluten-intolerant Aussies had to resort to a narrow selection of lesser-known brands when they wanted to snack safely. They probably looked longingly whenever somebody shared about a Tim Tim slam. Now, these consumers can activate Arnott’s Mental Availability, as the brand has product options for them – an important element of a brand’s Physical Availability.

Finally, it is also a misconception that products are only bought by the ‘target’ segment. In Gregg’s case, after the launch of their vegan sausage rolls, two out of ten buyers of their vegan sausage roll were new consumers. This means that eight buyers were presumably happy to switch between vegan and meat-based products. It’s likely to be the same with Arnott’s products — with buyers trying and buying both the regular and gluten-free options.

Dr Arry Tanusondjaja is a senior marketing scientist at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science.