Sales of the 100 biggest A brands in Dutch supermarkets only rose 0.3% last year – the worst result since 1998, according to figures from food industry research group EFMI and quoted by broadcaster Nos.

The top 100 branded products accounted for sales of €7.8bn last year, or almost 25% of total turnover, Nos reports.

The slow-down in growth was not coupled with a rise in sales for supermarket own brands, even though their market share fell 0.3 percentage point to 27.2%, the research institute, which is part of Groningen University, said.

Special offers

‘Despite all the A brand offers, such as two for the price of one, people simply bought less,’ Sjanny van Beekveld of market research group IRI told the paper.

Supermarket sales growth comes from meat, bread, vegetables and fruit which do not have brand names, she said.

Dairy products group Campina is the biggest A brand, followed by Marlboro (tobacco products) and Douwe Egberts (coffee). Pampers (nappies), Caballero (tobacco) and Mona (puddings and snacks) were the biggest losers.