Sales Level in the Italian Convenience Food Market, but Consumers Shift From Frozen to Chilled Options
Posted on: Thursday, 5 July 2007, 09:12 CDT
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c61849) has announced the addition of Eating Habits: Improving the Appeal of Convenience Options - Italy - 2007 to their offering.
Chilled ready meals registered double-digit growth while sales of frozen meals are struggling as consumers look for quality, which they associate mainly with freshness, thus manufacturers have been able to market chilled ready meals based on traditional Italian recipes as offering the closest replica of food cooked from scratch at home. This is all happening despite the chilled category having few large players that can invest largely in advertising and marketing, such as Fratelli Beretta and Galbani, while the frozen category is extremely concentrated and can rely on the presence of multinationals such as Findus, Buitoni and Barilla.
Riding on the wave of healthy lifestyles, sales of soups, both frozen and fresh, reported good performance, as have pasta sauces, which surely have good potential for further growth in a country with the highest global pasta consumption and where pasta is an everyday meal.
Issues in the Market
Definition
Abbreviations
Market in Brief
Italians and convenience foods
Sales level, but consumers shift from frozen to chilled options
The competitive scenario
Distribution
Future
Internal Market Environment
Key points
Social trends that drive sales of convenience foods
Alternatives to convenience foods
Focus on quality hampers growth of convenience food
Convenience vs quality
The fast growing market of fresh pasta
Italians spend more on fish, and less on sugar, coffee and vegetables
Figure 1: Average family spending per month, by category, 2003-05
Figure 2: Average family spending per month, by category, by region, 2003-05
Figure 3: Sector spending as % of total, by occupation, 2005.
Broader Market Environment
Key Points
The Italian population is ageing
Figure 4: Trends in Italian population, by age, 2001-11
Italian households are smaller
Figure 5: Trends in household size in Italy, 2000-02
Economy is improving but any benefit for sales of consumer goods?
Figure 6: Trends in Italian PDI, consumer expenditure and GDP, at 2006 prices, 2001-11
Liberalisation laws favour supermarkets and hypermarkets
Towards ethical, environmentally-friendly and safer packaging
Who's Innovating?
Key points
Low innovation as quality drives purchases
Ready meals
Frozen and fresh soups
Pasta sauces
Frozen pizza
Market Size and Forecast -- Convenience Foods
Key Points
Figure 7: Italian retail value sales of selected convenience foods, by type, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Convenience foods to Italians mostly means ...
Ethnic foods have to battle traditional attitudes
Organic meals may do well
Will chilled options overtake frozen ones?
Figure 8: Italian retail value sales of selected convenience foods* frozen vs chilled, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Forecast
Figure 9: Forecast of Italian retail value sales of selected convenience foods, at current prices, 2001-11
Figure 10: Forecast of Italian retail value sales of selected convenience foods, at 2006 prices, 2001-11
Factors used in the forecast
Prospects
Regional differences may level out
Rising purchasing power of low-income population
Men increasingly involved in household chores
Expanding the target market
Chilled ready meals will drive growth
Segment Performance
Key Points
Ready meals
Figure 11: Italian retail value sales of ready meals, chilled and frozen, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen ready meals
Figure 12: Italian retail value sales of frozen ready meals, by type, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Chilled ready meals
Figure 13: Italian retail value sales of chilled ready meals, by type, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Fish-based dishes lead for second courses and starters
Figure 14: Italian retail value sales of chilled second courses and starters by primary ingredient, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Figure 15: Italian retail value sales of chilled second courses and starters, % by primary ingredient, through H-S-S, 2005-06
Chilled first courses: pasta leads, but fresh soups are growing faster
Figure 16: Italian retail value sales of chilled ready first courses, by type, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen pizza
Figure 17: Italian retail value sales of frozen pizza, by size, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen soups and cooking mixes
Ambient pasta sauces
Figure 18: Italian retail value sales of ambient pasta sauces, by type, H-S-S, 2005-06
Market Share
Key Points
Ready meals
Frozen and chilled first courses
Figure 19: Manufacturers' value shares of frozen first courses, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Figure 20: Manufacturers' value shares of chilled first courses, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen and chilled second courses and side dishes
Figure 21: Manufacturers' value shares of frozen second courses and side dishes, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Figure 22: Brands' value shares of chilled second courses, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Chilled side dishes
Chilled ready-prepared starters
Figure 23: Manufacturers' value shares of chilled starters, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen pizza
Figure 24: Manufacturers' value shares of frozen pizza, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Frozen soups and cooking mixes
Figure 25: Manufacturers' value shares of frozen soups and cooking mixes, through H-S-S, 2004-06
Pasta sauces
Own-labels in the convenience foods market
Figure 26: Italian retail value sales of selected frozen and chilled convenience foods, own-label vs brands, 2004-06
Figure 27: Italian retail value sales of frozen ready meals, own-label vs brands, 2004-06
Figure 28: Italian retail value sales of chilled ready meals, own-label vs brands, 2004-06
Companies and Products
Arena Holding
Barilla
Fratelli Beretta
La Linea Verde
Nestlé Italiana Spa/Buitoni
Unilever Italia Srl/Findus
Own-label -- Coop Italia
Channels to Market
Key Points
Figure 29: Number of food retail outlets in Italy, by type, 2000-03
Supermarkets and hypermarkets for packaged and frozen food and traditional shops for bread and meat
Coop Italia is the leader in grocery distribution
Hard discounts are still synonymous with low quality
Frozen food is bought on-line
New distributors will probably enter the Italian market
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c61849
Source: Business Wire
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