Can you tell us a little of the history of the brand?
Smint has been around for more than 30 years, but what’s interesting is how current the original proposition still feels. The brand launched in 1994 with a very clear job to do – deliver convenient, sugar-free freshness in a format people could carry with them and use throughout the day.
That basic need hasn’t gone anywhere. If anything, modern routines have made those small reset moments more relevant – after a coffee, before a meeting, on the commute or heading somewhere social. What we’ve done over time is build more meaning around that occasion, broaden the range and make Smint much more visible, while staying very close to what made the brand distinctive in the first place.
How much is the UK mint category worth?
The wider mints and gum refreshment category is worth £611million1, making it the second biggest sub-sector within sugar confectionery. It’s a category with real scale and a strong habitual shopper base, reaching 57% of consumers who buy into mints and gum an average of 8.4 times a year2. What’s particularly striking is the scale sugar-free has reached within that market. It now accounts for 73% of all mints and gum sales3, so we’re talking about a very established part of the category with considerable shopper demand already behind it. That makes refreshment a really valuable fixture for wholesalers to get right. You’ve got more than half of shoppers buying into a £611million category and doing so regularly – there’s a lot of value tied up in those relatively small packs.
Is the market in growth and what is driving that growth?
There are two quite different dynamics playing out within refreshment. The wider category has lost around 30million units since 2023, but 93% of that decline is coming from gum4. Mints are proving much more resilient and Smint is proof of how much there is to go after. The brand is growing well ahead of the category and is now worth £25m, up +26% year-on-year5. More importantly, we can see that Smint is creating additional value rather than simply redistributing existing mint spend. That’s a really healthy growth dynamic because we’re doing two jobs at once: attracting people into the category and increasing the value of shoppers already there.
How is the Smint brand performing?
We’re seeing really strong momentum across the board. Smint is the UK’s number one sugar-free mint brand and number two brand in total mints6. But what gives me real confidence is what sits underneath that position. Penetration has grown +37% to 5.6%, while purchase frequency has increased +15.8% to 3.6 times a year7. So, we’re not only reaching more people; those who discover Smint are coming back to the brand more often.
We’ve also still got plenty of headroom. We know Smint shoppers are actively switching from across other mint brands, and the combination of growing penetration, frequency and distribution gives us several levers to keep building from here.8 We’ve reached a really meaningful level of scale, but there’s still a much bigger audience available to us – and that’s an exciting position for the brand to be in.
Who are the brand’s target consumers?
We’re targeting consumers aged 30+ who are navigating all the everyday demands of work, travel and social life – people who value those small moments to reset and feel ready for whatever comes next. That’s an important part of how Smint is evolving as a brand. Fresh breath is the functional reason people reach for us, but we want Smint to have a broader, more emotional role around that – the little reset before a meeting, after a coffee, between appointments or as you move from one part of your day to another.
What are the key lines within the Smint range that wholesalers should be stocking?
The priority has to be getting the core right, and for Smint that means Peppermint and 2 Hour Clean Breath. Peppermint is our classic everyday proposition and number one flavour, while 2 Hour Clean Breath has a more specific role, offering longer-lasting breath control and naturally lending itself to moments after food or coffee, ahead of meetings or before social occasions. One of the most interesting things we’ve learnt is just how differently consumers shop those two products. Only 2% of Peppermint shoppers also buy 2 Hour Clean Breath9, which makes a strong case for stocking both; they’re not two SKUs fighting for the same purchase, they’re answering distinct needs.
What different packaging formats are available for the brand?
We offer Smint across tin, dispenser and value bottle formats, and each has been designed to fit naturally into different parts of consumers’ lives. The tin is inherently portable – it goes in a pocket, handbag or work bag – whereas the value bottle tends to find a home on a desk, in the car or around the house. The Peppermint value bottle is flying – now worth £2.4m and growing +51% year-on-year10. Even more interestingly, in retailers where it sits alongside our tins, we continue to see strong rotations across both formats. That’s exactly what you want from a broader pack offer – the bottle is opening up additional spend by giving shoppers another way to buy into Smint, while the core tin continues to perform strongly alongside it.
The brand is close to being worth £25million. To what do you attribute this success?
Well, we’ve actually just had the news through that Smint has officially hit £25million – so the timing of this question couldn’t be better! It’s a brilliant milestone for the brand, and one we’re incredibly proud of. There hasn’t been one silver bullet behind that success. We’ve been very deliberate about getting availability, visibility and brand investment working together. We’ve expanded distribution, put our strongest-performing products and formats at the heart of the range, and invested significantly in making sure Smint is front of mind with consumers – and easy to find when they’re ready to buy.
What marketing activity is planned to support the brand?
Our Refresh and Reset campaign launched in spring and returns in September, deliberately tapping into that back-to-work, back-to-routine period when Smint has a really natural role to play.
The first burst gave us a really encouraging indication of how well that mix can work. Beyond the uplift in awareness and consideration, 31% of commuters exposed to our advertising identified Smint as the only brand they would consider – almost double the level amongst those who hadn’t seen the campaign11. This September will see the second burst go live, reaching more than 20million consumers through a powerful mix of OOH, radio, social media and commuter sampling. Supported by a market-leading shopper toolkit, the campaign is designed to drive consumer demand and help retailers unlock further category growth.
How can wholesalers best capitalise on the mint category?
Start with the proven best sellers and make sure they’re consistently available but then also think beyond the conventional fixture about where refreshment can naturally intercept the shopper. We know that 46% of shoppers pick up refreshment from ladder racks and 45% from aisle ends, compared with 35% from the confectionery aisle12. That tells us there’s a significant amount of purchasing happening away from the main fixture, and therefore a real opportunity in giving shoppers more chances to see the category.
Smint being sugar-free and HFSS compliant gives retailers plenty of flexibility to do that. Counter-top units, hanging units, aisle ends and FSDUs can all put mints into high-footfall locations and capture impulse purchases at different points around the store.
How do you work with wholesalers to grow sales?
A big part of our role is making sure wholesalers have a really clear reason to back Smint. We’re investing heavily in building consumer demand for the brand, but equally important is making sure the right products are available and easy for retailers to find, stock and sell. We know which lines are driving the brand, we have a strong read on how and where shoppers are buying refreshment, and we can use those insights to help inform ranging and visibility conversations.
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