The findings of the report highlight that convenience, innovation, snacking, new tastes and health are among the main drivers of growth where it’s occurring. For example, ready meals grew by almost 11% in volume over the past year, an extra £200m spent on convenience via these products alone.
Convenience and comfort come hand in hand, as the report puts Britain’s favourite meals, such as cottage pie, mashed potato, Cumberland pie and shepherd’s pie, as some of the nation’s top choices by value sales.
Non-alcoholic cold drinks such as cola, energy drinks and mineral water have performed well. Sales of alcohol, such as lager and cider, benefited from the Royal Wedding and the Diamond Jubilee.
Unfortunately, these two national events did not lead to the expected surge in sales of party food, as this sector did not show an increase but remained flat in comparison with last year. This may have been due to poor weather conditions.
Innovation and changing tastes have driven growth. New products such as Belvita, Maggi So Juicy, Colman’s Season & Shake, Monster Energy Drink, Lynx Attract for Her, Cadbury’s Twirl Bites and Regaine, have all contributed.
As the UK consumers’ tastes change, there has been an increase in bread foods, such as bagels (up by 16%), wraps (up by 10%) and brioche rolls (up by 24%), plus a rise in the use of almonds, walnuts and pistachios (9% increase) possibly caused by the increased interest in baking spurred by the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
As we celebrated a period of athleticism in the UK, it seems that the nation turned to healthier food options. Unflavoured mineral water sales increased by 6% (£22m) and flavoured waters by 7% (£14m), a total of 65 million litres.
Hearty, healthy breakfasts such as porridge also increased during this period by 4%. The report also reveals a strong move to a healthier lifestyle as smokers bought 8% more smoking cessation products worth £31m.
Although there has been a value growth for two thirds of the categories, half of this has been driven up purely by price increases. Two thirds of the 300 categories measured are showing annual volume decline at present.
Prices for packaged groceries have been rising in excess of 3% since August 2011, reaching a peak of 5% in March 2012 and since falling to 3% in July 2012. Packaged grocery prices are 8% higher than they were in January 2010.
SymphonyIRI Group’s Snapshot report contains data extracted from 300 reported categories across all SIG outlets over the period 52 weeks ending 7 July 2012 versus 52 weeks ending 9 July 2011.
Categories include packaged foods, alcohol (excluding wine), non-alcoholic drinks, household products, personal care (including cosmetics), health care, pet food and confectionery.
Source: SymphonyIRI
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