According to a Kantar Worldpanel review of the potato category in Ireland, the five grocery market trends influencing consumers in the Irish fresh potato market were as follows;
- the growth of discounter retailing
- the premiumisation of product ranges
- the importance of vouchers (with 23% of shoppers now choosing stores by voucher)
- the growth of Private Label
- the impact of ‘special offers’
Changing and ‘internationalising’ food tastes, ‘Little & Often’ shopping (to avoid food waste) and choices that appeal to modern shoppers around convenience, pack size & promotion were all highlighted as the key modern consumer behaviours influencing the potato category.
Potatoes were deemed a vital category, with retailers driving footfall to higher spending baskets – the key to high-value shopping trips. In total, 105 million packs of potatoes were sold in 2013, meaning that potatoes were bought once every 0.6 second in Irish retailers, which translates into 1.58 million households purchasing potatoes annually.
In all, 11% of all shopping trips feature potatoes, and these trips contribute to 21% of all sales. When potatoes are included in the basket, grocery trips are worth a lot more than average shopping spends, highlighting the importance of the potato category to retailers.
The value of the potato market was up to €185m in 2013, largely as a result of price increases, although lesser volumes being sold per trip has taken value out of the market (shoppers are buying into smaller packs sizes).
The strongest performance in varieties comes from ‘Roosters’ – winning new shoppers and increased ‘frequency of purchase’ over other varieties. In value share, ‘Roosters’ accounted for almost 50% of sales and more than 50% in volume terms.
In conclusion, the key challenge highlighted across all retailers was to address the decline in volume per trip. Volumes of potatoes sold were down across the whole category, and there is an opportunity of €21m more in sales terms if the sector can grow ‘Youngers Shoppers’ to the market average. Looking at just ‘smaller households,’ it was noted that both ‘pre’ and ‘young family’ purchasers buy more volumes than ’empty nesters’ of pasta and rice.
For further information contact lorcan.bourke@bordbia.ie
