Tiny grocery collectables return

File photo / APN

Mascara and nappies will be two of the new collectables offered from tomorrow in a return of the hugely popular New World Little Shop promotion.

The promotion, which ran for the first time last year, allowed New World shoppers to collect a 44-piece-set of collectable grocery items.

This year the mini collectables set has increased to 50 and will include all new items, even if some of the changes are only minor.

Iconic Kiwi brands such as Weetbix, Tip Top's Jelly Tip and Baked Beans will make a return, but each collectable will have a slight difference.

Additional bonus items will also be introduced throughout the promotion.

Like last year, New World customers will receive a sealed package containing a collectable with every $40 spent at New World.

This follows the extreme popularity of last year's promotion, where full sets were being sold for as much as $540 on auction site Trade Me.

The collectables also appeared on Facebook, and many supermarkets held swap meets for collectors.

The popularity of the collectables was not anticipated, said General Manager of Marketing for Foodstuffs New Zealand Steve Bayliss.

"All the accessories sold out across the country in record time and desperate parents started calling the stores trying to swap collectables which inspired many stores to set up trading days in store for customers."

A New World Little Shop Swap Facebook App will be introduced this year.

This would allow customers to swap and trade collectables without having to pay trading prices that started to appear on many websites last year, Mr Bayliss said.

It was one of many promotions supermarkets offered their customers.

Countdown supermarkets' previous promotion was the Dreamworks Heroes Cards, which ended just over a month ago.

Ethan Dharmai, 10, collected the 42-card set of Countdown's Dreamworks Heroes this year and his mother Pearl had no doubt her son would pressure her to shop at New World during the coming promotion.

Ethan said he liked collecting items because they were "something you can treasure" and he agreed he would be sending his mum to New World to collect the newest miniatures.

The heroes cards have been replaced by the Countdown's Jamie At Your Table promotion, which runs until the end of November.

Customers receive one stamp for every $20 they spend. Once they have five they can buy a piece of Jamie Oliver dinnerware at half price.

A Countdown spokeswoman said previous promotions had been hugely successful with more than 2.7 million knife, glass and cutlery packs collected by customers in campaigns over the past few years.

- additional reporting by Zizi Sparks