Retailers and manufacturers in the UK were encouraged to give shoppers more reasons to buy frozen food, as this is crucial to turning around the current performance. This was one of the points made by Chris Hayward, from Kantar Worldpannel at the recent British Frozen Food Federation Conference, in Birmingham.
Health is among the main trends surrounding groceries in general and frozen food in particular in the UK. According to the Kantar representative, “health as a reason for consuming food has doubled in popularity in the past 15 years, and as such, the average shopping basket is getting healthier. Consumers are choosing healthier options across multiple food categories, but the biggest long term growth has come from Frozen Foods.”
Also, premiumization and innovation in the frozen category can help change consumer perception of frozen food, which will contribute to preventing long-term category decline.
Referring to the post-Brexit future, Hayward said that there would be an imminent return to inflation and trade-down, with promotional levels falling, discounter growth slowing down and online growth slower than in previous years. The good news is that shoppers will seek cheaper products as inflation rises, which provides opportunities for private labels, especially frozen products.
In terms of market share for the category, Iceland and Tesco are out-performing the discounter chains, Hayward said in his presentation, with frozen desserts currently being the key market driver for growth.