Good news on the United Kingdom food front has been reported by Kantar Worldpanel. First, the retail frozen food market in Britain grew by 2.5% in value to £5.8 billion during the 52-week period that ended on June 22, 2104. The biggest gain was posted in the ice cream category, which registered volume growth of 7.1%.
Brian Young, chief executive of the British Frozen Food Federation, commented: “The retail frozen food market has now enjoyed year-on-year value growth for the last 14 quarters. This steady growth is particularly impressive when you compare it with the food retail market in general…In the retail world it’s the freezer specialists, the discounters and the premium retailers that are still enjoying growth.”
He continued: “There is much talk about the economy being in sustainable growth, but the simple truth is disposable income is still not a luxury available to the average person. It may well be some time before consumers feel the benefit in their pockets, until then I believe that frozen food will continue to outperform retailers’ overall performance.”
The second dispatch of welcome news from Kantar Worldpanel is that grocery price inflation has fallen for the tenth successive period and now stands at 0.4%. Competitive pricing among the big grocers and deflation in the price of staple items such as vegetables, milk and bread has driven inflation to the lowest level since October 2006. As a result, market growth has fallen to 0.9% – the lowest figure for 10 years.
Retailer Market Shares
The latest grocery share figures from Kantar Worldpanel, published for the 12 weeks ending July 20, 2014, show familiar trends of market polarization bringing new records for Aldi and Lidl.
Edward Garner, director at Kantar Worldpanel, explained: “Aldi’s 32% growth rate has lifted its market share to 4.8%. This is a new record for the retailer and means it has nearly caught up with Waitrose’s 4.9% share. Similarly, Lidl sales have grown by nearly 20%, which means it now accounts for a record 3.6% of the grocery market.
“Waitrose has continued to resist pressure from the competition and has grown sales by 3.4%. This figure is well above the market average, and thereby has lifted its market share.”
Among the big four grocers, both Asda and Sainsbury’s have held on to their market shares of 17.0% and 16.6%, respectively. Conversely, Tesco and Morrisons have recorded losses with sales for both outlets declining by 3.8% compared with this time last year.
Iceland has posted a small drop in sales, its first since 2005, but has retained its 2.0% share.
About Kantar Worldpanel
In the UK, Kantar Worldpanel’s consumer panel of 30,000 households is the largest single source of continuous consumer and shopper insights in Britain. It gathers and analyzes information about what people buy and why.
