CATEGORY SNAPSHOT

RESEARCH: FROZEN

FROZEN OUTPERFORMS FRESH AND CHILLED

NEW KANTAR DATA SHARED TODAY BY THE BRITISH FROZEN FOOD FEDERATION SHOWS THATTHE FROZEN CATEGORY HAS RISEN BY MORE THAN £221M IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS ALONE,OUTPERFORMING FRESH AND CHILLED.

Like many categories, frozen has enjoyed something of renaissance during the pandemic. The category has been growing steadily in recent years but the latest Kantar data, shared today by the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF), shows that sales of frozen food have increased by £221m in the last three months (w/e 6 September).

The growth in sales follows an increase of £285m in the previous 12-week period from the end of March to 14 June, indicating that the popularity of frozen food has continued to grow under lockdown.

The latest Kantar figures for frozen retail sales in the 52 weeks ending 6 September reveal:

In the three months since 8 June, value rose by 13.6%, whilst volume was up by 9.9%

The overall grocery market has grown 8.5% in value and 6.7% in volume over the 52 week period

Frozen has outperformed total grocery growth in both value (9.7%) and volume (8.4%)

Over the 52 week period the frozen category has added £617m in sales value and 175 tonnes in volume

The frozen category has outperformed the fresh and chilled category in percentage growth terms.

BFFF Chief Executive Richard Harrow (pictured) comments: “The performance of the frozen category remains very positive with continued growth ahead of total grocery. In all three sets of 12 week data supplied by Kantar this year, frozen value performance has been above both grocery and fresh and chilled in percentage terms.

“We know that since mid-March, more consumers than ever have been shopping in the frozen aisle. This is hardly surprising, given the long shelf-life, reduced food waste, value for money and variety of food on offer there. These latest figures indicate this may be a long-term trend.”

Data covering the 52 weeks from 9 September 2019 to 6 September 2020 shows sales of frozen food reached £6.9bn, an increase in value of 9.7%, and that volume grew to 8.4%. In comparison, sales of fresh and chilled food increased in value by 7%.

The Kantar figures show eight out of nine categories of frozen food are in value and volume growth with six – ice cream, fish, vegetables, pizza, savoury and potato products – in double digit value growth.