Frozen food retail growth rises to 6% YOY
The retail frozen food sector finished the year on a high maintaining the growth that saw it exceed the £6 billion milestone for the first time ever in 2017.
Statistics from Kantar Worldpanel for the 52 weeks ending 3 December 2017 show that the value of sales was up 6.1% and volume increased 2% creating an additional £64 million worth of value for the sector.
Top performing categories were savoury food, up 8.8% in value, closely followed by ice cream at 8.5%. Frozen vegetables and fish also recorded significant value growth of 7.2% and 6.7% respectively. Savoury food was also the top performer in terms of volume, up 7.2% over the 12-month period, confectionery also did well up 6.7% in volume.
John Hyman, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, says, “It’s great news to see the value of the category continuing to grow at a faster rate. The growth is in part due to the continuing premiumisation of frozen food and a growing awareness by consumers that frozen can be as good as or better quality than fresh and is often superior value.
“A lot of work has been spent communicating the benefits of frozen to consumers, with focused and innovative marketing campaigns from brands and retailers contributing significantly to the change in consumer perceptions that we’ve seen in recent years.
“Consumers are much more tuned-in to the benefits of frozen food including waste reduction, convenience and health and are discovering the breadth of choice in high quality, on trend products that are available to them with little preparation at home.
“Increasingly, consumers are choosing the premium products on offer in the frozen aisle to try and replicate restaurant quality food at home, and this has contributed to this value milestone.”
