Premium products delivering authenticity and restaurant quality have spurred consumers of all ages to embrace ready meals, says Tracy Kelly
In a buoyant market, chilled ready meals have continued to give their frozen counterparts a run for their money, clocking up annual sales worth £780m compared with a not insignificant £570m for frozen.
Growing at a rate of 18% each year [TNS Sept 2002] chilled ready meals have become one of grocery's fastest moving categories.
The Global Food Markets (GFM) database, published by Leatherhead Food International, paints a similar picture, valuing the chilled ready meals market at £805m for 2001, up 5% on the previous year, while 2002 sales are estimated at £845m.
With all supermarkets and many c-store chains having their own chilled ready meal lines, this sector of the market remains driven by own label. M&S leads the sector with a 28% share [Mintel], followed by Tesco at 22% and then Sainsbury at 20%.
The c-store chains have recognised that they are also well placed to cash in on chilled ready meals. Andy Cowin, buying controller at Nisachill, says: "They represent one of the fastest growth sectors in the chilled market." With sales of ready meals through Londis stores doubling in 2001 compared with 2000 [Mintel], the c-store chain is to launch its own chilled range next year while the Co-op plans to relaunch its ready meal range in line with market trends for larger portions'.
Nisa says it sells 8,500 cases a week of Heritage Ready Meals and the star seller is brown, bagged takeaway-style ready meals, which encourage link purchases of alcohol.
Londis tells a similar story and Asda's are particularly popular at weekends.
In the frozen sector, GFM puts value sales at £670m in 2001, up 5.5%, while 2002 value sales are estimated to be £705m. Branded ready meals are more prominent in frozen than in chilled, but the backing of a strong brand does not guarantee success, as demonstrated when it failed to catch on.
A Nisa spokesman says: "Frozen ready meals fail to break the £1.99 price barrier." And Sainsbury's buyer for chilled ready meals, Michael Simpson Jones, says: "The customer wants to be educated about different cuisines but they have a fixed price they will pay."
Despite the growth of chilled meals at the expense of frozen, total ready meals sales in the UK were £1.56bn in 2001, up 5% on the preceding year, according to the GFM database. And sales look set to rise 5% a year, with 2002 sales an estimated £1.64bn.
The appeal of the ready meal looks obvious when considering the fragmentation of family meal times, the rise of one and two-person households and an increase in the number of working women added to growing levels of disposable income, the rise in ownership of freezers and microwaves, not to mention rapid product development.
Sarah Giles, marketing and development director at Perkins Fresh Foods, says: "People used to consider ready meals an indulgence but we are seeing the guilt factor fade at the older end of the market. Among younger people, it is considered quite normal to opt for a quick and easy solution."
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In a buoyant market, chilled ready meals have continued to give their frozen counterparts a run for their money, clocking up annual sales worth £780m compared with a not insignificant £570m for frozen.
Growing at a rate of 18% each year [TNS Sept 2002] chilled ready meals have become one of grocery's fastest moving categories.
The Global Food Markets (GFM) database, published by Leatherhead Food International, paints a similar picture, valuing the chilled ready meals market at £805m for 2001, up 5% on the previous year, while 2002 sales are estimated at £845m.
With all supermarkets and many c-store chains having their own chilled ready meal lines, this sector of the market remains driven by own label. M&S leads the sector with a 28% share [Mintel], followed by Tesco at 22% and then Sainsbury at 20%.
The c-store chains have recognised that they are also well placed to cash in on chilled ready meals. Andy Cowin, buying controller at Nisachill, says: "They represent one of the fastest growth sectors in the chilled market." With sales of ready meals through Londis stores doubling in 2001 compared with 2000 [Mintel], the c-store chain is to launch its own chilled range next year while the Co-op plans to relaunch its ready meal range in line with market trends for larger portions'.
Nisa says it sells 8,500 cases a week of Heritage Ready Meals and the star seller is brown, bagged takeaway-style ready meals, which encourage link purchases of alcohol.
Londis tells a similar story and Asda's are particularly popular at weekends.
In the frozen sector, GFM puts value sales at £670m in 2001, up 5.5%, while 2002 value sales are estimated to be £705m. Branded ready meals are more prominent in frozen than in chilled, but the backing of a strong brand does not guarantee success, as demonstrated when it failed to catch on.
A Nisa spokesman says: "Frozen ready meals fail to break the £1.99 price barrier." And Sainsbury's buyer for chilled ready meals, Michael Simpson Jones, says: "The customer wants to be educated about different cuisines but they have a fixed price they will pay."
Despite the growth of chilled meals at the expense of frozen, total ready meals sales in the UK were £1.56bn in 2001, up 5% on the preceding year, according to the GFM database. And sales look set to rise 5% a year, with 2002 sales an estimated £1.64bn.
The appeal of the ready meal looks obvious when considering the fragmentation of family meal times, the rise of one and two-person households and an increase in the number of working women added to growing levels of disposable income, the rise in ownership of freezers and microwaves, not to mention rapid product development.
Sarah Giles, marketing and development director at Perkins Fresh Foods, says: "People used to consider ready meals an indulgence but we are seeing the guilt factor fade at the older end of the market. Among younger people, it is considered quite normal to opt for a quick and easy solution."
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