Over 5,000 shoppers cast votes through NielsenIQ for the 2023 Product of the Year Awards (POY). The annual consumer-based awards program has been in Australia for 14 years and evaluates product relevance, uniqueness, excitement, likeability, distinctiveness and innovation. For 2023, Coles and Woolworths home brands took away the most category awards, highlighting the consumer switch to lower-cost items as the cost of living increases. Other winners include household brands Birds Eye, Colgate, Lyre’s and Moccona. First-time award winners included Rokeby Farms, Roll’d and The Emma Sleep Company.
“The rising cost of living has definitely changed the FMCG landscape, with affordability now the most important consideration for Aussies making their weekly grocery trip. Typically, during a recession, you will see many people cut back on holidays and indulgent expenses like eating out, but interestingly, the data indicates something else is happening entirely. Only a third of Aussies reported that they cut back on splurge-like expenses such as dinners and food delivery, instead opting to switch to cheaper brands, buy less groceries or reject their favourite brands altogether. After extended COVID-19 lockdowns, you can tell that people are much more willing to sacrifice their household goods if it means getting the opportunity to go out, socialise and enjoy all the things they’ve missed on in recent years. In addition, the POY winner’s trends are also showing that health and wellbeing is still at the forefront of minds post COVID-19, with 10 of the 33 winners sitting within the health, pharmacy and cleanliness categories, including products from Hydralyte, Voltaren, BioSLIM and Inner Health,” said Sarah Connelly, Product of the Year Director.
All product winners underwent a vigorous testing process that included a panel of judges, testing for quality, credibility and innovation, and consumer voting. POY works with NielsenIQ to finalise results and conduct other research, which found price and affordability were the key decision makers for 86 percent of Australian consumers.
Images of category winners are below, and a full list of current and past winners can be found on the POY website.
Beverages
Homewares
Pharmacy
Coles Winners
Woolworths Winners
