Unilever Israel cereal sales plummet

The market share of Unilever Israel’s cereals has plummeted to a 44.3 percent low, with it losing sales totaling NIS 2.3 million in one week, according to StoreNext data seen by Globes.

The data reflect a full week of crisis, including sales days last Friday and Saturday night, when it was already clear that Cocoman Tzdafim cereal packages had been marketed to consumers. At the same time, it is evident that the slowdown in company sales over the weekend was particularly sharp. The data presented here is a weekly average.

The entire cereal market has dropped 11% this week, with total sales of NIS 10.5m., compared with NIS 11.8m. three weeks ago. This is a 13.8% crash compared with market sales one month ago.

All of Unilever’s cereal brands lost market share during the first week of the crisis. Sales of Telma cornflakes, in which salmonella was discovered, plummeted 38.5%, with a low of 11% in its market share in the category, compared with 17.7% three weeks earlier and an even larger revenue share in the months before the crisis.

In a week, Delipecan sales dropped by about a half, down 48.7%, after it was initially announced to be infected with salmonella. Unilever only chose to correct the reports last week.

Until last Thursday, Unilever had concealed that its Cocoman brand was contaminated. But apparently, as soon as this was revealed, brand sales also fell sharply. Overall, Cocoman sales dropped 35.7% last week, also reaching an all-time low in its revenue share.

Other company brands also have been negatively affected. For example, sales of the Cariot brand dropped 23.9% in one week. The overall crash in Unilever cereals, which is not limited to contaminated brands, indicates that it and its cereal brands have lost the public’s trust.

The fall in cereal sales continued on Sunday, with some retailers estimating that the situation would deteriorate until the weekend.

The benefit from Unilever’s salmonella crisis is being reaped by all of its competitors, mainly Nestle cereals, which are made by the Osem Investments Ltd. Group. In the past week, Nestle reached a record market share of 35%, compared with 25.1% two weeks earlier.

While Unilever cereal sales fell 33.3% in a week, Nestle sales skyrocketed 24.5%. Diplomat’s Kellogg’s brand also profits from the salmonella in Unilever’s cereals, with sales increasing 32.2%, reaching a market share of 5.2%.

The private cereal brand of Shufersal Ltd. also benefited from the situation, with market share rising from 1% three weeks ago to about 1.5% last week, a 46% increase.