Acosta forecasts winning categories for 2019
Although retail freezer-case sales have been declining in recent years, the trend now has reversed and is expected to continue this year, per a 2019 forecast by Acosta, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based sales and marketing firm.
Frozen foods currently are the fastest-growing center store category, according to Colin Stewart, senior vice president at Acosta Insights.
“While shoppers have been migrating to the perimeter for fresh and prepared food options, shoppers are once again recognizing the convenience of frozen foods,” he said.
Frozen prepared foods have been leading the growth with nearly half of the total frozen food department growth.
“Manufacturers have stepped up their innovation with cleaner labels, higher quality and improved taste,” Stewart said. “Frozen breakfast also continues to outpace many categories in growth. Frozen dinners and frozen breakfast categories can be key gateway categories to drive more traffic into the frozen food department.”
Other frozen-food categories seeing growth include frozen pizza, frozen desserts, frozen seafood and frozen vegetables.
“Retailers can benefit from growth in frozen foods by focusing on key destination categories as gateways to driving traffic, and making sure they are stocking the latest innovative products,” Stewart said. “Where retailers can leverage loyalty data, they can target shoppers that are buying one or two categories in frozen and take a ‘one more category’ approach to expand category penetration.”
Retailers also can seek cross-promotional opportunities between frozen foods and other categories — for example, aligning deli or prepared food items with complementary frozen products, Stewart said.
Frozen foods currently are the fastest-growing center store category, according to Colin Stewart, senior vice president at Acosta Insights.
“While shoppers have been migrating to the perimeter for fresh and prepared food options, shoppers are once again recognizing the convenience of frozen foods,” he said.
Frozen prepared foods have been leading the growth with nearly half of the total frozen food department growth.
“Manufacturers have stepped up their innovation with cleaner labels, higher quality and improved taste,” Stewart said. “Frozen breakfast also continues to outpace many categories in growth. Frozen dinners and frozen breakfast categories can be key gateway categories to drive more traffic into the frozen food department.”
Other frozen-food categories seeing growth include frozen pizza, frozen desserts, frozen seafood and frozen vegetables.
“Retailers can benefit from growth in frozen foods by focusing on key destination categories as gateways to driving traffic, and making sure they are stocking the latest innovative products,” Stewart said. “Where retailers can leverage loyalty data, they can target shoppers that are buying one or two categories in frozen and take a ‘one more category’ approach to expand category penetration.”
Retailers also can seek cross-promotional opportunities between frozen foods and other categories — for example, aligning deli or prepared food items with complementary frozen products, Stewart said.