- Contents
- *Scope and Themes
- What you need to know
- Definition
- Data sources
- Sales data
- Consumer survey data
- Abbreviations and terms
- Abbreviations
What you need to know
The $21.4-billion cheese category increased 14% from 2009-14 and is expected to grow an additional 24% over the next five years. Moderate year-over-year growth can be attributed to consumer interest in snacking and healthier foods, and an affinity for natural and gourmet cheeses. Growth continues to stem from natural cheese, which represents nearly three quarters of the category and grew more than 7% from 2012-14. Despite an already high household penetration, there is still room for innovation. Manufacturers should focus on ingredients, nutritional benefits, product origin, and smaller formats for trying new varieties of cheeses, and snacking.
Mintel here provides a comprehensive analysis of the following factors that have the greatest potential to impact the category’s performance:
Consumers’ perceptions of cheese as part of a healthy diet, or as a viable protein source, and other reasons they are motivated to buy cheese, such as for cooking or snacking.
Health and nutrition concerns related to processed cheeses, and other factors impacting purchase.
The key consumer behaviors related to buying cheese, and the most important factors consumers consider when purchasing natural cheeses.
Consumer attitudes and perceptions of natural cheese related to nutrition, price, brand, and product origin.
Definition
This report covers three main segments of cheese:
Natural Cheese: includes all forms (slices, blocks, chunks, cubes, crumbles, shredded, etc); string cheese; Ricotta cheese. Cheeses in this segment are produced directly from milk or whey that has been coagulated, heated, drained, and pressed. It can include the addition of salt and/or flavorings.
Processed Cheese: includes cheese spreads in aerosol cans, squeezable tubes, cheese balls, cheese loafs, and other forms. Imitation cheese is included in this segment. Cheeses in this segment are typically a blend of cheeses that have been mixed and cooked and include additional ingredients, such as cream, milk, water or cheese whey.
Cream Cheese/Cream Cheese Spreads: includes brick, soft, whipped, balls, and other forms; may be plain or flavored.
While most cheese is made from cow's milk, cheeses made from goat's milk and other dairy products, as well as nondairy sources, such as soy milk, also are included.
Excluded from this report are: cottage cheese, yogurt cheese, cheese sauces, and cheese dips.
The market size includes prepackaged UPC (Universal Product Code), PLU (price look up), and retailer-coded cheese. It includes sales through retail venues, but excludes sales through restaurants and other foodservice venues and dairies/wholesalers.
Value figures throughout this report are at (rsp) retail selling prices excluding sales tax unless otherwise stated.
Sales data
Market Size and Forecast: Total retail sales based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; USDA Economic Research Service; IDDBA/FreshLook Marketing; forecast developed by Mintel.
Segment Performance: Total retail sales based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; USDA Economic Research Service; IDDBA/FreshLook Marketing; forecast developed by Mintel.
Retail Channels: Based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews; USDA Economic Research Service; IDDBA/FreshLook marketing; except supermarket sales, which are based on Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews.
Estimates of sales through supermarkets differ from the estimates in the previous report. Additional research and an enhanced methodology made it possible to refine the estimate of sales through supermarkets so that those estimates now cover both packaged/UPC-coded cheese and deli cheese. Previously all deli cheese sales (includes sales through supermarkets) were included in "other retail channels.”
Leading Companies and Brand Share: Based on MULO sales data from Information Resources, Inc. InfoScan Reviews. MULO is defined as Multi Outlet, representative of the following channels: total US Grocery, Mass, Total US Drug, Total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club. Note that the values shown in this section differ from the Market Size/Forecast and Segment Performance sections of this report. Companies and brands sales data encompasses only sales through MULO channels, while Market Size/Forecast and Segment Performance sales cover the entire retail market.
Consumer survey data
For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through Lightspeed GMI to explore consumer consumption of/attitudes and behaviors toward cheese. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in July 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.
Mintel selects survey respondents by gender, age, household income, and region so that they are proportionally representative of the US adult population using the internet. Mintel also slightly over-samples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or Black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in our survey results and to allow for more precise parameter estimates from our reported findings. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.
Mintel has also analyzed data from Experian Marketing Services, using the Simmons NHCS (National Hispanic Consumer Study).
The Experian Marketing Services, Simmons NHCS was carried out during January 2013-March 2014 and the results are based on the sample of 24,005 adults aged 18+, with results weighted to represent the US adult population.
While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.
Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations used in this report:
| BFY | Better-for-you |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| CPI | Consumer Price Index |
| GMOs | Genetically-modified Organisms |
| GNPD | Global New Products Database |
| MULO | Multi Outlet, representative of the following channels: total US Grocery, Mass, total US Drug, total Walmart, Dollar, Military, and Club |
| NCS/NHCS | National Consumer Study /National Hispanic Consumer Study (Experian Marketing Services) |
| rsp | Retail selling price |
Generations are discussed within this report, and they are defined as:
| World War II/Swing generations | Members of the WWII generation were born in 1932 or before and are aged 82 or older in 2014. Members of the Swing Generation were born from 1933-1945 and are aged 69-81 in 2014. |
| Baby Boomers | The generation born between 1946 and 1964. In 2014, Baby Boomers are between the ages of 50 and 68. |
| Generation X | The generation born between 1965 and 1976. In 2014, Gen Xers are between the ages of 38 and 49. |
| Millennials* | Born between 1977 and 1994, Millennials are aged 20 to 37 in 2014. |
| iGeneration | Born between 1995 and 2007, members of iGen are aged 7 to 19 in 2014. |
| Emerging generation | The newest generation began in 2008 as the annual number of births declined sharply with the recession. In 2014 members of this as-yet unnamed generation are under age 7. |
* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers
In order to provide an inflation-adjusted price value for markets, Mintel uses the CPI to deflate current prices. The CPI is defined as follows:
| CPI | The Consumer Price Index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. The CPI and its components are typically used to adjust other economic series for price changes and to translate these series into inflation-free dollars. Examples of series adjusted by the CPI include retail sales, hourly and weekly earnings, and components of the national income and product accounts. In addition, and in Mintel reports, the CPI is used as a deflator of the value of the consumer’s dollar to find its purchasing power. The purchasing power of the consumer's dollar measures the change in the value to the consumer of goods and services that a dollar will buy at different dates. The CPI is generally the best measure for adjusting payments to consumers when the intent is to allow consumers to purchase, at today’s prices, a market basket of goods and services equivalent to one that they could purchase in an earlier period. It is also the best measure to use to translate retail sales into real or inflation-free dollars. Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics definition. |
