The launching of new products has started to decline in the past years, as supermarkets across the UK continued to cut the number of products they stock, according to a report launched by IRI.

The sales from branded new products were downby-6.5%, which equated to losses in revenue from new product development of GBP99.6m.

Looking across food categories the study shows that the trend is consistently down. For the snack category, there was a change in number of items per store of -4.2%, comparing latest 4 weeks versus a year ago.

For the “main meal – other”, the decrease registered was -5.8%, while for the “main meal – complete”, it was of -3.7%.

The IRI study shows that the number of NPD brand launches fell by 8.4% in the past 12 months, while product range has declined by 5.7% in the past year following a decline of 5.1% the previous year – which means a two-year decline of 10.5%.

The report reveals that 1,820 products have been removed from an average sized multiple store over the past 2 years, and 930 of these in the latest year.

The decline in the number of branded NPD launches in the last year was of -8.4% and own label launches have fallen by -2%.

Only one in 26 new products achieved distribution in multiples in their first 12 weeks and only 1 in 7 ever get there.

Only 50% of all new products achieved more than 33% distribution in multiples.

The reduction in distribution practical test standards that the average NPD launched now reaches was down 9% versus seven years ago. Now, it is down to 40%.

45% is the average price premium at which NPD is launched for first 4 weeks versus the category average.

7% of all NPD is delisted within a year of launch, while 34 weeks is their average length of listing, according to the study.

The report suggests a new approach to category management:

1. The ability to rank the true incrementally of each sku within a range;
2. The ability to isolate the category GBP impact of making optimum changes to a range;
3. Understanding why shoppers may choose your competitor’s products over your own;
4. Leading the retailer discussion with evidenced optimum ranging reconnaissance’s.