Whether enjoyed at home or on-the-go, breakfast remains a core category for retailers.
By Elena Dimama
Eating breakfast at home remains an important ritual of the day, despite many shoppers now returning to the office, giving staple items a welcome boost.
Mintel figures have revealed that 57% of consumers eat breakfast at home every day in comparison to just 5% eating it out of home. The home-eating trend is consistent with the income squeeze shoppers are facing, as IGD research shows that consumers have on average £88 less to spend per week than this time last year.
Affordable crowd pleasers
Traditional breakfast items, such as crumpets and English muffins, grew by 0.9% in units over the last year, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, sales of white bread currently account for over 55% of pre-packaged bread units sold.
“Given the current economic climate, many shoppers are buying fewer different types of bread for their households and are increasingly moving towards pre-packaged white bread, which is most likely to satisfy the needs of multiple people,” Alistair Gaunt, Commercial Director at Hovis says.
“It is therefore clearly important for retailers to stock white bread as it is a potential ‘crowd-pleaser’ for everyone in the household.”
However, other bread types can also be crucial to stock, as bread with seeds and grains accounts for over 18% of loaves sold and brown/wholemeal for nearly 14%.
“Despite the squeeze on grocery spending, we believe there’s still a significant role for premium products in bakery as shoppers look for affordable treats,” Gaunt adds. “Our Hovis Bakers Since 1886 range is the perfect product to stock to tap into this trend. Since its launch just two years ago, the range is now worth over £14m RSV and continues to build in popularity so we’d highly recommend this as a must-stock for retailers to take advantage of the continued interest in affordable treats to enjoy at home.”
On-the-go growth
Despite consumers turning to eating at home more and more frequently, breakfast on-the-go sectors are still in growth, with data from Nielsen showing an increase in both value sales and volume in the breakfast dairy drink space.
“The breakfast occasion is already often the cheapest mission of the day, and against the backdrop of the current economic landscape, with 67% of adults worrying about rising food and drink prices, we may see customers switch from lunch on-the-go to breakfast on-the-go as it represents a more affordable treat,” Darryl Burgess, Head of Sales for Weetabix, notes.
Weetabix has partnered for the third year running with the FA, for a promotional campaign during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer.
Bestselling products from the Weetabix portfolio – including Weetabix Original, Weetabix Banana, Weetabix Chocolate and Weetabix Protein – feature in a hero campaign that runs from July through to the end of September.
Shoppers purchasing any of these packs are in with a chance of winning an official FA shirt, with a new winner every 90 minutes.
Entry is via an on-pack QR code, with consumers able to fill a simple online form to find out instantly if they are a winner. Thousands of footballs are also up for grabs.
The on-pack promotion is supported by a 360-degree activation encompassing ecommerce, social media, and in-store shopper media and ATL advertising, in a campaign representing an overall investment in excess of £2m.
