Focus On Ready Meals & Soups: 18 January

Focus On: Ready meals and soup by Ash O’Mahony

Download feature synopsis PDF here

Publishing: 18 January 2020

Advertising deadline: 20th December

Submissions deadline: 13th December

The Story

Break ups are never easy. Brits have fallen out of love with the category reversing years of solid growth resulting in a drop in sales, in both frozen and chilled sectors. So, what is prompting Brits to break up with ready meals? What are they dining on instead? How can the category win shoppers back?

Key themes:

Brands: While own label is struggling in chilled, brands have managed to deliver growth. Why is this? Is it down to new entrants? Or are existing brands managing to gain sales? What is the picture in frozen?

Pricing: The drop in ready meal prices is one factor driving value out of the category over the past year. What is behind this dip?

Potential growth: What are the opportunities to be seized in ready meals? How can brands and retailers use trends to win back shoppers in the year ahead?

Retailers: Own label sales have dragged down the chilled ready meals category. How are the different retailers performing? Is anyone managing to buck the decline? Why are frozen own-label sales performing better?

Shopping behaviours: What is driving shoppers out of ready meals this year, and which categories are they opting for instead? What are the macro trends driving this movement, and is it likely to continue?

Soup: Despite a markedly cooler summer this year compared to the heatwave of 2018, soups sales have dropped. Do soup and ready meals share the same problems when it comes to shopper losses? Or are there different reasons for Brits leaving the sector? And how can soup brands and retailers turn around its flagging performance this year?

4 x ready meal innovations: We identify four new products or product ranges that have not appeared in The Grocer before. including launch date, RSP and a picture of each.

4 x soup innovations: We identify four new products or product ranges that have not appeared in The Grocer before. including launch date, RSP and a picture of each.

Kantar data: Using Kantar data, we explain the factors affecting the different areas of the ready meals fixture including chilled and frozen

Kantar retail data: Using Kantar commentary, we explain how the retailers have performed in the ready meals market.