Food preparation market is set to decline in 2017 as consumers’ real incomes decline, and household budgets are squeezed. This has forced consumers to cut down on discretionary goods, including non-essential food preparation products. The market will move back into growth in 2018, since the consumer confidence is set to improve.

General merchandisers will dominate the market over the next five years, with sales forecasted to rise 14.2%. This growth will be driven by discounters. The rise of general merchandisers will come at the expense of the grocers, whose market share is forecast to drop by 0.6 ppts between 2017 and 2022.

65.4% of consumers stated that the primary reason behind the purchase was to replace an item, followed by 45.3% of consumers who bought food preparation items for the first time. Penetration of food preparation is skewed towards females and the 16-24 age group. This young demographic is predominantly made up of first-time renters with low value, every day essentials being footfall drivers.

Tesco’s strategy to focus on its core food assortment will diminish investment and floor space dedicated to its food preparation offer. The grocer retains its position as the leader in this category, but will lose market share this year by 0.1 ppt. Asda, the second largest player in the market, will also see its share decline by 0.1 ppt due to the rise of the discounters, which offer a similar range of products at more competitive prices.

The report “Food Preparation 2017” provides a detailed analysis of the market, and a forecast to 2022 to enable retailers to target outperforming categories to ensure future revenue growth. The report provides quantitative and qualitative analysis of the UK market, evaluating major trends such as healthy living and the influence of food bloggers on product sales. It also provides key insight into consumer attitudes to better understand your core demographic and an in-depth analysis of key market players to target growth opportunities in the market.

In particular, this report provides the following –

• Key issues in the market and success strategies.
• Market sizing by category and growth forecasts.
• In-depth profiling of major retailers including market share and outlooks.
• Consumer analysis detailing how, where and why consumers are buying food preparation products.

Companies mentioned in this report: B&M, Wilko, The Range, Poundland, Asda, Aldi, IKEA, Amazon, Lakeland, Tesco, John Lewis, Dunelm, Sainsbury’s, Home Bargains, Russell Hobbs, Kenwood, Tefal, Jamie Oliver, Joseph Joseph, ProCook, Pyrex, Le Creuset

Scope

• Over the next five years general merchandisers will further dominate the market, with sales forecast to grow 14.2% over the next five years. This growth is predominantly driven by discount retailers such as B&M and The Range, supported by their ambitious store expansion plans over the next five years and consumers’ increasing desire to trade down. This growth comes at the expense of the grocers, whose market share is forecast to decline by 0.6ppts between 2017-2022. Discounters can offer similar food preparation goods at lower prices, making the grocers offer uncompetitive in a price sensitive market.
• Online food preparation sales are set to outpace physical store stores over the next five years. However, the rate of incline for online food preparation sales will slow due to the proposed restrictions of purchasing knives online, which will be implemented later this year.
• Younger consumers have the highest penetration of all age groups, with 51.1% of consumers aged 16-24 buying a food preparation product over the last 12 months. This is driven by young shoppers leaving home for the first time and therefore requiring a full range of food preparation goods.
• The ongoing trend for home cooking remains pivotal to the growth of the food preparation market over the next five years driving consumer spend despite economic uncertainty. Within this the trend for healthy living will encourage more consumers to engage in home cooking, supported by health and weight loss bloggers such as Joe Wicks and Deliciously Ella.

Reasons to buy

• Utilise our five-year forecasts to 2022 for individual product categories and refocus your strategy on key areas of high growth such as gadgets and accessories.
• Understand consumer’s changing cooking habits and recognise the impact this has on the food preparation market.
• Identify how consumers are being influenced by social media and cooking blogs and how to capitalise on this trend.
• Compare our analysis on leading food preparation retailers; enhance your understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and retailers’ market share growth prospects to gain a competitive advantage.
• Recognise which consumers to target and how to drive spend from them by utilising our shopper penetration data and understanding what influences their retailer selection and spending motivations.