France is recognized all around the world for its gastronomy and good taste, so staying at home for several months and the closure of foodservice outlets severely disrupted their way of living. Still, spending time inside meant that French consumers were able to experiment with different recipes, so their attention naturally turned to frozen food. How does the market currently look and which categories are best positioned to register continuous growth?
According to data from Euromonitor International, the frozen processed fruit and vegetables category dominated the French frozen food market with a value of EUR1.15bn in 2020 vs. EUR1.10bn in 2019. Next up is the frozen processed meat category, which reached a value of EUR756m in 2020, a slight increase when compared to the figure of the previous year (EUR738m). Frozen ready meals have also been popular among French consumers, registering a category value of EUR554m last year (vs. EUR540m in 2019). Frozen pizza and frozen processed seafood categories had similar market values in 2020 (EUR441m and EUR428m, respectively), while frozen baked good stayed at the EUR87m mark, similar to the previous year. Last but not least, the frozen meat substitutes registered a significant growth in 2019-2020 (+59% when compared to 2018-2019), reaching a value of EUR11m. While this is still category, its strong evolution shows it might get to higher grounds in the near future.
According to FranceAgriMer, French consumers opt more for small general stores (supermarkets and shops), which are closer to their homes. Some consumers are moving their purchases to online, supermarket drives, or home delivery. E-commerce is profoundly renewing its customer base (+ 50% of the number of buyers according to Nielsen, with 4.9 million households making at least one purchase several times a month). This circuit, until then marginal due to structural weaknesses (difficulties in managing fresh and frozen products and variable weight products such as fruits and vegetables, delivery, accessibility, etc.) saw a spike in turnover (+ 80% according to IRI and Nielsen) and managed to attract new consumer profiles, such as the elderly. Frozen foods enjoy a growing interest throughout the lockdown period; frozen meat and fish have shown even more significant increases during isolation and kept a positive balance (when compared to the similar period of 2019) even after restriction were lifted, which is not the case for food.
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