Available now, the 240g Grand Rocher (rrp £8.99) follows the success of the 125g version and is suited to Christmas and Spring gifting occasions.

Meanwhile, Easter treat Kinder Joy (rrp 99p) is available from December and joins the existing Kinder portfolio, which is currently worth £98m. The plastic egg comprises two halves – one containing a toy and a spoon, and one filled with milk and cocoa cream and wafer.

Both products will be available until Easter. Retailers can maximise sales further by requesting POS materials, suitable for all store sizes, on the Ferrero trade website www.ferrero-trade.co.uk.

Levi Boorer, customer development director, Ferrero said: “Kinder Joy offers a potential £3.6m incremental sales opportunity for the confectionery category and as you would expect with our biggest launch of the year we will be supporting with a heavyweight marketing campaign designed to capture the imagination of mums. We anticipate that this launch will replicate the success of Kinder Joy in Ireland where 40% of buyers were completely new to Kinder Surprise and 8% were incremental to the entire Easter confectionery category. The amazing results in Ireland give us real confidence that Kinder Joy will be a huge success in the UK as the consumers have very similar purchasing habits.”

Ferrero experienced its biggest ever spring in 2015, achieving sales of £22m and outperforming the market across all three spring occasions.

Boorer said: “As the number one growth driving manufacturer, Ferrero is well placed to help retailers unlock this sales opportunity and we would always recommend retailers to focus on the core range first and foremost. Gifting is an all year round opportunity for retailers occurring every day, however more prevalent during spring. Retailers should plan in advance for key calendar events such as: Valentine’s Day (14 February), Mother’s Day (6 March) and Easter (25-28 March). We have great products to meet these occasions and the gifting packs are a must stock. There will always be the distress purchase occasion and retailers who have gift cards and a pen positioned alongside the chocolate confectionery aisle might just save the day.”