Premium varieties and encouraging existing consumer to trade up represent the biggest opportunities for future growth in the tomato category, according to a speaker at the British Tomato Conference.
With a penetration of over 90 per cent, tomatoes are one of the most mature categories in produce, said Emma Fencott of Kantar Worldpanel.
Despite this, value and volume still rose by six and seven per cent respectively during the last year, and two thirds of this value growth came from premium lines or tiers, she said.
“While 93 per cent of the population buy tomatoes, only a third buy premium so there’s massive headroom for growth. The discounters and convenience channels are both underperforming in premium tomatoes so there is a clear opportunity here.”
“The key story this year is about premium. The largest variety in terms of spend is vine, while the largest in volume terms is round tomatoes. Piccolo and cherry on the vine tomatoes are growing the fastest,” she said.
While some consumer spend is moving between tiers, compounded by the emergence of the new trend for retail farm brands, overall Fencott said premium varieties are adding incremental growth to the tomato category.
“We see a strong premium-driven performance in tomatoes. The opportunities include trading up existing customers,” she said.
Price inflation shapes tomato market
Aside from the potential in premium, Fencott said price inflation, retail growth and reduced promotions are the top three trends that have shaped the tomato category in the last year.
“This year we’ve seen price growth start to creep back into the market. Prices are up five per cent in produce, and this price growth is outpacing grocery inflation,” she said.
Fencott said discounters Aldi and Lidl now have 15 per cent share of the produce market, which is larger than their total market share, but across the category there is now retail growth. “What we’ve seen is a real step change, with every retailer now seeing growth in produce,” she said.
In March of this year, the percentage of produce sold on promotion dropped to a record low of 19 per cent, Fencott said.
Within the wholehead produce market, growth is driven by soft fruit and salads, and within salads, most of this growth is driven by tomatoes. Within the last 12 weeks, tomatoes have in fact driven the most growth into the wider produce category, she added.
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