Own-brand chocs 'now favourites'

The figures make sweet reading to stores such as Tesco

Confectionery lovers have helped sales of supermarket own-label chocolate and sweets overtake big name brands, new figures suggest.

The total value of store brands in the UK has pushed ahead of Cadbury Dairy Milk and Wrigley, say analysts TNS.

The Grocer magazine says the products are now more likely to be regarded as high quality than in the past.

Supermarkets are also using more of their shelf space to their own-label confectionery, boosting sales, it says.

Own-label confectionery - across all food chains - is the number one "brand", followed by Cadbury Dairy Milk in second place then Wrigley, Galaxy and Maltesers.

'Dinner party' approval

The UK confectionery market is worth more than £4.1bn per year, with almost 97% of all shoppers spending around £92 per head on sweets and chocolates last year, according to TNS.

If you turned up at a dinner party 10 years ago with a box of Tesco chocolates it would be sniffed at Edward Garner, TNS

However total spending is down 1.6% on the previous year as health-conscious shoppers increasingly shun multipack chocolates, which, although worth £727m per annum, have seen sales fall 4.5% on the previous year, TNS figures for The Grocer show.

"If you turned up at a dinner party 10 years ago with a box of Tesco chocolates it would be sniffed at," TNS head of communications Edward Garner told The Grocer.

"But now it's acceptable to arrive with Tesco Finest handmade 70% dark chocolates. A line has been crossed."

The TNS figures also reveal that shoppers spent £1.2bn on sugar confectionery in the past year, a drop of 2.8% on the previous year.

The TNS Worldpanel figures are based on a survey of the take-home purchasing habits of 25,000 British households for the year to June 2007.