Case Studies Confectionery Mars Wrigley
M&M’s holds 10% of chocolate space across Europe. At its home airport, it had less than 4%.
A Shelftrak audit benchmarked Mars Wrigley’s share of confectionery and chocolate space at Amsterdam Schiphol against total Europe and six other hubs — and found the home hub at the bottom of every table.
- Client
- Mars Wrigley
- Category
- Confectionery
- Scope
- Amsterdam Schiphol v 6 European hubs
- Data
- Shelftrak audit, Aug 2024
The brief
Measure the home hub against Europe, then against every other hub.
Mars Wrigley wanted to know how its confectionery portfolio was performing at Amsterdam Schiphol, using total Europe as the benchmark. That meant measuring share of space at three levels — total confectionery, total chocolate and the M&M’s brand itself — and then benchmarking facings and SKU density against Toblerone, Tony’s and Lindt on the same fixture.
Shelftrak compared Amsterdam with Heathrow, Gatwick, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Paris and Copenhagen. Amsterdam came last on every measure.
What the audit found
0%
below the European average share of total confectionery space in Amsterdam
0%
below the European average share of chocolate space in Amsterdam
0%
below the European average share of chocolate space for M&M’s in Amsterdam
Finding 01
The gap widens at every level of the category.
Amsterdam gives Mars Wrigley 30% less confectionery space than Europe, 45% less chocolate space, and 60% less for M&M’s itself. The UK proves the portfolio can hold a fifth of the chocolate fixture. The home hub gives it under a tenth.
Finding 02
Every other hub gives Mars Wrigley more chocolate space than Amsterdam.
Istanbul and the UK show the portfolio holding a fifth or more of the chocolate fixture. Frankfurt, the next-weakest hub, is still well ahead of Amsterdam on both measures.
Finding 03
M&M’s in Amsterdam: the lowest share of chocolate at any major European location.
Gatwick shows what the brand can do with 19% of the chocolate fixture. Amsterdam, the ‘home’ hub, gives it 3.7% — less than half the European average and behind every other airport audited. This is where the audit went deeper.
= Amsterdam, the lowest share audited
Inside the store — Amsterdam Schiphol
Wire baskets, mixed brands, and a sixth of Lindt’s facings.
The audit photos show M&M’s in open wire baskets, sharing tiers with Skittles and Maltesers, with little branding and no standout. On the fixture, M&M’s runs at 4.4 facings per SKU and Celebrations at 3.5. Toblerone gets 11.6 and Lindt Napolitains 27.
The contrast with a well-executed store is stark: in Heathrow T2 the same two Mars brands run at 16.7 and 31 facings per SKU. Amsterdam gives them a quarter and a ninth of that.
Shelftrak audit photos — Amsterdam Schiphol
SKU density ratio = SKUs per linear metre, as reported in the audit · For comparison, LHR T2: M&M’s 16.7 facings per SKU, Celebrations 31
The recommendations
What the audit told Mars Wrigley to do next
01
Close the gap to the European average
Mars Wrigley holds 17.8% of chocolate space across Europe and under 10% in Amsterdam. Moving the home hub towards the brand’s own average is a significant space and assortment gain.
02
Rebuild M&M’s position on the fixture
Toblerone and Lindt run at three to six times M&M’s facings per SKU in the same store. The audit gives Mars Wrigley the evidence to reset its competitive position and the branding around it.
03
Lead the Chocolate category review
Amsterdam under-indexes at every level: confectionery, chocolate and brand. The data supports Mars Wrigley advising the retailer on a full chocolate category development plan.
Take this case study with you
The full Mars Wrigley Amsterdam study as a PDF — charts, audit photos and findings. PDF · 1.8 MB
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