CATEGORY INSIGHT
FROZEN BRITISH FROZEN FOOD FEDERATION / BIRDS EYE
FROZEN CONTINUES SOLID GROWTH THE OFTEN OVERLOOKED FROZEN CATEGORY CONTINUED ITS SUSTAINED PERIOD OF GROWTH WITH A STRONG FINISH TO 2020, OUTSTRIPPING EVERY OTHER CATEGORY APART FROM ALCOHOL.
£252M SALES ADDED IN SEP-NOV 2020
11.3%
VALUE GROWTH IN 12 MONTHS
9%
VOLUME GROWTH IN 12 MONTHS
F
rozen is a category that doesn’t often get much attention in local retailing, which is surprising given that it’s a category that has been in solid growth in recent years. Unsexy as it is, frozen has quietly grown in both volume and value as an increasing number of shoppers realise the benefits that frozen food has to offer, not least of which is zero food waste – something that has become more important to shoppers during the pandemic. Indeed, the category added another £252m in sales in the last three-month period, according to the latest Kantar figures released by the British Frozen Food Federation. So, is it a category that local retailers should be focusing more attention on? The latest lockdown indicates that the virus is far from beaten and the shopping trends learned over the last year may well persist long into the future. The research reveals that the frozen food aisle has been the star performer of grocery retail in the last 12 months, performing better in terms of value and volume percentage growth than any other category apart from alcohol. The latest figures for the 12 months to 29 November show that the overall grocery market
grew 11.3% in value and 9.0% in volume over the 52-week period. Frozen food sales outperformed total grocery growth in both value (+13.8%) and volume (+11.5%), adding £871m in sales. The figures reveal that of the nine frozen categories reported by Kantar all are in value growth, with six in double digit growth. It is a similar picture in volume with eight categories in growth, of which five are in double digit growth. Average price has also increased by 2.0%, slightly behind the 2.1% for total grocery, whereas the average price of fresh and chilled has declined by 0.8%. Tesco remains the leading frozen food retailer with 23% of sales by value, slightly down year-onyear, but almost double that of the second largest retailer of frozen food Asda with 12.5%. Waitrose, M&S and Ocado all saw a small increase in their share of frozen sales in the last 12 months. Iceland showed a slight decline in share but still recorded significant value growth along with all retailers. Commenting on the figures, Richard Harrow, BFFF Chief Executive said: “In grocery retail frozen food has had a fantastic year with many consumers increasing their frozen food purchasing or indeed finding the frozen aisle for
WEDNESDAY 6TH JANUARY 2021 / ISSUE 37 / SLRMAG.CO.UK / 29
