Nestle sales volumes fall as shoppers put off by price rises

19 October 2023 , 10:14

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Shoppers in Europe faced an 11.1% price hike, leading to a 2.3% fall in volumes. (Image: 2023 PA Media, All Rights Reserved)

Nestle, the maker of KitKat and Cheerios, has seen a drop in sales volumes as customers are put off by rising prices. The company increased its pricing by 8.4% for the first nine months of 2023 due to ongoing food inflation.

Despite this, Nestle's CEO Mark Schneider said on Thursday: "Growth was driven by pricing as we continued to navigate historic inflation levels." However, the volume of products bought by customers fell by 0.6% as they reacted to the price increases.

In Europe, shoppers faced an 11.1% price hike, leading to a 2.3% fall in volumes. Despite this, total sales in Europe were 1.3% higher as lower volumes were offset by the price increases.

Nestle revealed that total sales across the company were down 0.4% to 68.8 billion Swiss francs over the nine months to September. This was also significantly impacted by foreign exchange rates.

The company added that its Purina PetCare business, including Felix, Gourmet and Purina One, particularly drove growth.

Shop prices 'are yet to peak and will remain high' as inflation hits new heights

Nestle has revealed that KitKat is gaining more market share, with its confectionery division, which includes Smarties and Quality Street, experiencing significant growth due to increased pricing. The company also reported a surge in demand for Nescafe, contributing to "mid single-digit growth" in its coffee business.

Mr Schneider, the company's CEO, stated: "The recovery of our volume and mix is under way." He added: "We are seeing the benefits of our portfolio optimisation initiatives and increasing marketing investments behind our billionaire brands."

He concluded by saying: "These steps underpin our confidence that real internal growth the sum of volume and mix will turn positive in the second half of the year and again become the main driver of growth going forward."

* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]

Steve Charnock