US invader Oreo takes a chunk out of British biscuit sales

FAMILY favourites such as custard creams, digestives and rich tea are losing their appeal with biscuit lovers.

The KitKat bar also seems to be falling out of favour, with sales down by more than £2million in a year.

And it is an American interloper, the Oreo, which is taking their place.

Sales of so-called ‘everyday biscuits’ have fallen by almost one million packets a week, according to retail analysts Kantar Worldpanel. It said the nation bought 48.4million fewer packs over the past 12 months compared to the year before. As a result, the total value of sales of this sector has fallen by £25.7million.

Shoppers seem to be buying fewer biscuits overall, possibly in an attempt to cut back on sugar, Kantar told The Grocer magazine. When they do buy biscuits, they are increasingly going for ones making health claims, such as BelVita and cereal bars.

They are also switching to chocolatey biscuit brand treats such as Oreos, which are originally from America, and Jaffa Cakes.

Oreo sales were up by £11.8million in the past year. The owner of the brand, Mondelez, which also owns Cadbury, is hoping to build sales further with the launch of Oreo Thins, which are designed to appeal to the under-45s for what it calls the ‘mid-afternoon nibbling occasion’.

The rise of the Oreo seems to be at the expense of chocolate-covered biscuits such as KitKat and Penguin. Total sales in this sector were down by £11.6million. Sales of healthier biscuits such as BelVita were up by £5.6million.

Oreos, created in the US in 1912, are sold in more than 100 countries and arrived in Britain in 2008. Like the custard cream they are a biscuit sandwich with a creamy filling, but contain no real cream or dairy products. Early versions contained lard in the cream, but today it is a vegetable oil.

‘Mid-afternoon nibbling occasion’