The maturing UK prepared salad market continues to grow at a healthy rate and the expansion is being driven by innovative products and formats.
In fact, growth in the category was almost entirely down to a 64 per cent uplift in sales of salad bowls. AC Nielsen data suggests that 490,000 new customers bought salad bowls in the 12 months to January 28 and the sub-category also over-performed in the convenience retail sector.
Bagged sales dropped 0.2 per cent in the period, and to below 90 per cent of the overall category. The total bagged salad market grew by 4.2 per cent last year, to £415.7 million. This represents a slow-down for a category that was registering 30 per cent annual growth in the early part of the decade.
While the market-leading brand continues to outperform the category with a 21 per cent value growth and Florette’s family-bowl sales rose by 77 per cent, there are a series of issues facing the sector.
“There has been a lack of real innovation in the category as a whole,” Florette marketing director Elaine Smith said. “Retailers have extended fixture space, but our research has shown us that consumers who are looking for convenience and inspiration were getting confused when shopping the fixture. Now the retailers are beginning to reduce the SKUs in the category to reduce that confusion.”
Consumer tastes are changing too. Smith splits the market into four key sectors - kits, premium, everyday and crunchy - and it is the first two that are driving prepared salad forward. “Salad kits now account for 10.2 per cent of the market and the sector grew by 13.7 per cent last year,” she said. “Premium salads represent 38.1 per cent of the market and experienced 10.1 per cent growth in the last year.”
Crunchy prepared salads continue to decline in popularity (16.4 per cent share, down 7.7 per cent) but the everyday market, which had been slipping, showed its first growth for two years and still makes up nearly a third of all UK sales.
As reported in FPJ in April, the Lichfield-based Re:fresh Awards sponsor is launching a series of new products into the UK market this summer.
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