Products in the Fresh and Confectionery categories accounted for 61% of the growth in the grocery market across Western Europe in 2016, according to new Nielsen retail performance data.
The data found that shoppers spent €4.3 billion more on FMCG products at grocery retailers across the nine* major Western European markets in 2016 than in 2015 – growth of 0.9%.
Fresh products accounted for 38% of the overall market growth, followed by Confectionery/Snacks, which accounted for just under a quarter (23%).
The Alcoholic Beverages category accounted for 20% of overall growth.
“Fresh food and confectionery’s growth were primarily driven by consumers buying more items, whilst alcohol’s was mainly driven by paying higher prices,” said Olivier Deschamps, Senior Vice President Retailer Services Europe, at Nielsen.
"It's interesting to see this significant growth coming from fresh food: fresh is clearly a strong focus for retailers in order to attract shoppers and have a positive impact on their image. In terms of sub-categories, fresh meals, beer, fresh fruit & vegetables and mineral water contributed the most to the grocery sector’s overall growth.”
The data also found that manufacturers outside the 10 biggest players accounted for 70% of the growth in the Western European grocery market, whilst retailers’ own label brands accounted for the other 30%.
In the UK, one of the main markets covered, fresh meals, sparkling wine and beer were the sub-categories contributing most to the grocery sector’s growth in 2016. Mike Watkins, Nielsen’s UK head of retailer and business insight notes that, “category growth generally follows a change in consumer tastes, such as sparkling wine, whilst a fall in a category’s sales value is often the result of deflation or a very competitive retail landscape, such as is happening in fresh meat and cereals.”
[*The nine Western European countries covered are the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria and Portugal.]
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
